![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/543\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-mIIageQw9UE\/VRRUqp9JuHI\/AAAAAAAABVE\/npTd2ZYKS20\/s1600\/aar.jpg\")
<\/a><\/div>\nI am pleased to be a part of this panel. Led by R3 Contributor Daniel White Hodge<\/a>, we will meet as part of the 2015 Annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion (AAR) in Atlanta, Georgia. AAR will hold the panel\u00a0<\/span>Sunday, November 22, 2015 at \u00a09:00 AM-11:00 AM at\u00a0Marriott-International 1 (International Level). I hope to see readers of R3 there as this promises to be a fascinating and interesting panel.<\/p>\n Panel Theme:<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n From George Zimmerman\u2019s claim that \u201cit was god\u2019s plan\u201d that he murder Trayvon Martin, to Darren Wilson\u2019s racialized portrayal of Michael Brown as a Hulk Hogan like demon with superhuman powers to charge through bullets, to the silence among atheistic, humanist and free-thought communities as well as many (white) scholars of religion in response to the proliferation of state sanction murders of black and brown bodies at the hands of police and vigilante justice to claims that god is a \u201cwhite racist\u201d \u2013 religious and theological language has played a precarious role in shaping social, political and civic responses \u2013 some well-intentioned, some explicitly racist, some in the \u201cspirit\u201d of justice-making and seeking \u2013 but all seemingly undergirded by a counterintuitive logic that has failed to generate a critical conversation regarding \u201creligion\u2019s place\u201d in responding to these ongoing societal concerns. This paper explores the competing strategies, uses and tactics of religious and theological rhetoric that helps to mediate the various \u201coperational acts\u201d of competing methods of black social protest with an eye towards black skepticism and addressing the problem of \u201cevil\u201d in an age of political correctness.<\/span>
\n
\n<\/span>\n
\n<\/span>Ralph Watkins: Associate Professor of Evangelism and Church Growth, Columbia Theological Seminary<\/span><\/a>
\n
\n<\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/span>This paper looks at the response of the African American church to the series of deaths of African American males at the hands of the police. Specifically the response of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia that is led by pastor, Rev. Dr. Raphel Warnock is the focus of this paper. In response to the national crisis Pastor Warnock convened a gathering of national and local leaders for a conversation at Ebenezer Church. On that evening the United States Attorney General, Eric Holder, was the keynote speaker. The mayor Atlanta, Kasim Reed, Bernice King, Wyatt Walker and other dignitaries were also present and spoke as well. What was evident that evening was that there was a generational divide and an attack on the Black church by the young adults at the event. Aurielle Marie Lucier, the leader of young activist, Young People for (YP4) and Its Bigger Than You, walked out of the meeting after speaking and proceeded to go outside and hold a rally with her peers. Aurielle and her peers were not buying what the elders were selling. They saw this issue radically different than did the elders in the packed church that evening.<\/span>
\n
\n<\/span>This paper is supported by my video and still images that record the event. The still images and video support the argument the paper suggest about the divide between young adults and the African American church. The paper explores the reasons for this generational divide and suggest possible ways the institutional church can partner with young adult activist organizations to construct an activist agenda appropriate for the future of the institutionalized African American church. The paper explores the prophetic tradition of the African American church while raising the central question: Are the today\u2019s prophets living outside of the institutionalized church thus making us rethink what we label prophetic faith in this age?<\/span>
\n
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>Monica Miller, Assistant Professor of Religion and Africana Studies, Leigh University<\/span><\/a>
\n
\n<\/span><\/p>\n
\n
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>Andre E. Johnson, Assistant Professor of Communication at the University of Memphis<\/span><\/a>
\n
\n<\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/span>William R. Jones in his book \u201cIs God a White Racist\u201d challenged James Cone\u2019s liberation ethic that argued God was (and is) on the side of Black people because God is on the side of the oppressed. What Jones surmised was that the hell many black folks go through, surely this God, who Black folks continue to cry out to and wait upon, this God must be a white racist. Cone and his supporters had an answer\u2014God is not a white racist because we serve a black God. However, with the death of Michael Brown and the subsequent protests in Ferguson, many questioned the blackness of God. If God is Black, some may suggest that \u201cGod is an Uncle Ruckus.\u201d<\/span>
\n
\n<\/span>In this paper, I first examine the notion of a \u201cracist\u201d and \u201cblack\u201d God through the theologies of Jones and Cone. Second, in keeping with the spirit of the panel, I examine how God functions for some of the activists and protesters in Ferguson. Finally, by examining ways churches have responded, I argue that Ferguson has also opened up new avenues for the church to respond. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n