I rarely crosspost old columns, but this year, I’m re-upping a relevant column I penned two years ago, which contains with one plea for white Christians: If we want to honor Rev. Dr. King and think honestly about ourselves, white…
Fighting racism requires Christians and non-Christians to work together, panelists say
Black Christians and Black unbelievers must overcome their mutual distrust and hostility in order to collaborate in addressing racism and other challenges facing African communities, scholars and religious leaders said during a two-day webinar, “(Dis)Belief: Reimagining the Religious Landscape of…
‘Genesis stories are never accidental’: A conversation with Robert P. Jones
Last week, I welcomed Robert P. Jones back to Baylor University for a conversation about race, religion, James Baldwin and American democracy. Jones was a keynote speaker for our first Baylor conference on racism in the church in 2021, and…
LBJ’s Great Society hurt Blacks more than slavery, Tim Scott declares
Lyndon B. Johnson’s “Great Society” has been more destructive to Black Americans than slavery or Jim Crow or segregation, according to the only Black Republican running for president. Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., made the statement during the Sept. 27 GOP…
First they came for them, then they came for us
First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out — because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out — because I was not a trade unionist….
SBC expels Oklahoma church over pastor’s racial impersonations
An Oklahoma church has been expelled from the Southern Baptist Convention because the pastor performed in blackface at a church event and impersonated a Native American woman at another. Matoaka Baptist Church in Ocheleta, Okla., was deemed “not in friendly…
Fear of dancing and the courage to be serious
On May 2, 1963, more than 1,000 students walked out of class in Birmingham, Ala. They gathered at Sixteenth Street Baptist Church to march downtown as part of the ongoing Southern Freedom Movement, of which Birmingham was the epicenter. Children,…
Rethinking Rufus
Four and a half years of living in Fort Worth was long enough for me to gain a greater appreciation of how much the Burleson family name is revered in Texas. I already knew this to be true in North…
Retired pastor’s book finds Methodist history ‘strangely lukewarm’ on confronting racism
If United Methodists are to fulfill the church’s current mission to dismantle racism, then its white members must come to terms with the denomination’s racist history, contends author John Elford. Elford’s conviction spurred him to write Our Hearts Were Strangely…
To understand white Christian nationalism, look to Doctrine of Discovery, Jones says
The historic fusing of Christianity and white supremacy is a moral and spiritual cancer eating at the body and soul of the American church, Robert P. Jones says in his latest book, The Hidden Roots of White Supremacy and the…
Progression or regression: Racism and women
He was tall, dark and handsome. As his ebony skin glistened in the sunlight, he looked like a Nigerian king. John Lawale was introduced to Jesus by the preaching of Josephine Scaggs, a Southern Baptist missionary from Sapulpa, Okla. She…
If CRT is a LIE, why are some people still illustrating its REALITY?
In 2023, in the land of the free and the home of the unreported perks of Supreme Court justices, the American Culture War seems to find a new front to defend or invade every day or so. At least it…