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Why White Evangelicalism Is So Cruel
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I found a really interesting article:
www.politicalorphans.com...
It was first published by forbes, but then taken down a day later according to the website I found it on. Forbes provided an explanaiton at to why it was taken down here:
www.politicalorphans.com...
But, it would explain some of what we see in the world today so I thought I would share it with you and maybe discuss it if some are interested.
This idea that the years of slavery in the south could have warped the religion and churches like this is something I never fully explored. I just thought that the christian right had sold a part of their soul recently in a quest to get more political power, so they were willing to overlook the many not so moral characteristics of trump.. but after reading this, I have to wonder, did they sell off most of their soul long before this, and what we are seeing now is just the grand finale?
www.politicalorphans.com...
It was first published by forbes, but then taken down a day later according to the website I found it on. Forbes provided an explanaiton at to why it was taken down here:
www.politicalorphans.com...
But, it would explain some of what we see in the world today so I thought I would share it with you and maybe discuss it if some are interested.
Such a casual attitude toward adultery and prostitution might seem odd from a guy who blamed 9/11 on America’s sinfulness. However, seen through the lens of white evangelicals’ real priorities, Jeffress’ disinterest in Trump’s sordid lifestyle makes sense. Religion is inseparable from culture, and culture is inseparable from history. Modern, white evangelicalism emerged from the interplay between race and religion in the slave states. What today we call “evangelical Christianity,” is the product of centuries of conditioning, in which religious practices were adapted to nurture a slave economy. The calloused insensitivity of modern white evangelicals was shaped by the economic and cultural priorities that forged their theology over centuries.
Many Christian movements take the title “evangelical,” including many African-American denominations. However, evangelicalism today has been coopted as a preferred description for Christians who were looking to shed an older, largely discredited title: Fundamentalist. A quick glance at a map showing concentrations of adherents and weekly church attendance reveals the evangelical movement’s center of gravity in the Old South. And among those evangelical churches, one denomination remains by far the leader in membership, theological pull, and political influence.
There is still today a Southern Baptist Church. More than a century and a half after the Civil War, and decades after the Methodists and Presbyterians reunited with their Yankee neighbors, America’s most powerful evangelical denomination remains defined, right down to the name over the door, by an 1845 split over slavery.
Southern denominations faced enormous social and political pressure from plantation owners. Public expressions of dissent on the subject of slavery in the South were not merely outlawed, they were a death sentence. Baptist ministers who rejected slavery, like South Carolina’s William Henry Brisbane, were forced to flee to the North. Otherwise, they would end up like Methodist minister Anthony Bewley, who was lynched in Texas in 1860, his bones left exposed at local store to be played with by children. Whiteness offered protection from many of the South’s cruelties, but that protection stopped at the subject of race. No one who dared speak truth to power on the subject of slavery, or later Jim Crow, could expect protection.
Generation after generation, Southern pastors adapted their theology to thrive under a terrorist state. Principled critics were exiled or murdered, leaving voices of dissent few and scattered. Southern Christianity evolved in strange directions under ever-increasing isolation. Preachers learned to tailor their message to protect themselves. If all you knew about Christianity came from a close reading of the New Testament, you’d expect that Christians would be hostile to wealth, emphatic in protection of justice, sympathetic to the point of personal pain toward the sick, persecuted and the migrant, and almost socialist in their economic practices. None of these consistent Christian themes served the interests of slave owners, so pastors could either abandon them, obscure them, or flee.
www.politicalorphans.com...
This idea that the years of slavery in the south could have warped the religion and churches like this is something I never fully explored. I just thought that the christian right had sold a part of their soul recently in a quest to get more political power, so they were willing to overlook the many not so moral characteristics of trump.. but after reading this, I have to wonder, did they sell off most of their soul long before this, and what we are seeing now is just the grand finale?
Nice article OP. It’s a good point the author makes.
It is perplexing indeed that the fundies & the evies willingly overlook so much moral bankruptcy in the current administration. They’re convinced Trump will further their agenda. In reality Trump couldn’t care less what they want; he, like other GOP candidates, just wants their vote and will act the part to gain it.
If that crowd really chose to attend to the message of the New Testament, they might be doing some good in this world. Instead of helping those in need, they’d rather condemn people they think are violating some Old Testament law. You never read articles in the editorial page condemning the wealthy, despite what the New Testament has to say about it.
And when there’s a president who actually seeks to help people, they act like he’s the Antichrist. Obama couldn’t crack his knuckles without some hayseed thinking he was sending secret signals to the Muslim brotherhood.
It is perplexing indeed that the fundies & the evies willingly overlook so much moral bankruptcy in the current administration. They’re convinced Trump will further their agenda. In reality Trump couldn’t care less what they want; he, like other GOP candidates, just wants their vote and will act the part to gain it.
If that crowd really chose to attend to the message of the New Testament, they might be doing some good in this world. Instead of helping those in need, they’d rather condemn people they think are violating some Old Testament law. You never read articles in the editorial page condemning the wealthy, despite what the New Testament has to say about it.
And when there’s a president who actually seeks to help people, they act like he’s the Antichrist. Obama couldn’t crack his knuckles without some hayseed thinking he was sending secret signals to the Muslim brotherhood.
