The Baptist denominational history is not unique in American Christianity. Virtually all of the major white mainline Protestant denominations split over the issue of slavery. For example, Northern and Southern Methodists parted ways in 1845, the same year as the Baptists, producing an additional spark for the tinderbox of Southern political secession. Whilte they disagreed …
Thank you Brian McLaren and Red Letter Christians!https://www.redletterchristians.org/healing-our-divides-why-this-matters/
Americans are good. In his July 2019 newsletter to his followers, evangelical leader James Dobson described a visit to the southern border of the United States during what can only be called an immigration crisis of epic proportions. After stating that many of the “illegals” who cross the border are “illiterate and unhealthy” and will …
The United States in the 1870s, 1880s, and 1890s was startlingly similar to today. Inequality, political polarization, social dislocation, and cultural narcissism prevailed – all accompanied, as they are now, by unprecedented technological advances, prosperity, and material well-being. The parallels are indeed so striking that the foregoing description could have been written virtually word-for-word about …
Americans have never had a monolithic view of Jesus, nor have they had a monolithic understanding of what Christianity is. In fact, so-called liberals and conservatives are miles apart when it comes to race. While it does not seem to be the case that evangelical conservative Christians are all Christian nationalists, what is clear is …
Baltimore, Ferguson, Charlottesville, Charleston. Trevon, Tamir, Sandra, Philando, and Freddie. Kaepernick, Serena, Barkley, and Lebron. White supremacy, white privilege, white fragility, and woke. “Hands up, don’t shoot.” “I can’t breathe.” Black Lives Matter. These are just some of the people, places, controversies, and catchphrases that have come to define the complexities of today’s conversation about …
How can we talk about race without the defensiveness, reflexivity, and scapegoating? Read More »
Recently my husband and I found ourselves as the only Black couple on a sea and land tour to Alaska and northern Canada. As retirees of the US government and academia respectively, we were quite accustomed to being “the only ones,” meaning being the only people of color in meetings, talks, and conferences. Yet what …
“We must put drug abuse on the run through stronger law enforcement,” Reagan said in the Rose Garden. It wasn’t drug abuse that was put on the run, of course, but people like me, born into this regime of “stronger law enforcement.” The stiffer sentencing policies for drug crimes – not a net increase in …
“Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.” Read More »
