“Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” — James Baldwin I first learned of the ministry of Rev. John Onwuchekwa, lead pastor at Cornerstone Church, Atlanta, when a friend sent…
Q&A with Chris Sanders on unions, social justice and policing
Chris Sanders knows theology and law, and he’s an advocate both for labor unions and social justice. That blend of life experience and life passion makes for an interesting conversation these days — with the dueling demands of holding police…
Call to racial justice begins CBF General Assembly
A call to racial justice took center stage during the opening session of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship’s first-ever virtual General Assembly June 25.
I should have said, ‘Tengo un problema’ (I have a problem)
For far, far too long, white people in the United States have pretended to understand more than we understand, pretended that the problem is not as bad as it is, and pretended that it is not about us. Now we are lost and do not even know the language to get home.
‘Southern pride’ or racism? White Christians are compelled to discern the difference. And confess.
As commonly used, the term “Southern pride” is shorthand for a stubborn refusal to admit that the South, as a concept, is hopelessly enmeshed in the canons of white supremacy.
‘A shelter for conscience’ in a sea of racism: Black Churches Matter, too
We white Christians still have a lot to learn and a reprehensible past to lament. After 400 years, we’d better pray that black churches are still willing to teach us. And that we’ve got conscience enough to act on what we learn.
Blessed are the poor in spirit. Really? Have you not been watching the news?
I preached on the poor in spirit, because when I listened carefully it sounded like God saying we have to do better – as the church, as communities and as a nation.
As the white mother of a black son, calls for racial justice evoke something deep within me
My son is now raising black sons of his own. He fears for them, as I feared for him when he was a child and now fear for my grandchildren.
Trump’s latest obscenity, a contrived and vacuous photo op, has left a lasting impression
Just as Trump has not risen to the stature of the presidency, religious leaders who have blindly supported and defended him have not risen to the stature of their prophetic calling. A country cannot afford to have both king (president, in America’s case) and prophets fail all at once.
We can’t talk about racial justice without addressing the ‘value gap’
What the eruption of protests – and subsequent riots – across the nation shows is that for too long black bodies have been harmed and victimized by the past and present values of white supremacy.
I’m so weary of hearing ‘I’m sorry’ from white people. Just stop it!
White people can be exhausting partly because there is so much that they are ignorant of or unequivocally wrong about on crucial, literally life-and-death issues. And that gets old.
I can’t imagine the longsuffering patience of black people. I hope to understand their impatience.
The protests and demonstrations this time are different. They may be a sign that something really is changing, even with the longsuffering patience of the black community. At least I pray that is so.