There is still today a Southern Baptist Church. More than a century and a half after the Civil War, and decades after the Methodists and Presbyterians reunited with their Yankee neighbors, America’s most powerful evangelical denomination remains defined, right down to the name over the door, by an 1845 split over slavery.
That is the ridiculous part. The Southern Baptist Church has absolutely nothing to do with either the Civil War nor slavery.
Just some inane loon trying to make a buck or 2 off the intensely gullible folk...
I guess in a way he succeeded. Got a thread here on ATS going....
edit on 3/13/18 by Gothmog because: (no reason given)
a reply to: nwtrucker
I believe that you've read enough of my posts to know that my interest in this goes beyond political agendas. maybe not, so let me explain something to you here.
I was a member of one of those fundamentalist churches of the south for a number of years during the 80's. that was about the time when the prosperity movement was taking off, and focus on the family was up and coming I believe. some of the men in the church started noticing that our pastor was rather old, would probably be retiring soon, so they started competing for the position while degrading and tearing down their competitors. they tore down my husband rather quickly and he left the church. he then felt like I should be home cooking him breakfast instead of in the church... and I heard one of the ladies claiming that well if he didn't want her to come to church.. maybe she shouldn't. I don't know if she was talking about me or someone else. but well... I now worship a goddess, not a god, the god I knew seems to have placed me in submission my husband, and even though that husband has passed on, I will not enter a church.
there is something wrong in the churches, or at least some of them. when one sees a man preaching and he turns into a wolf in front of their eyes...it's times to get out anyways.
I believe that you've read enough of my posts to know that my interest in this goes beyond political agendas. maybe not, so let me explain something to you here.
I was a member of one of those fundamentalist churches of the south for a number of years during the 80's. that was about the time when the prosperity movement was taking off, and focus on the family was up and coming I believe. some of the men in the church started noticing that our pastor was rather old, would probably be retiring soon, so they started competing for the position while degrading and tearing down their competitors. they tore down my husband rather quickly and he left the church. he then felt like I should be home cooking him breakfast instead of in the church... and I heard one of the ladies claiming that well if he didn't want her to come to church.. maybe she shouldn't. I don't know if she was talking about me or someone else. but well... I now worship a goddess, not a god, the god I knew seems to have placed me in submission my husband, and even though that husband has passed on, I will not enter a church.
there is something wrong in the churches, or at least some of them. when one sees a man preaching and he turns into a wolf in front of their eyes...it's times to get out anyways.
I'm an atheist so I don't really have a dog in the fight.
I think all religion is foolish.
But when I read the article and it says billy graham didn't take a strong stance on racism I have to call shenanigans.
He was very outspoken on the subject. A quick Google search is all it takes.
The times were different then and small positive steps are required.
After that I can't take the rest of the article too seriously as it comes across as nothing more than an attack on white Christians.
www.quora.com... -Rights-Movement
I think all religion is foolish.
But when I read the article and it says billy graham didn't take a strong stance on racism I have to call shenanigans.
He was very outspoken on the subject. A quick Google search is all it takes.
The times were different then and small positive steps are required.
After that I can't take the rest of the article too seriously as it comes across as nothing more than an attack on white Christians.
www.quora.com... -Rights-Movement
a reply to: Bluntone22
You know how it is, if it comes from the South, we are free to tie ourselves into logical Gordian knots trying to link it to racism and slavery because ... antebellum South and all.
You know how it is, if it comes from the South, we are free to tie ourselves into logical Gordian knots trying to link it to racism and slavery because ... antebellum South and all.
This seems like a far fetched 'insight' and yet another poor attempt at race baiting trying to tie everything to racism. Did the SBC originate from
a split during the civil war? ...Yes. So I guess thats a good reason to wash out and ignore 170 years of evolution in theology through thousands and
thousands of lives lived and learned in around this denomination
This pathetic article is about one thing, attacking the specific name of the church, simply because of the title 'Southern'. Which the article admits itself.
I'm from the south and have attended nearly every denomination of church in Christianity. The one time I attended a Southern Baptist Church, the first thing I noticed was that half the congregation was African American including the pastor.
...So again, what the hell is the point of this poorly informed article? They probably took it down when they realized there are many SBC's that predominately African American.
Despite the lefts virtue signaling noble attempts at attacking and erasing anything about southern culture stemming from the Civil War, many of us actually here resolved these issues and moved on generations ago.
This pathetic article is about one thing, attacking the specific name of the church, simply because of the title 'Southern'. Which the article admits itself.
I'm from the south and have attended nearly every denomination of church in Christianity. The one time I attended a Southern Baptist Church, the first thing I noticed was that half the congregation was African American including the pastor.
...So again, what the hell is the point of this poorly informed article? They probably took it down when they realized there are many SBC's that predominately African American.
Despite the lefts virtue signaling noble attempts at attacking and erasing anything about southern culture stemming from the Civil War, many of us actually here resolved these issues and moved on generations ago.
a reply to: rexsblues
I am guessing this is trying to write a script similar to the Dixiecrat one where "No Christians didn't use to be racist because they did do abolition, but see how now they're all in the South and the South is racist?" It's like how all the racist Democrats became Republicans which is also faulty reasoning but a very popular fallacy used all over to cover up the sins of Democrats past.
