"When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir." Read more
"When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir." Read more
More troubling is the way the student doesn't seem to have integrated the subject into their larger understanding of America. They seem to regard racism as a blot on the surface of the nation and its laws, history, culture, religion, politics, etc., rather than as an elemental, ontological aspect of the nation's identity. Read more
The point is not that there would somehow be "repercussions" for the signatories of this statement, but that it was crafted in such a way as to avoid any possibility of such repercussions. It avoids controversy, even if controversy is just what is needed. Read more
That gap between who Buck Williams really is and who he imagines himself to be is not sustainable. At some point, maybe just out of the corner of his eye, Buck is going to catch a devastating glimpse of who and what he really is. That will be an epiphany he may not even survive. That realization really would give him the sweaty chills and set him pacing through the long, dark night. Read more
Spiritual meteorologists are meeting to decide which marginal group of "sinners" are to blame for Hurricane Harvey. (Stay safe, Gulf Coast.) Plus: Schlock TV; a right-wing pastor's daughter speaks out; and Benjamin Lay was a man of his time. Read more
I want to share another chunk of Drew G.I. Hart’s excellent little book, Trouble I’ve Seen: Changing the Way the Church Views Racism. This bit isn’t exclusively about the church and racial justice. Nor am I sharing this excerpt in response to any particular recent event in the news. But indirectly, this does have a great deal to do with both racial justice in the church and recent events in the news. It’s also maybe the most Anabaptist-y part of Hart’s... Read more
Alas, the evangelicals of the faculty lounge cannot speak for most white evangelicals. Even worse, the faculty lounge cannot speak to most white evangelicals. That's not something they've generally been able or allowed to do. Read more
OK, then, we think, we'll try not to do that. And we prepare ourselves for the possibility that at some point we'll be confronted with a stark, conscious, volitional choice between sin and not-sin, complete with a little devil on one shoulder whispering "Go ahead, commit racism" and a little angel on the other shoulder saying, "No, don't, just keep on not committing racism." Read more
It seems to be the one sin we are incapable of confessing, the one sin we refuse to allow ourselves to be accused of. Read more
“If any of it was true, all of it was true” seems to be simply another version of the fundamentalist insistence that if any of it is not true, then none of it is true. This is the house-of-cards implication fundies draw from their notion of biblical “inerrancy” which, again, has very little to do with the supposed inerrancy of what the Bible actually says and everything to do with their own alleged inerrancy as its interpreters. Read more
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