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 by Katelin Hansen 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... Read more
Below are some reflections from friends of R3 on both the Confederate Flag and Bill Cosby. If you have a small reflection on an issue or topic of the day, please share it with R3 at [email protected] Doctah Lele I didn’t think I would be so emotional watching the #Confederate flag’s removal. But then, I should think it not strange. The ancestral blood of my Lowcountry peeps ripped from the shores of the West Indies and West Africa still runs warm in... Read more
Here at R3, we want to highlight some of the digital humanities and archival projects that focus of rhetoric race or religion. If you have a digital project focused on any aspect of rhetoric, race, or religion, please share them with us here at R3. Today’s Post: The Henry McNeal Turner Project directed by our managing editor and founder Dr. Andre E. Johnson by Andre E. Johnson I discovered Henry McNeal Turner by accident. While starting a seminar class in... Read more
**TRIGGER WARNING I have served in some sort of ordained ministry for the past 9 years. There has not been even one year when I did not find myself having sacred conversations with multiple women who have been sexually, psychologically, physically, or spiritually abused…and sometimes it was all of the above. I have covenanted as a sacred listening partner (I am not a counselor and I do not use that word for pastoral conversations) far too many women to count... Read more
Here are the top posts for the week of June 29-July 5, 2015 on the Rhetoric Race and Religion Blog. We ask that you share this with others. 1. The Argument *Against* the Multicultural Church by Katelin Hansen 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... Read more
*Note: This post is a response to a friend’s sincere question about how she needs to address her community in regards to the events in Charleston. She wanted to know more specifically how she should describe and talk about the Black Church when most of her friends worry that the Black Church is symbolic of how we continue to focus on things that separate us. Shauntae Brown White offered this response. The term “black” (HBCU, church, school) is usually in... Read more
We had some unexpected guests today at Abyssinian Missionary Baptist Church. A white couple celebrating their 26th wedding anniversary in Memphis (who were from Michigan and were staying at the Heartbreak Hotel) came through ABC for Sunday Worship service. The husband called the church in advance and asked “How far are yall from the Heartbreak Hotel?” (reread that with a peculiar white accent…not quite redneck but surely not Bill Moyers either)….. Upon hearing about this I immediately walked outside to see... Read more
In recognition of the 100th anniversary of the death of Bishop Henry McNeal Turner (February 1, 1834-May 8, 2015). Turner challenged his fellow Bishops as well. In writing about the ministerial appointment process, Turner cautioned Bishops to ignore appeals from ministers who do not have any “soul saving” in them. The sooner the Bishops of the A.M E. Church ignore all appeals for the return of pastors that do not have any soul-saving in them, the better. The argument... Read more
Here at R3, we want to highlight some of the digital humanities and archival projects that focus of rhetoric race and religion. If you have a digital project focused on any aspect of rhetoric, race, or religion, please share them with us here at R3. Today’s Post: The White Glove Project directed by Dr. Melody Lehn In an address to the American Newspaper Publishers Association in 1987, Nancy Reagan offered the following assessment about the unique role that first ladies... Read more
The reaction of some conservative Christians to recent political events in the US continues to interest me. The vitriol and defiance directed against the SCOTUS for its decisions on same-sex marriage and the Affordable Care Act, the silence or dissembling amidst the upsurge of racial terrorism, the angst over the Confederate flag, and other developments are feeding on a fear that is bordering on paranoia for some folks. There’s an emerging theme among the disaffected that we are about to... Read more
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