Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation

Book Review of: Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Liveright Publishing Corporation, 2020, 356 pages WN: This is one of the few times I also posted a book review to this Blog. This is a highly disturbing–and informative–book. In an interview with Religion […]

Extensive Commentary On: What white Christian support for Trump reveals about systemic racism

By Robert P. Jones | November 12, 2020 WN: Beyond tragic the pullquote to the right, this means four-fifths of American white evangelical Christians subscribe to “heresy” (an opinion, doctrine, or practice contrary to the truth—Merriam-Webster). And this not limited to America! And many religious white non-evangelicals (Catholics, mainline Protestants, other faith members, etc.) also are […]

Thoughts on: “White People Explain Racism to Me”

By Elie Mystal Twitter November 15, 2021 photo above: (Fizkes / Shutterstock) WN: We Whites, lacking the lifelong experiences described in the article highlighted below, just don’t begin to get it. Anymore than a victim of serious and violent crime knows no one but others similarly harmed really get it. The next best, which is […]

Josh McDowell steps back from ministry after controversial remarks on black families

By Michael Gryboski, Christian Post Reporter September 23, 2021 photo above: Josh McDowell speaks at Talbot Chapel at Biola University in California on January 21, 2020. | YouTube/Biola University WN: Meanwhile, 82 years and 150 books in, Christian “intellectual” McDowell has finally learned something about Black History in America? Thank God we’re never too old […]

How Tucker Carlson became the voice of White grievance

By Michael Kranish July 14, 2021 photo above: patheos.com WN: What does one do with such elite entitlement; with such endless prevarication; with such premeditated blindness/deafness? In short, with such just plain awfulness?! Mark 8:18 and John 12:38 – 41 in Jesus’ words are pointers to a response: Do you have eyes but fail to […]

After Attempted Coup, We Must Fight White Supremacy and Sow Revolutionary Love

After Attempted Coup, We Must Fight White Supremacy and Sow Revolutionary Love By adrienne maree brown, Truthout January 10, 2021 Photo by Vlada Karpovich from Pexels WN: These are beautiful words, and a call to “revolutionary love” not only for fellow Blacks, but for all–Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Beloved Community”. All I can add: Amen!!! […]

The TSN anchor is a proud voice for the Black community

Kayla Grey is using her platform to fight racism By Claire Sibonney October 5, 2020 WN: The article highlighted below is immensely hopeful! With all colours represented in our extended family, my greatest yearning is that the world over be inflicted with an enduring colour-blindness. Sadly it needs to start in that same extended family, […]

George Yancy: To Be Black in the US Is to Have a Knee Against Your Neck Each Day

By Woojin Lim,Truthout Published July 18, 2020 photo above: reddit.com WN: A close relative saw the post, The Case for Reparations, ((a long essay about the history of Black repression in the U.S.),  and in response merely indicated that these things happen and moved on  . . . Another close relative who did not read […]

Black Toronto residents 20 times more likely to be shot dead by police, study says

Black people made up 61% of cases where police used force that resulted in death, Ontario human rights commission report said Leyland Cecco in Toronto Mon 10 Dec 2018 photo above: rt.com WN: The article from a year and a half ago highlighted below was brought to mind by today’s “Trudeau: Canadians watching US unrest […]

Jesus Was Not White. Here Is Why Recognizing That Matters

Newsweek Newsweek Europe 2018-03-31   by: Robyn J. Whitaker photo above: © Provided by IBT Media (UK) Depictions of Jesus WN: Racial bias is overwhelmingly problematic in Western Christianity. Change must surely start with the “most radical of all” proposals according to the article highlighted, “if we were more mindful that the person Christians celebrate […]

Why I’m no longer talking to white people about race

For years, racism has been defined by the violence of far-right extremists, but a more insidious kind of prejudice can be found where many least expect it – at the heart of respectable society Listen to the audio version of this long read Tuesday 30 May 2017 05.30 BST (Last modified on Wednesday 31 May 2017 […]

