Oct 15 6:07 PM

Asian Americans pen open letter to evangelicals on 'offensive' stereotypes

Saddleback Church, California. (AP/Nick Ut)
AP2008
The Stream (Al Jazeera)

Asian American community leaders have written an open letter to the North American evangelical church citing "repeated and offensive racial stereotyping" of Asian Americans.

The letter was prompted by two recent incidents involving prominent evangelical pastor Rick Warren that some in the Asian American community said were racially insensitive and offensive. In September, Warren was criticized for a Facebook photo he posted of a member of the Red Guard during China's cultural revolution with the tagline "The typical attitude of Saddleback Staff as they start work each day." Warren initially defended the post as humor, but later apologized and removed the post after much backlash.

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