Why Naming European Americans is Important for Christian Conversations on Race In the USA

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In many Christian conversations about race in the United States, we regularly name people as African American, Asian American, Latino/a, or Native American — yet one group often remains unnamed. They are simply called “white.”

This may seem harmless or merely descriptive. But language shapes our imagination, our power dynamics, and our theology. And when one group is treated as the unnamed norm while others are consistently hyphenated, racial dialogue begins on uneven ground.

Using the term European American is not about blame, guilt, or political correctness. It is about faithfulness, clarity, and equity — values deeply rooted in the Christian story.

Naming Is a Biblical Act

Scripture takes naming seriously. In Genesis, naming reflects relationship, responsibility, and identity. God names creation. God renames people at pivotal moments — Abram to Abraham, Jacob to Israel — marking identity, calling, and belonging.

To name is to acknowledge origin and story.

When we name African Americans, Asian Americans, or Latino Americans, we are implicitly recognizing that everyone has a history and a lineage. Yet when European Americans are left unnamed — simply “white” — that group quietly becomes the default, the center, the unexamined norm.

From a Christian perspective, this should give us pause.

“White” as the Invisible Center

The term white did not emerge primarily as a cultural or ethnic identity; it emerged as a social and legal category tied to power. Over time, “whiteness” absorbed many European ethnicities — Irish, Italian, Polish, German — once considered outsiders themselves.

By contrast, European American restores what whiteness often obscures:

ancestry
migration
cultural particularity
historical contingency

In other words, it reminds us that European Americans, like all Americans, are a people with a story — not the story.

When Christians continue to speak of “minorities” alongside an unnamed majority, we unintentionally reinforce a hierarchy of normalcy. One group gets culture; another gets neutrality. One group has ethnicity; another gets universality.

That is not the biblical vision of humanity.

Leveling the Conversational Ground

Using “European American” helps level the playing field in racial dialogue. It places all groups on the same linguistic footing. Everyone is named. Everyone has a background. Everyone enters the conversation as a particular people — not as the standard by which others are measured.

This matters especially in Christian spaces, where unity is often emphasized but difference is left unexplored.

The apostle Paul does not erase difference in Christ; he relativizes it. Jew and Gentile are still Jew and Gentile — but no longer enemies, no longer hierarchically ordered. Their reconciliation is not achieved by pretending difference does not exist, but by naming it honestly under the lordship of Christ.

From Defensiveness to Discipleship

For some European Americans, this language may feel uncomfortable at first. That discomfort is understandable. But discomfort is not the same as harm — and discipleship often begins where comfort ends.

Naming European American identity invites reflection rather than accusation. It asks:

How did my people arrive here?
What opportunities did they inherit?
What losses did they experience?
How did faith, culture, and power intersect in our story?

These are not questions meant to shame. They are questions meant to form.

In the same way that other communities have been asked — often forcibly — to examine their identity in relation to power, European Americans are invited into a fuller, more honest self-understanding. That invitation is not anti-gospel. It is profoundly Christian.

Toward a More Faithful Public Witness

In a polarized public square, Christians are called to model a different way — one rooted in truth, humility, and love of neighbor. Language alone will not heal racial division, but careless language can deepen it.

Choosing to say European American is a small but meaningful act. It signals that:

No group stands outside history
No group is culturally neutral
No group is exempt from self-examination

Most importantly, it reflects our belief that every people and every story stands equally in need of grace — and equally capable of reflecting the image of God.

If the church cannot practice this kind of careful naming within its own walls, it will struggle to offer a credible witness to a fractured world.

Honoring the backgrounds of all people — including European Americans — is not about dividing the body of Christ. It is about telling the truth in love, so that reconciliation can start on common ground.