I was raised in a brown evangelical church in a small, predominantly white town in central Texas. Our “mother” church was one of the many First Baptist Churches in the Texas Bible Belt. Our congregation was composed mainly of poor, uneducated, largely undocumented migrants from rural Mexico. And while we were a brown church, the Jesus we worshiped was white.
A gospel torn in two by a white Jesus
Among the unavoidable claims of the gospel is that those following in the way of Jesus will be wounded. The Way leads to abundance, but it is not painless. A false gospel — or a half-gospel — wounds, but not in a way that brings about healing. White Jesus wounds the body and soul of everyone he encounters, but lacks either the power or the gentle touch to bind up our wounds.
Out of Africa: White supremacy and the Church’s silence
At this moment in history, how can American Christians, themselves deeply divided over scripture, doctrine, sexuality, abortion, and other culture war accoutrements, foster a common compulsion to speak out against white supremacist fiction before it gains an even stronger implicit or explicit influence?
With little opportunity for youth and children — or almost anyone else — Christian community builds chances from the ground up
Helms Jarrell, co-director of the QC Family Tree intentional Christian community, had given crystal-clear instructions for the youth group’s annual trip to Boone, N.C. They had just hauled a van-full of Enderly Park teenagers up from Charlotte and the group…
2017’s top religion stories are a doozy
The year 2017 may not have been the biggest ever for religion news in the U.S. or the world, but it has to be close.
The death of Christianity in the U.S.
You might wonder if my condemnation is too harsh. It is not, for the Spirit of the Lord has convicted me to shout from the mountaintop how God’s precious children are being devoured by the hatred and bigotry of those who have positioned themselves as the voice of God in America.
Baptist historian at SBC seminary says Civil War monuments should be taken down
A Southern Baptist seminary professor says it is time for Civil War monuments erected decades after Gettysburg and Appomattox for the purpose of intimidating Southern blacks to come down. “I would advocate for the vast majority of Confederate monuments to…
Black Christians call for closer look at white supremacy
More than 400 Christian leaders have signed a document condemning white supremacy beyond the “alt-right” brand of hate recently seen in Charlottesville, Va., extending to more subtle forms of racism including white privilege.
‘The Cross and the Lynching Tree’: A broken gospel
It was a killing field, and accounts of those brutal murders make for heart-rending but necessary reading.
The curse of Ham: Black Baptists question their place in the SBC
A proposed resolution condemning the alt-right which was submitted to the Southern Baptist Convention last month included a reference to the “curse of Ham.” The statement eventually adopted by the SBC omitted the reference. And that’s a problem.
In annual meeting do-over, Southern Baptists denounce ‘alt-right’ white supremacy
The Southern Baptist Convention condemned white supremacy in a resolution adopted 24 hours after a mostly white resolutions committee initially rebuffed a black pastor’s appeal to allow the issue to make it to the floor.
Joining the resistance: A 100-day counter-agenda for the Church
The Christian movement has never been in a cozy relationship with empire and remained a healthy and vital movement. Rightly spoken, “Jesus is Lord” is always a statement of subversion to the empire’s rule. And there are no easy or…