White pastor: Blame me and all white churches for George Floyd's death

Pastor Bob Myers of Covenant Church in Doylestown, Pennsylvania (YouTube video screenshot)

The white pastor of a large Christian church in Pennsylvania is taking personal blame for "the situation" leading to the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, and says all white churches are collectively to blame.

"The situation we find ourselves in is my fault, and it is a gospel issue, with the credibility of the gospel on the line," said Bob Myers, pastor of Covenant Church in Doylestown, Pennsylvania.

In his blog post titled, "Is It My Fault?," Myers cites white privilege among American Christians as a main factor leading to the death of Floyd, who is black. The event has sparked riots and protests in major cities across the United States this weekend.

"I made myself watch the video [of the police treatment of Floyd] and it felt like watching a terrorist atrocity," Myers said.

A Minneapolis police officer is shown kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, who was handcuffed and pleading that he could not breathe on Monday, May 25, 2020. (Video screenshot courtesy Darnella Frazier)

"Powerless, vulnerable, and tortuously murdered, this time by public suffocation. Lynching continues in America. This time the murder is not at the hand of self-appointed vigilantes. One professionally trained law enforcement officer lawlessly killed him, while three others broke not merely the law, but broke with their humanity by passively looking upon a murder they could have prevented."

Myers admits he was ignorant of some racial concerns, saying, "At times, I was willfully ignorant. Then I was silent. But now, I won't be silent any longer."

"I repent and am in the process of peeling away layers of ignorance, apathy, and silence. The White Bible-based churches have had a history of ignorance, apathy, lack of empathy, lack of advocacy, and silence. If Bible-based churches had acted as advocates, race-based slavery in America might have ended without a single bullet fired. By the time Dr. Martin Luther King arrived on the scene, the race issue would have been led and healed. Or if we had showed up in support of MLK, he would have been pole-vaulted over the arrests and beatings he endured into a landslide of racial justice. Imagine if white evangelical churches had rallied around King and celebrated him by carrying him on our privileged shoulders.

Are white Christians to blame for the situation leading to George Floyd's death?

"Even further back in history from that, if obedience had characterized the white evangelical churches and pastors, they would never have forced into existence a separate church for other races. The undeniable truth is this: The Black church only exists because the white church would not welcome black members."

Myers continued: "I can't change history and I can't change history I aided and abetted. But I can say, 'no more'! I can seek a future where my personal repentance is as noticeable as my personal failures."

"Maybe we need a rally for repentant sinners like me, simply saying, 'We're sorry Lord, we're sorry for hurting our nation by our silent complicity, we're sorry to our black brothers and sisters for our lack of courage, clarity, and compassion. We're sorry to white racists for not loving them enough to preach the law and the Gospel to them boldly.' Maybe this is the next march on Washington, a march where we lead with repentance. Where we refuse to pass the buck to others or shrug our shoulders."

The pastor noted how the good news of Jesus broke into the world at the first Pentecost declaring all nations could be part of one family in Christ.

"In fact, any privilege or any separation of those races was publicly and swiftly confronted as an affront to the gospel," he explained.

"I am one person. But I have not been as fierce in defending this birthright as the Apostle Paul was in Galatians 2 when he confronted Peter. Imagine if Paul had not backed down and Peter's race-based favoritism had been allowed to sink into the fabric of the church's existence. That would have twisted the church from the outset. But the record of Acts shows a constant drumbeat of insistence on racial integration."

Myers indicated, "The Bible's narrative is clear. I want to be part of writing a new narrative. It begins with my repentance."

He said the gospel "has the power to make me move out in new obedience, cleansed of the past. That gospel has the power to make me a part of the movement that owns my own failures and then actively overturns this in the Name of Christ.

Myers concluded: "I don't know whether there will be a literal march of repentance on Washington or even someplace more local. Who knows, maybe this little post will start one. Imagine, a march led by white Christian leaders saying, 'we repent' first to God and second to our black brothers and sisters. I pray it will happen. And whether or not a literal march happens, I can get in step to with that movement right now. It has everything to do with the Gospel. And I believe if the church is healed, healing can come to the nation and the world."