Thank you for a clear and informative essay. I do not attend church, but I understand Jesus' teachings because I was raised with them. They are the opposite of what we're hearing from the Christian Right/Nationalists. You've provided a clear foundation for why racism and bigotry are against those teachings and explained how the Bible has been distorted to fit bigoted claims. So I say again, thank you!
As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints I take issue with the author’s characterization that our church only allowed black people to hold the priesthood because President Carter threatened the tax exempt status of the church. There is no evidence to support this. The issue of blacks and the priesthood was a complex issue which has been resolved for many decades. Our church has since renounced and rescinded any previous statements or beliefs that were previously held. We teach that any form of bigotry or racism is unacceptable to God.
What a fabulous, intelligent, insightful article. Thank you!! I’d love to know if the author is still a practicing Catholic. We need more practicing Christians (all versions) who truly follow Jesus’ Word to help repopulate the religion and help our tarnished image, not to mention the world.
I grew up in a Christian home in the Bible Belt of the south. I have a strong foundation of love of God. But as I grew older I began to understand what I was being taught was for white American men. I forged on in my love of God. I went to a Baptist university and pursued my masters at a Baptist Seminary. It was there that it really began to click into place. I was a second class citizen. I spent years processing through this. It wasn't until I studied the book of Matthew that it became clear to me. No. These men had it wrong. The Jesus of the Gospels is not the Savior they had painted for me. I read a book by Dane Ortland titled Gentle and Lowly which completely blew my mind. I recommend it to anyone who has struggled with Jesus and who He came to love on. He came for me. A woman. An outcast. Someone snubbed by society. That's the God I follow and I encourage everyone to seek Him out. Not those who spew this venom that God only loves a few choice white men. Jesus would be hated today. And that is exactly why I love Him.
The entire time I was reading this I thought it was you writing these things and I was beyond astounded at a background I never knew existed for you😅.
I loved the article and I wonder each and every day how America has become so horrendous, I guess it ever has been but I was sheltered from it until my adult life. I have only known true hatred of people, races, women, etc with the advent of Trump’s ascendancy where truly supposed Christians are still following him though his list of sins grows daily
You’ve got me thinkin. Because there are plenty of people who don’t package them together, including the author’s father, but it seems like the bundling of religion with prejudice throughout history has been an easier sell. It’s hard to convince people to ignore their fears and embrace love for humanity. So do we judge a religion based on its text, its best adherents, or its worst adherents? There’s no reason to ignore any of those categories, and thus, sadly, we have to lump teachings about love with the results: a country that votes for hate. That doesn’t mean painting everyone with a broad brush, it just means that Christianity gets a bad rap until somehow they can clean things up in terms of how it gets weaponized.
Christianity can be a beautiful thing when it's focus is on love of neighbor ,but, for some all they see through their warped view of Christianity is it's love of hate for anyone who is not white.
This is an incredibly well written article and thank you for your insights. I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and want to comment on your thoughts on Joseph Smith and Brigham Young. No member of my church or I are sure why this happened. It is not something I will ever claim to understand in this life. But, by presenting our history in such a way, these comments risk painting current church theology and practice as racist. Our modern doctrine is anything but. Before you claim that I'm just proving the very eloquent point you made above, please see this article detailing our prophet recieving a peace prize at a HBCU, Moorehouse College: https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/morehouse-college-peace-prize-president-nelson
"The prophet’s five-year ministry is filled with urgings to love and respect everyone. At an event in 2018 celebrating the 40th anniversary of the 1978 revelation on the priesthood being extended to all races, he taught Latter-day Saints to “build bridges of cooperation instead of walls of segregation.”
20210614_104253_Nilsson_LES_2311.jpg
President Russell M. Nelson greets Yumeka Rushing, Chief Strategy Officer of the NAACP, prior to a news conference with NAACP leadership in the Church Administration Building on Temple Square in Salt Lake City on June 14, 2021.2021 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved.
