It is unfortunate that Reinder Bruinsma, despite having worked for the Seventh-day Adventist Church all of his adult life, has not become wiser. This can be seen in his recent article about allegations of racism in the Trans-European Division.

How can a church leader mistake a vice for a virtue? How can one be proud after a respected independent tribunal found the TED guilty of breaking the Race Relation Act of 1996, the Sex Discrimination Act of 1975, and the Employment Rights Act of 1996 while dealing with a fellow Adventist worker?

The tribunal has made it clear that Bruinsma does not understand racism. According to the tribunal, he failed to do anything about the issue of racism when raised at the Trans-European Division. The tribunal has noted that "In the absence of ’racist’ remarks, he said that he could see nothing to investigate or even look into."

A complaint by a secretary at the TED who did not want to work for a black director upset Bruinsma, he told the tribunal, but he did not discipline the secretary! Referring to Bruinsma’s attitude, the tribunal made it clear that "racial discrimination involves much more subtle forms of behavior than overt hostility towards" people of color because of their color. Racism does not need to be intentional.

It is significant that Bruinsma was heavily involved, as he admits in his article, during the events that lead to the tribunal case.

This is the level of ignorance about racism that goes a long way to explain the views Bruinsma holds, as expressed in his Spectrum article.

If he and his fellow believers at the TED can hold their heads high and continue to feel that they have done nothing wrong, then we have one mighty problem within our church.

Enough is enough of SDA church leaders without a conscience!

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