Rhetoric Race and Religion
Here are the top posts for the week of July 6-12, 2015 on the Rhetoric Race and Religion Blog. We ask that you share this with others.
1. The Argument *Against* the Multicultural Church
If churches do enter into a journey of multicultural worship, it is essential that safe refuge be available for congregants of color. This is also why it is important that when such endeavors are undertaken, they not ultimately be headed by white pastors and leaders (and they so often are). It’s why we must hedge toward the marginalized culture in planning worship services and events, rather than compromising squarely in the middle. Because there is no ‘happy medium’ when one group is so disproportionately abused.
2. #BlackPastorChronicles: Welcoming (White) Strangers
by Earle Fisher (R3 Contributor)
AFTER getting a feel for our visitors, I IMMEDIATELY began to skim over my preaching manuscript in my mind…asking, “Am I going to say anything offensive to them? I know I can be a little edgy and unorthodox in my attempts to articulate the gospel on a grass roots and socially conscious level…. how many times do I have “white supremacy” in the manuscript? Can I say “nigga” or “damn” or “hell” today? The brother said he’s Baptist…is that Southern Baptist? He referenced the KJV… will they be taken aback by my use of the NRSV or references to the Message Translation or the EIV (Earle International Version – not published yet but helps me preach better!!!)? What if they get up and leave while I’m preaching?”
3. Charleston and the Role of the #BlackChurch
The black church’s mission has always been different than white churches. We preach salvation through Jesus Christ. That is primary. But the black church also has served community needs, psychological needs, help to mobilize political activism. There is also an aspect of social justice that is intrinsic to the black church. I was profoundly disappointed when I learned a Christian school in Cary NEVER, EVER talked about Ferguson, Eric Garner or Michael Brown to its student body! Fortunately, they did bring up Baltimore and its injustice in an English class and chapel. Social justice and black Christianity go hand in hand.
4. Faith and Forgiveness: Obama’s Political Theology
Lost on Graham was Obama’s articulation of grace that refused to let America as a political community off the hook for this act of racial violence. Obama squarely invoked the history of racial violence, racial subjugation, systemic oppression, voting rights, unjust public school systems, unconscious racial bias, and collective salvation. More importantly, he argued that we don’t need “more talk.” Far too often in the face of racial violence and unrest we retreat from messiness of public life in order to have more “conversations around the kitchen table.”
5. Confessions of a Woman Who Preaches: On Being a Sacred Listening Partner
I have walked with women who left home, left school, left church, left town…because some sadistic pervert violated their bodies.
I’ve taught bible studies about the silent abuse of women intertwined and ignored in sacred text. I’ve watched women run out of the room, burst into tears, and even experience mental regression because of the land mines in their memories.
I listened to stories of incest and molestation in childhood that is still bringing grown women to their knees. I’ve talked to prostitutes who first trick was someone who should have been the first to teach them their worth.
I’ve sat with women as they got rape tested and women who held their breath hoping they were not pregnant.
I’ve heard so much that I needed therapy to clear my head, heart, and soul.
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