Download Photo
President Nelson began building such bridges with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 2018 with a joint call for greater civility and racial harmony in society. At the 2019 NAACP convention in Detroit, the prophet said “we have a God-given responsibility to help make life better for those around us.” And he expressed his hope that “we may increasingly call each other dear friends” and “go forward doing our best to exemplify the two great commandments — to love God and love each of His children.”
The next year, in response to riots and violence throughout the United States, President Nelson condemned racism and plead for peace."
This is the same prophet who in nearly every message he ever gave to members of our church and community called for us all to be peacemakers. See his article in Time titled "We all Deserve Dignity and Respect" https://time.com/7315003/russell-nelson-dignity-respect/
This is a message and doctrine that is held and taught through all levels of the church.
Would love a list of citations for all your sources. Love the article. Want to be able to back up your claims as needed (source for Joseph Smith comments, your statistics, etc.)
Thank you! Excellent article, and we knew people exactly like John's grandfather. I so appreciate that the author makes his point to separate "Christian Nationalists" from truly faithful Christians who attempt to follow Christ's teachings. The danger of Christian Nationalism is not only the hate and racism, but others conflating the two groups, and assuming that anyone who is a Christian must be full of hate and racism.
Thanks for this well written piece on White Supremacy today, John. Their bigotry must be resisted and firmly rebuked when seen happening any where in our society through consistent rebuttals against their wrongheaded thinking while standing with the ones being hassled by them . Any reminder that can be offered to point them to the red letter quotes by our Lord would be appropriate when such a bible is available to do so. In the mean time , politically, we can still notify our reps of our thinking about the current state of affairs in our country by pushing for better legislation to benefit The Least of These that our Lord refers to while insuring a better balance of wealth for the middle socio economic groups in our country by taxing the rich in a more fair way to accommodate sustained equity among all of us in America now and for the future.
Amen. Well said. Love is always the answer. And Jesus was the most radical lover of all! We should be likewise. 🙏❤️
Thank you for a clear and informative essay. I do not attend church, but I understand Jesus' teachings because I was raised with them. They are the opposite of what we're hearing from the Christian Right/Nationalists. You've provided a clear foundation for why racism and bigotry are against those teachings and explained how the Bible has been distorted to fit bigoted claims. So I say again, thank you!
As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints I take issue with the author’s characterization that our church only allowed black people to hold the priesthood because President Carter threatened the tax exempt status of the church. There is no evidence to support this. The issue of blacks and the priesthood was a complex issue which has been resolved for many decades. Our church has since renounced and rescinded any previous statements or beliefs that were previously held. We teach that any form of bigotry or racism is unacceptable to God.
What a fabulous, intelligent, insightful article. Thank you!! I’d love to know if the author is still a practicing Catholic. We need more practicing Christians (all versions) who truly follow Jesus’ Word to help repopulate the religion and help our tarnished image, not to mention the world.
Good point, Meredith.
I grew up in a Christian home in the Bible Belt of the south. I have a strong foundation of love of God. But as I grew older I began to understand what I was being taught was for white American men. I forged on in my love of God. I went to a Baptist university and pursued my masters at a Baptist Seminary. It was there that it really began to click into place. I was a second class citizen. I spent years processing through this. It wasn't until I studied the book of Matthew that it became clear to me. No. These men had it wrong. The Jesus of the Gospels is not the Savior they had painted for me. I read a book by Dane Ortland titled Gentle and Lowly which completely blew my mind. I recommend it to anyone who has struggled with Jesus and who He came to love on. He came for me. A woman. An outcast. Someone snubbed by society. That's the God I follow and I encourage everyone to seek Him out. Not those who spew this venom that God only loves a few choice white men. Jesus would be hated today. And that is exactly why I love Him.
Thanks for that heart felt testimony, Kimberly
The entire time I was reading this I thought it was you writing these things and I was beyond astounded at a background I never knew existed for you😅.
I loved the article and I wonder each and every day how America has become so horrendous, I guess it ever has been but I was sheltered from it until my adult life. I have only known true hatred of people, races, women, etc with the advent of Trump’s ascendancy where truly supposed Christians are still following him though his list of sins grows daily
Some follow him because they love to hate and others follow him because they have bought into his lies.
