Letter From America (About Interracial Adoptions)

No Time for Identity Politics

Russell Moore, the president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, is the author of "Adopted for Life: The Priority of Adoption for Christian Families & Churches." He is on Twitter.  [We consider Adopted for Life to be an excellent book, worthy of wide readership amongst Christians and churches. Ed.]

Updated February 3, 2014

New York Times

The same arguments against transracial adoption have been made before, against interracial marriage. In both cases, the hard social adjustments of living in a racist society are used to suggest that it’s better, for the children, if families are racially segregated, separate but equal. I reject that wrong-headed logic, in both cases.

I hold this view not because I believe we live in a post-racial, “color-blind” society. We don’t. The legacy of racial hatred and bigotry is real, and continues. But the families I’ve known who have parents of one ethnicity and children of another — including many of my fellow evangelical Christians — are among the most aware of this situation, and among the most motivated to work for racial justice and reconciliation.

Untold numbers of children are tangled in the foster care system or languish in orphanages and group homes all over the world.

Minority parents of white children teach their kids that the world outside often, sadly, isn’t as loving and diverse as the one they’ve come to know. White parents of minority children are often diligent to teach their children to take pride in their ethnic heritage, and try to prepare them to combat the evils of the bigotry they will face on the outside. These families learn what really every family ought to learn — how to celebrate differences while also celebrating a common belonging, in love.

Right now there are untold numbers of children tied up in the foster care system, or languishing in orphanages and group homes all over the world. There is no place for racist bigotry or identity politics in solving this crisis. What matters is the welfare of children who need a Mom and a Dad.

Can any of us honestly suggest that it would be better for a child to remain in this bureaucratic limbo than to be a son or daughter to loving parents whose skin is paler or darker than his or her own?