Warning: Politics, religion and beagles ahead. Author’s note: Three years ago this week, on a Sunday morning, I set down these words in a downtown Austin hotel after a white supremacist attacked the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh. This…
Seven things white Christians can do to address white supremacy at church
Since my book White Too Long came out in the summer of 2020, amid nationwide Black Lives Matter protests following the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police, I’ve had the privilege of speaking with dozens of predominantly white congregations and denominational…
White supremacy permeates U.S. life, scholar says
The issue of white supremacy in the United States is not confined to people of the past who spewed racial hatred, researcher and author Robert P. Jones told a Baptist gathering in Kentucky. “When most white people hear the word…
In praise of Shiprah and Puah and all their descendants
The Bible is full of women heroes, exemplars of courage. We do not give them attention, and very few end up in the stained-glass windows. Two of these heroes are Shiphrah and Puah, Hebrew midwives in Egypt during the Hebrews’…
Ruffled feathers: Wild Goose Festival is a case study in how hard it is to disentangle from white supremacy — even when you want to
Nestled within the lush bosom of North Carolina’s Pisgah National Forest lay the open fields of the Hot Springs Resort and Spa campground. Surrounded by mountains and bordered by the French Broad River, this inconspicuous little spot envelops all who…
Saving our churches from Dylann Roof’s white Jesus
Dylann Roof, the white Christian man who murdered nine African Americans during the closing prayer of a Bible study at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston in 2015, was back in the news recently after a federal appeals court upheld his conviction…
Facing the clear and present danger lurking among white evangelicals today
BNG is pleased to announce a new partnership with Robert P. Jones and PRRI that will bring a new column by the author to BNG’s site every Monday, beginning today. Earlier this month, we were in a remarkable space between…
Speaking truth to power means denouncing lying politicians and their preachers
In what will be one of the most memorable public exchanges between a U.S. senator and a witness testifying before the Senate in history, Anthony Fauci recently denounced Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky for falsely accusing him of lying to…
Nice white women participate in white supremacy too
The term “white supremacist” tends to elicit a stereotypical image of a raging, gun-toting, Confederate-flag-waving white man. The image is fueled by recent acts of extremism like the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Va., four years ago or the…