White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo

International Journal of Critical Pedagogy, Vol 3 (3) (2011) pp 54-70 ©2011 International Journal of Critical Pedagogy Permission to quote from paper granted by the author, Dr. Robin diAngelo WN: In our immediate family, we have a non-white daughter and daughter-in-law, a non-white nephew and his non-white partner, and two non-white grandsons. As I reflect […]

The Racial Wealth Gap Is Leading to An Almost-Nonexistent Middle Class

With people of color projected to make up the majority of Americans by 2043, a new study warns against policies that keep many black and Latino households out of the middle class by Julia Conley, staff writer, ips-dc.org excerpts: image above: 10 Practical Steps to Bridge the Racial Wealth Gap – Institute for Policy Studies […]

White Supremacy Is Anti-Gospel. I’m Glad the Southern Baptist Convention Agrees

WN: I copied the entire article below. It is about an historic decision by the Southern Baptist Convention. Russell Moore has been the head of the (SBC) Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission since 2013. As you can see from the links, he has been an amazing voice within those ranks for actually […]

The Average Black Family Would Need 228 Years to Build the Wealth of a White Family Today

Just as past public policies created the racial wealth gap, current policy widens it. By Joshua Holland AUGUST 8, 2016 WN: The poor are invariably blamed for their poverty. This article, applicable to other “democracies,” challenges this perverse blaming of victims. excerpts: [su_dropcap]I[/su_dropcap]f current economic trends continue, the average black household will need 228 years to […]

Comments On: Amazing Disgrace

By Sarah Posner Illustration above by Brian Reedy. Think of the illustration in conjunction with this hugely ironic quote, one that said far more about Christian Nationalist sentiment than the good reverend knew: “We put God right at the center of the White House.” —Paula White, speaking at an Evangelicals for Trump event at Solid […]

Why I Oppose the Death Penalty

WN: I was invited to dialogue with Dr. Richard Land of (later) “The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission” of the Southern Baptist Convention. The dialogue was organized by the Presbyterian Church in Alaska because debate was heating up in a state with no death penalty on the books. (Since the death penalty’s abolition in 1957, […]

Commentary on: “The Invention of Thanksgiving”

By Philip Deloria November 18, 2019 image above: The Indians who joined the mistrustful Pilgrims, Wampanoag tradition suggests, were honoring a mutual-defense pact. Illustration by Rui Tenreiro WN: If the article highlighted below shocks the reader, I suggest gently that you have grown up on a different planet . . . It is a story […]

Commentary on: “Gomez, painting Catholics as victims, goes after his woke oppressors”

Nov 10, 2021 by Thomas Reese, Religion News Service Opinion Politics photo above: Wikipedia WN: I felt gobsmacked by the Archbishop’s earlier speech. More: I felt embarrassed to identify as a Christian alongside such seeming anti-Christ sentiments (though I’m not Roman Catholic). As I read that article, I kept thinking, surely he’ll pull up from […]

How America Fractured Into Four Parts

By George Packer July/August 2021 Issue The Atlantic image above: Lucy Jones WN: Wow! The essay is stunning as it is brilliant. At least read my excerpts below. Better though, purchase the book it is excerpted/adapted from: Last Best Hope: America in Crisis and Renewal. It challenges understanding about America’s past and present place in […]

9/11 was a test:

Essay by Carlos Lozada Illustration above: by Patrik Svensson Sept. 3, 2021 WN: Below are excerpts from an outstanding essay by a Pulitzer Prizer winner for criticism in 2019. But the last lines, though intended to be hopeful, ring perversely hollow–especially given what one can read on this website about the horrors of American Expansionism/Exceptionalism/Empire: […]

Opinion: Nikole Hannah-Jones just proved the correctness of critical race theory

Opinion by Paul Butler Contributing columnist July 8, 2021 photo above: Nikole Hannah-Jones during an interview in Brooklyn on Tuesday. (John Minchillo/AP) WN: The highlighted article is all tragically true. excerpts: Nikole Hannah-Jones, and the epic failure of the University of North Carolina to recruit the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist to its faculty, just proved the […]

