Megachurch Pastor A.R. Bernard on racism and how those in power use it to divide Americans

Megachurch Pastor A.R. Bernard clarified what racism truly means and how those in power use it as a tool to divide the American people and preserve status quo.

The 63-year-old pastor of Christian Cultural Center Megachurch in Brooklyn, New York appeared onstage at the Barclays Center with another megachurch leader, Pastor Carl Lentz, who led the Hillsong NYC conference and asked the former the distinction between racist and racism.

"Racist is a person who has a feeling of superiority above other people by virtue of that person's race," said Pastor Bernard.

"Racism," he added, "is the intentional violence, oppression, marginalization, disenfranchisement against a segment of the society based on race. So if your theology gives you a sense of superiority over other people, then that theology is racist."

He then clarified that a racist engages in racism when the person commits acts to intentionally sideline a particular people on the basis of their race.

The issue of racism in America reverted to the surface with the spate of killings of African-American civilians by white police officers. The Black Lives Matter movement supporting African-Americans as well as the Blue Lives Matter movement, which supports white cops, and the widely criticized All Lives Matter movement reflect the ongoing racial tensions in the U.S.

Pastor Bernard also said he believes that the white people do enjoy certain privileges and that the powerful elite uses racism as a tool to maintain the status quo.

"Racism is a tool of the power elite to reinforce classism," he said. "And it's really classism that divides us.

For this, he asserted that America needs a revolution, particularly "interim movements in order to shake up that status quo" and urged Christians to join in by participating in the political process.

He argued that Christians don't need to wait for something drastic to personally happen in their lives before they take part in the action.

In this way, Pastor Bernard resonated the challenge made by Pastor Jamal Bryant, a megachurch pastor and the founder of Baltimore's Empowerment Temple AME Church, on the American Church.

Pastor Bryant, an advocate for the Black Lives Matter movement, criticized the Church for its obvious absence in the civil rights movement.