The Black church can teach the white church that being a Christian and being anti-racist are one and the same thing, Ralph Douglas West, pastor of the Church Without Walls in Houston, told participants in a Baylor University conference last…
Return to the radical forgiveness and self-sacrifice of the gospel, Haddad says
The global church must atone for its promotion of racism and sexism in favor of the radical forgiveness and self-sacrifice of its founders, Mimi Haddad said during a recent anti-racism conference at Baylor University. “Today, we level a critique of…
Christians are preventing America from confession and repentance of racism
It is almost painful to listen to the verbal gyrations of Nikki Haley, who claims Christianity, trying to deny that America always has been, and continues to be, a racist country. Americans need to grow up past their childish fragility….
Politics, faith and mission: A conversation with Jemar Tisby
Jemar Tisby is one of America’s most important prophetic voices, a historian who teaches us how the American church has failed on issues of race and justice, who helps people who look like me wrestle with the truth. His books,…
Is God the partner of racists?
I am having trouble understanding, or making sense of, what I am hearing and seeing in this country. So many white people — and plenty of non-whites as well — are fully committed to the former president. Nothing he has…
Racism’s absurdity in light of the gospel
We’ve just celebrated Martin Luther King weekend. The great Baptist preacher, scholar and activist would have been 95 years old. We rightly honor him. The Civil Rights Movement led by King was not that long ago. We still live with…
Third Baylor conference on racism will address ‘The Truth that Will Liberate Us All’
BNG columnist Greg Garrett will host the final of a three-year sequence of programs on confronting racism in the white church and seeking God’s justice. The Feb. 15-17 event at Baylor University’s Truett Seminary — “The Truth that Will Liberate…
Sen. Tuberville and the ‘cleaners’ of American racism
The 1984 film Pulp Fiction features Harvey Keitel as Winston Wolfe, a fixer and cleaner. A fixer is a person who disposes of bodies; one who “cleans up” physical evidence of crime is also more specifically called a cleaner. America has a…
Beyond ‘I Have a Dream’: Meditations on Martin Luther King Jr.’s hard words for white Christians
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…