Love is the force that grows us. I wish I could like this 1,000 times.
You said “and many of us have struggled with the impression that prejudice and Christianity seem to be a package deal.”
To me, the take home point of your article is that they are, in reality a package deal. It seems that was because it IS that way.
You’ve got me thinkin. Because there are plenty of people who don’t package them together, including the author’s father, but it seems like the bundling of religion with prejudice throughout history has been an easier sell. It’s hard to convince people to ignore their fears and embrace love for humanity. So do we judge a religion based on its text, its best adherents, or its worst adherents? There’s no reason to ignore any of those categories, and thus, sadly, we have to lump teachings about love with the results: a country that votes for hate. That doesn’t mean painting everyone with a broad brush, it just means that Christianity gets a bad rap until somehow they can clean things up in terms of how it gets weaponized.
Christianity can be a beautiful thing when it's focus is on love of neighbor ,but, for some all they see through their warped view of Christianity is it's love of hate for anyone who is not white.
This is an incredibly well written article and thank you for your insights. I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and want to comment on your thoughts on Joseph Smith and Brigham Young. No member of my church or I are sure why this happened. It is not something I will ever claim to understand in this life. But, by presenting our history in such a way, these comments risk painting current church theology and practice as racist. Our modern doctrine is anything but. Before you claim that I'm just proving the very eloquent point you made above, please see this article detailing our prophet recieving a peace prize at a HBCU, Moorehouse College: https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/morehouse-college-peace-prize-president-nelson
"The prophet’s five-year ministry is filled with urgings to love and respect everyone. At an event in 2018 celebrating the 40th anniversary of the 1978 revelation on the priesthood being extended to all races, he taught Latter-day Saints to “build bridges of cooperation instead of walls of segregation.”
20210614_104253_Nilsson_LES_2311.jpg
President Russell M. Nelson greets Yumeka Rushing, Chief Strategy Officer of the NAACP, prior to a news conference with NAACP leadership in the Church Administration Building on Temple Square in Salt Lake City on June 14, 2021.2021 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved.
Download Photo
President Nelson began building such bridges with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 2018 with a joint call for greater civility and racial harmony in society. At the 2019 NAACP convention in Detroit, the prophet said “we have a God-given responsibility to help make life better for those around us.” And he expressed his hope that “we may increasingly call each other dear friends” and “go forward doing our best to exemplify the two great commandments — to love God and love each of His children.”
The next year, in response to riots and violence throughout the United States, President Nelson condemned racism and plead for peace."
This is the same prophet who in nearly every message he ever gave to members of our church and community called for us all to be peacemakers. See his article in Time titled "We all Deserve Dignity and Respect" https://time.com/7315003/russell-nelson-dignity-respect/
This is a message and doctrine that is held and taught through all levels of the church.
Would love a list of citations for all your sources. Love the article. Want to be able to back up your claims as needed (source for Joseph Smith comments, your statistics, etc.)
Thank you for this essay!!
Thank you! Excellent article, and we knew people exactly like John's grandfather. I so appreciate that the author makes his point to separate "Christian Nationalists" from truly faithful Christians who attempt to follow Christ's teachings. The danger of Christian Nationalism is not only the hate and racism, but others conflating the two groups, and assuming that anyone who is a Christian must be full of hate and racism.
Thanks for this well written piece on White Supremacy today, John. Their bigotry must be resisted and firmly rebuked when seen happening any where in our society through consistent rebuttals against their wrongheaded thinking while standing with the ones being hassled by them . Any reminder that can be offered to point them to the red letter quotes by our Lord would be appropriate when such a bible is available to do so. In the mean time , politically, we can still notify our reps of our thinking about the current state of affairs in our country by pushing for better legislation to benefit The Least of These that our Lord refers to while insuring a better balance of wealth for the middle socio economic groups in our country by taxing the rich in a more fair way to accommodate sustained equity among all of us in America now and for the future.
Thank you for sharing this!
Amen.
This was one of the best books I’ve read in a long time.
Agreed! I have recommended it to so many people.