While I was at the Wild Goose Festival two weekends ago, I interviewed five people for our podcast Crackers and Grape Juice. I started with Alicia Crosby, the co-founder and co-director of the Center for Inclusivity in Chicago. In our interview, she talked a lot about expanding the concept of church. She makes the point that while Jesus spent some time in the temple, most of where he did church was in people’s houses and on the streets. Alicia and Morgan... Read more
Some United Methodists are overjoyed about the election of Karen Oliveto, our first openly queer bishop. Others are very upset about it. Those who are upset about it tend to be upset for two reasons. Conservatives think being a “practicing homosexual” is sinful. Moderates think any changes that happen to United Methodist polity need to follow the protocol of our General Conference process. I’ve spent most of my time responding to the first concern. What about the second concern? Should gay... Read more
Last night, the Western Jurisdiction of the United Methodist Church elected our first openly-queer bishop, Karen Oliveto. In her speech after her election, she talked about “moving onto perfection,” making a reference to United Methodism’s most important doctrine, Christian perfection, which we understand to be the goal of all holiness. I’m convinced that Bishop Oliveto’s election is part of how God is restoring Wesleyan holiness to the United Methodist Church. There are two primary places where the word “perfect” is... Read more
A new book is getting buzz all over social media this week: Robert Jones’s The End of White Christian America. It describes the way that white Christians (both Protestants and Catholics) are now in the demographic minority for the first time ever (47%). Data broken down by age shows that white Christians make up 67% of those over 65 and 29% of those 18-29. White Protestantism is where the shift has occurred, both in mainline and evangelical churches. While the mainline... Read more
Yesterday was the one-year anniversary of the death of Sandra Bland, a black woman who died in the Waller County jail in Texas in after being arrested under dubious circumstances. The circumstances of Sandra’s death say everything about how American Christianity has been made toxic by the idolatry of white male authority. I talked about this story in my book chapter “Outsiders Not Insiders,” so I figured I would share an excerpt on this grim anniversary. Sandra’s “sass” in responding to the... Read more
I have learned about three police killings of black people in the past 24 hours. I’m angry. I’m devastated. The footage leaves little room for ambiguity. I don’t know what kind of training the cops had. I don’t know what kind of faith background they had. What I do know is that white evangelical Christianity has a toxic conception of authority that shapes how we respond to incidents in which authority figures do evil. It all starts with the cross.... Read more
[The following is an interview conducted by Katie Andraski with independent filmmaker Richard Rossi about his new film Canaan Land that exposes the dangers of toxic Christianity] KA: Talk about your prior films. RR: Canaan Land is my third feature which will show the dangers of fundamentalism. My first was Sister Aimee, about faith healer Aimee Semple McPherson. My last film was Baseball’s Last Hero, about my childhood idol Roberto Clemente. Pope Francis was touched by it, and much has been... Read more
I’ve made a tradition every Fourth of July to share the gay black poet Langston Hughes’ I Too Sing America on my blog. To the degree that July 4th is really about celebrating all of America and not just white people, this is the most patriotic poem that has ever been written. It’s incredible that Langston Hughes would want to be part of a country that has brutally oppressed his people for centuries. It is Langston Hughes and the justice-seekers... Read more
There’s a paradox to the greatness of America. The people who make it great are not the ones who say that it’s great, but the ones who are working to make it better. There’s no point in having a democracy if the status quo is not under perpetual scrutiny and challenge. My favorite protest chant of all time was one that we came up with in front of the Saginaw, Michigan courthouse in March 2003 as the US was invading Iraq:... Read more
Thursday morning, I discovered Jennifer Mayers, an infamous internet troll sensation who blogs about her love for Jesus and her hatred of racial mixing, homosexuals, rape victims, mongoloid fetuses, and being in the same room as poor people. After a week of dismal traffic on my blog, fifteen minutes of cutting and pasting excerpts of Mayers’ material on my blog resulted in my first 20K day in at least a year. And honestly, it feels pretty disgusting. There’s an internet... Read more
Mercy Not Sacrifice
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