Megachurch pastor Louie Giglio of Passion City Church in Atlanta had some words to say<\/a> on Sunday, during a taped interview. They were definitely words. That is a thing you can say about them.<\/p>\n \u201cWe understand the curse that was slavery, white people do. And we say that was bad. But we miss the blessing of slavery \u2013 that it actually built up the framework for the world that white people live in and lived in. And so a lot of people call this white privilege and when you say those two words it just is like a fuse goes off for a lot of white people because they don\u2019t want somebody telling them to check their privilege.<\/p>\n \u201cI know that you and I both have struggled in these days with \u2018hey if the phrase is the trip up let\u2019s get over the phrase and let\u2019s get down to the heart. Let\u2019s get down to what then do you want to call it\u2019 and I think maybe a great thing for me is to call it white blessing. That I\u2019m living in the blessing of the curse that happened generationally that allowed me to grow up in Atlanta.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n As I said, those are words<\/em>.<\/p>\n Now is the point where I usually analyze words, and I am just \u2026. I am going to need to take a moment. If you stole from me and then called the money you stole a \u201cblessing\u201d because you didn\u2019t like it being called \u201ctheft\u201d I would have questions<\/em>.<\/p>\n Look, if Giglio can indeed convince people who are on the fence about white privilege even being a thing that they have benefited off of the stolen labor of African Americans,<\/em> that\u2019s a good thing! I don\u2019t know much about Giglio; maybe he really is being purely strategic here. But what I\u00a0don\u2019t buy <\/em>is\u00a0that this terminology switcheroo is actually going to do what he appears to claim it will do. This isn\u2019t how the word \u201cblessing\u201d functions in white evangelicalism<\/em>.<\/p>\n Within white evangelicalism, blessings are usually given by God. They aren\u2019t merited, necessarily\u2014they aren\u2019t something you earned<\/em>\u2014but they are<\/em> something God gives out himself, particularly to those who follow him. If God chose to bless white people, who are we to question him? You don\u2019t question a blessing, and you certainly<\/em> don\u2019t try to undo it.<\/p>\n I mean for god\u2019s sake, there are Bible verses that say this.<\/p>\n Proverbs 16:21\u2014\u201cGod blesses those who obey him; happy the man who puts his trust in the Lord.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Even Giglio himself views blessings this way<\/a>:<\/p>\n In\u00a0Not Forsaken, Pastor Louie Giglio invites us to understand the character of God in a life-changing way: as a perfect Father who wants you to live under the waterfall of His blessing.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Here\u2019s an excerpt from this book:<\/p>\n The waterfall of God\u2019s fatherly blessing<\/span> is not like one of those\u00a0thin, ribbon-like waterfalls you see on the side of the road while\u00a0driving through the foothills. It\u2019s more like Niagara Falls, or the great\u00a0Victoria Falls in Zambia. His love is a like a torrent, relentless a \u00a0unending, unconditional and pure, gently roaring His blessing<\/strong> over your life.<\/p>\n And His love is pouring down on you right now. If you close your eyes for a moment, can you picture it? Can you see yourself standing under a steady flow of love, smiling in the crashing foam of a perfect Father\u2019s blessing<\/strong>? In Christ, that\u2019s exactly where you are.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n I\u2019m going to go out on a limb and say that maybe\u2014just maybe<\/em>\u2014if you\u2019re going to describe white privilege \u201cwhite blessing\u201d you might first one to make sure you don\u2019t also<\/em> teach that God pours down blessings<\/em> on his children. Because really, all you\u2019re doing here is empowering white people to think that they got all this extra stuff because they and their ancestors followed God and were rewarded in return. With the stolen labor of black people.<\/p>\n Good god<\/em>\u00a0I can\u2019t get over how toxic<\/em> this is.<\/p>\n Just so we\u2019re clear, Giglio didn\u2019t state directly that \u201cwhite blessing\u201d was something poured out from God. But he talks all the time about God pouring out \u201cblessings\u201d so he clearly didn\u2019t think his analogy through\u00a0at all.\u00a0<\/em>Not thinking things like this through\u00a0is a big problem<\/em> if you have a huge platform and you go out there and spout off your half-baked thoughts in recorded interviews that you know<\/em> are going to be widely viewed. And\u2014because I don\u2019t want this to be missed\u2014Giglio actually uttered the phrase \u201cthe blessing of slavery.\u201d Those words should never be put together in that order.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cWe understand the curse that was slavery, white people do. And we say that was bad. But we miss the blessing of slavery.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n No. No, no, no, and again,\u00a0no.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Stolen labor obtained through gross violence and the destruction of families is not \u201ca blessing.\u201d It is\u00a0stolen labor obtained through gross violence and the\u00a0destruction of families. <\/i>The term \u201cblessing\u201d erases all of that ugliness. A \u201cblessing\u201d is something that just happens, something one grateful accepts and enjoys. A \u201cblessing\u201d isn\u2019t something one wrested from someone else, leaving a string of atrocities in one\u2019s wake to obtain. So much<\/em> is erased in the use of that word\u2014blessing.<\/em><\/p>\n You don\u2019t have to feel bad for being blessed. (Unless you\u2019re a rich influencer on Instagram; in that case, please stop tagging every one of your perfect photos with #blessed, it\u2019s getting old<\/em>.)<\/p>\n My ancestors owned slaves. They stole labor and destroyed families and, yes, they used that stolen labor to more solidly position themselves financially, and I benefit from that string of events today. But I don\u2019t view the fact that my ancestors tore families apart and forced people to work for them under threat of bodily harm as a \u201cblessing.\u201d Instead, I feel a deep shame for what my ancestors did. It boggles my mind that they could treat people they way they did; it fills me with a deep sense of mortification, chagrin, and humility. And a resolve, too\u2014a resolve to do better<\/em>.<\/p>\n There\u2019s a word Giglio might try using\u2014humility. Instead of encouraging his flock to see the fact that they have benefited off of slavery and Jim Crow as a \u201cblessing\u201d he might try urging white churchgoers who resist the term \u201cwhite privilege\u201d to humble themselves.\u00a0Humility.\u00a0<\/em>Why is Giglio so much quicker to run to the word\u00a0blessing\u00a0<\/em>than he is to the term\u00a0humility?\u00a0<\/em>Perhaps, more than anything else, Giglio\u2019s comments underscore ongoing problems in white evangelicalism\u2014problems that help explain why white evangelicals are having a particularly hard time grappling with our nation\u2019s legacy.<\/p>\n Note: The robbing of black America did not end with slavery. See this article<\/a> by Ta-Nehisi Coates to learn more. \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n