{"id":283,"date":"2014-12-06T07:43:00","date_gmt":"2014-12-06T07:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/12\/the-silent-black-megachurch-pastor-we-need-to-wake-up-yall.html"},"modified":"2015-04-29T20:49:32","modified_gmt":"2015-04-30T01:49:32","slug":"the-silent-black-megachurch-pastor-we","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/12\/the-silent-black-megachurch-pastor-we.html","title":{"rendered":"The Silent Black Megachurch Pastor: We Need To Wake Up, Y’All"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

by Crystal St. Marie Lewis<\/a>
R3 Contributor<\/span><\/p>\n


<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span><\/a>First Published in Window on Religion<\/a>\n

Like most of you, I\u2019ve been following news stories about Mike Brown, Eric Garner and Tamir Rice over the course of the past several weeks and days. I watched in horror as St. Louis County prosecuting attorney Robert P. McCulloch announced that Darren Wilson would not be indicted in Brown\u2019s death. I looked on with unspeakable grief as headlines flooded my social media accounts, all indicating that no charges would be filed against the officer who choked Eric Garner to death. I\u2019ve read with deep offense numerous stories seeking to criminalize twelve-year-old Tamir Rice.<\/p>\n

As I\u2019ve followed these stories via various news outlets and in the world of social media, I\u2019ve experienced a deep sensitivity to the phenomena of absence and silence. I\u2019ve paid special attention to the ways in which influential faith leaders are (or are not) using their platforms to call out the injustices which have diminished and even extinguished Black lives in America. Almost predictably, there are certain white pastors whose presences are conspicuously absent\u2013 but their silence is not my concern. Of greater concern to me is the silence of Black ministers, many of whom pastor megachurches consisting of thousands of African American Christians.<\/p>\n

For instance, it\u2019s impossible not to notice that the Facebook and Twitter pages belonging to T.D. Jakes (which currently host 3.85 million and 1.68 million followers respectively) are devoid of references to the deaths of Brown, Garner and Rice. The same is true for the heavily-followed social media accounts belonging to folks like Creflo Dollar, Frederick Price and Juanita Bynum. However, abundantly distributed on all of their accounts are posts inviting devotees to \u201cpress into their anointing,\u201d \u201cgo to the next level,\u201d \u201cdefeat the devil,\u201d and of course\u2014 buy a new book or register for the next conference.<\/p>\n

You may feel tempted to dismiss those named here as low-hanging fruit\u2013 but before you do, please consider this: These \u201clow-hanging fruit\u201d are operating the most successful church model(s) in the country today. They have a certain something that pastors all over the country have been trying to cultivate and duplicate: Credibility. Broad Appeal. Undeterred Followers. Staying Power. They are the empowered few\u2014wielding television and media reach, but yielding little in terms of advocacy at a time when compelling mobilizers are needed more than ever. I think it\u2019s more than fair to ask why the people who are arguably the Black community\u2019s most influential religious leaders have had little if anything to say about issues that impact our lives so profoundly.<\/p>\n

And so, in recent weeks I\u2019ve felt repeatedly drawn to consider what it means for high-profile Black religious figures who have captive audiences of thousands of people (diverse populations, no less) to forfeit their prophetic mantle when Black folks most need their ministry.[1]<\/a> I\u2019ve thought about the state of Christianity in America, and the ever-growing need for the justice-centered message of Jesus to overtake and supplant the self-centered message of salvation that has come to dominate Protestant theology. And unceasingly, I\u2019ve ruminated on the degree to which \u201cReligion is the opiate of the masses\u2026\u201d[2]<\/a>\u2019\u2014that is, I\u2019ve thought about the condition of our collective consciousness as religious Black folks. At times, it does indeed seem as though we\u2019ve been sedated\u2014as if we\u2019re asleep. I\u2019ve wondered whether the success of the new civil rights era will require religious Black people to abandon the prosperity preachers who \u201ccry out \u2018Peace, peace!\u2019 when there is no peace\u2026\u201d[3]<\/a><\/p>\n

What does it mean to succumb to sedation at the hands of religious leaders who are more concerned with taking us to some nondescript \u201cnext level in God\u201d than they are concerned with the level of oppression we experience? What is the cure for this kind of sedation? Can we wake up?<\/p>\n

_______<\/p>\n

References:<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> By \u201cprophetic,\u201d I\u2019m speaking to the responsibility to call an oppressed people into freedom, and not to the practice of telling people that God is getting ready to give them a new house, car or husband\/wife. Yes, I have very strong opinions about the latter, but this article is not the appropriate space in which to air those concerns.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Karl Marx said this.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> \u201cFrom the least to the greatest, their lives are ruled by greed. From prophets to priests, they are all frauds. They offer superficial treatments for my people\u2019s mortal wound. They give assurances of peace when there is no peace.\u201d Jeremiah 6:13-14<\/p><\/span><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Crystal St. Marie LewisR3 Contributor First Published in Window on Religion Like most of you, I\u2019ve been following news stories about Mike Brown, Eric Garner and Tamir Rice over the course of the past several weeks and days. I watched in horror as St. Louis County prosecuting attorney Robert P. McCulloch announced that Darren […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Silent Black Megachurch Pastor: We Need To Wake Up, Y'All<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"by Crystal St. Marie LewisR3 ContributorFirst Published in Window on ReligionLike most of you, I\u2019ve been following news stories about Mike Brown, Eric\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/12\/the-silent-black-megachurch-pastor-we.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" 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