Months of America’s so-called “racial reckoning” appear to have changed little in the perceptions of a majority of Christian worshipers, according to new data from Barna Research. Comparing attitudes from July 2019 to July 2020, Barna found that “practicing Christians”…
It’s time to break the chains of slaveholder religion
I first came across the phrase “slaveholder religion” when I read the book by Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove titled Reconstructing the Gospel: Finding Freedom from Slaveholder Religion. The premise of the book is that America’s original sin of chattel slavery persists as…
A message to white Christian America: Remember the church at Sardis
I recently finished reading White Too Long: The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity, by Robert P. Jones, the CEO of Public Religion Research Institute. In that book, Jones comments about recent (2018 and 2019) public opinion survey responses from white…
What I learned about voter suppression while sitting in the Quiet Chair as a child
Summer visits to my grandmother’s farm included accompanying her to work decades before the Take Your Daughter to Work Day evolved. Her 25-plus-year career as the registrar of voters in a Louisiana parish populated by struggling farmers spanned the Jim…
Oregon is burning while most white Christians deny climate science
The smoke permeates everything. Even with every door and window closed tight. The whole house smells like smoke. This week, Oregon has erupted in wildfires. Nearly a million acres are burning, and unusual winds from the east have blown the…
Baptist Calvinists defend slavery of Southern Seminary founders
As some Black Southern Baptists urge their denomination’s flagship seminary to remove honors to enslavers, prominent white Calvinists associated with the school are defending not only the founders but even slavery.
I’m standing with the kneelers. Will you join me?
From the beginning, I’ve stood with the kneelers. It’s time for you to join me. The unnecessary furor began in August 2016 when the quarterback for the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers was joined by one teammate to take a knee…
Films on race can help us have hard conversations
In the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests around the country and across the globe, HBO Max announced earlier this summer that it was pulling the historical epic Gone with the Wind (1939) from the streaming lineup. Then it…
Lessons from a late summer pilgrimage
Walk the Walk was a walking pilgrimage of racial reckoning, resolve and love organized and supported by Red Letter Christians, Faith and Action, Vote Common Good, Greater Things, and the Truth and Conciliation Commission. Covering the 120 miles between Charlottesville,…