I'm not excusing the past in the South, but the past ... is in the past. It is not the modern day. There is, however, a vested interest in keeping it alive for all kinds of purposes.
I am guessing this is trying to write a script similar to the Dixiecrat one where "No Christians didn't use to be racist because they did do abolition, but see how now they're all in the South and the South is racist?" It's like how all the racist Democrats became Republicans which is also faulty reasoning but a very popular fallacy used all over to cover up the sins of Democrats past.
I'm not excusing the past in the South, but the past ... is in the past. It is not the modern day. There is, however, a vested interest in keeping it alive for all kinds of purposes.
a reply to: dawnstar
Fair enough. Yet you turn this to Trump. (And religion)
Without much thought, almost none, I can point out the fact is everything you point out in religion, southern or not, exists in every facet of life. In every family, business, on and on. It is a human condition.
Yet you position it with Trump, who's subject to the same human conditions as the rest of us, and religion. I get it, your hobby horse. Tell me the same didn't apply in both Parties nomination processes. In the election process, itself.
I don't excuse Trump's wavering of his moral compass in days past. (I do, however, excuse mine.) But I'm not going to fall into the same mechanism that you are using AND complaining about it at the same bloody time.
To wit, you are as guilty as the rest of us...welcome to planet earth....
Fair enough. Yet you turn this to Trump. (And religion)
Without much thought, almost none, I can point out the fact is everything you point out in religion, southern or not, exists in every facet of life. In every family, business, on and on. It is a human condition.
Yet you position it with Trump, who's subject to the same human conditions as the rest of us, and religion. I get it, your hobby horse. Tell me the same didn't apply in both Parties nomination processes. In the election process, itself.
I don't excuse Trump's wavering of his moral compass in days past. (I do, however, excuse mine.) But I'm not going to fall into the same mechanism that you are using AND complaining about it at the same bloody time.
To wit, you are as guilty as the rest of us...welcome to planet earth....
a reply to: dawnstar
Looks like a great article. As a proudly unemployed successful graduate of Harvard Div, take it from me, this is a dissertation topic, not a blog post on Forbes! The last thing those Forbes guys want to know is why so many of them are highly-functional psychopaths. Answer: because slave colony ancestors, skillful use of popular religion to fortify social strata, cultural history of alcohol and sex abuse within powerful families...Those old slaveholders and slavery advocates with pulpits were out-and-out BIBLICAL in their devilish sins and pious hypocrisies...that is a certainty.
There's your topic, Mr./Ms./Mrs. dissertation writer. Of course it's already been done somewhere, so one might have to tailor it a bit more -- e.g., confine to discussion of Southern Baptist ministries. There's probably a long paper trail of theological excursis in the historical record, since everyone knows them preachers hate to shut up!
Looks like a great article. As a proudly unemployed successful graduate of Harvard Div, take it from me, this is a dissertation topic, not a blog post on Forbes! The last thing those Forbes guys want to know is why so many of them are highly-functional psychopaths. Answer: because slave colony ancestors, skillful use of popular religion to fortify social strata, cultural history of alcohol and sex abuse within powerful families...Those old slaveholders and slavery advocates with pulpits were out-and-out BIBLICAL in their devilish sins and pious hypocrisies...that is a certainty.
There's your topic, Mr./Ms./Mrs. dissertation writer. Of course it's already been done somewhere, so one might have to tailor it a bit more -- e.g., confine to discussion of Southern Baptist ministries. There's probably a long paper trail of theological excursis in the historical record, since everyone knows them preachers hate to shut up!
Evangelicals don't all identify as Americans you know
Oh, that's right, Americans don't understand there are other people on the planet
Oh, that's right, Americans don't understand there are other people on the planet
a reply to: dawnstar
Absolutely..
Almost no one knows that the reason you have baptists and southern baptists is that both sides claimed with slavery was an acronym to god (baptists) and slavery was ordained by god(southern baptists)...
Imho it is arguably the most disgusting thing about modern religion is their willingness to keep the “southern” religious traditions..
Absolutely..
Almost no one knows that the reason you have baptists and southern baptists is that both sides claimed with slavery was an acronym to god (baptists) and slavery was ordained by god(southern baptists)...
Imho it is arguably the most disgusting thing about modern religion is their willingness to keep the “southern” religious traditions..
a reply to: Gothmog
Anyone with a history book knows that baptists/southern baptists specifically split over the disagreement about slavery..
Southern baptists said it was ordained by god, northern baptists said slavery was an Afront to god..
The southern baptists are right, slavery was/is ordained by god in the Bible..
The problem wasn’t the south’s interpretation. It was Christianity as whole.,
Anyone with a history book knows that baptists/southern baptists specifically split over the disagreement about slavery..
Southern baptists said it was ordained by god, northern baptists said slavery was an Afront to god..
The southern baptists are right, slavery was/is ordained by god in the Bible..
The problem wasn’t the south’s interpretation. It was Christianity as whole.,
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