Compliance Will Not Save Me

April 19, 2021 Ibram X. Kendi, Contributing writer at The Atlantic photo above: Charmaine Edwards (left) speaks to supporters during a protest outside a courthouse in Dallas in 2017. Her stepson, Jordan Edwards, was a 15-year-old in Balch Springs, Texas, when he was shot and killed by police. LM Otero/AP WN: According to The Washington […]

Frederick Douglass’ Hope

Gerald McDermott January 25, 2021 WN: This highlighted article is about challenge and hope. excerpts: [su_dropcap size=”5″]I[/su_dropcap]n January 1862 Frederick Douglass, former slave who became America’s greatest socio-political prophet of the nineteenth century, declared that America was facing Armageddon. “The fate of the greatest of all Modern Republics trembles in the balance.” God was in […]

Is This the Beginning of the End of American Racism?

Is This the Beginning of the End of American Racism? Donald Trump has revealed the depths of the country’s prejudice—and has inadvertently forced a reckoning. by Ibram X. Kendi September 2020 Issue Ideas image above: The Atlantic WN: I love the ironic optimism of this piece! As you will see excerpted in context below, I […]

Two more reasons Kamala Harris as VP will be a historic milestone for our nation

Ian Reifowitz  for  Community Contributors Team November 07, 2020 photo above: people.com WN: The article highlighted is immensely hopeful! An emphatic Amen! excerpts: Editor’s Note, Nov. 7, 2020: Kamala Harris and Douglas Emhoff are officially going to be the nation’s first Second Family. As you may have heard, Sen. Kamala Harris would WILL be a historic vice president. […]

The Unraveling of America

by Wade Davis August 6, 2020 Wade Davis holds the Leadership Chair in Cultures and Ecosystems at Risk at the University of British Columbia. His award-winning books include “Into the Silence” and “The Wayfinders.” His new book, “Magdalena: River of Dreams,” is published by Knopf. WN: This is an exceptional article! There is however a […]

The Case for Reparations

Two hundred fifty years of slavery. Ninety years of Jim Crow. Sixty years of separate but equal. Thirty-five years of racist housing policy. Until we reckon with our compounding moral debts, America will never be whole. Story by Ta-Nehisi Coates June 2014 Issue WN: NOTE: This piece appeared in The Atlantic  6 years ago. It […]

Why this ‘genius’ scholar is mapping out the world’s largest jail system

photo above: Kelly Lytle Hernández, who received the MacArthur ‘genius’ grant, views prison abolition through the eyes of rebels Fri 11 Oct 2019 by Sam Levin WN: In a revised forthcoming publication by Wipf and Stock Publishers, namely Volume One of Justice That Transforms, I write: Longtime Restorative Justice promoter Howard Zehr once directly critiqued […]

It Has Long Been Past Time To Take A Stand

July 16, 2019 by Henry Karlson image above: GDJ: Stop Racism / Pixabay WN: Trump is doing great evil in America and across the world. Every Christian pulpit in the nation — and beyond — should be declaring with Amos, Micah and Jesus: Instead, I want to see a mighty flood of justice, an endless […]

Tribunal Declares Trump and Duterte Guilty of Crimes Against Humanity

Tribunal Declares Trump and Duterte Guilty of Crimes Against Humanity By Marjorie Cohn, Truthout Published March 14, 2019 photo above: CNN Politics WN: The article highlighted below describes a continuing horror story… Lord, have mercy. Then, I must confess that this article makes me hopping furious for another reason! I’m livid about the majority of […]

A Centuries-Old Idea Could Revolutionize Climate Policy

[irp]A Centuries-Old Idea Could Revolutionize Climate Policy The Green New Deal’s mastermind is a precocious New Yorker with big ambitions. Sound familiar? Robinson Meyer Feb 19, 2019 illustration above: John Trumbull / Caitlin Ochs / Eric Vidall / Reuters / Thanh Do / The Atlantic WN: The Deal continues to sound hopeful! However, as we […]

Millennial Evangelicals Diverge from Their Parents’ Beliefs

The separation of families at the border, climate change, and various progressive causes have galvanized young Christians. By Eliza Griswold August 27, 2018 WN: I have a white Canadian Evangelical friend who expresses being fed up with white Evangelical-bashing — in particular towards white Evangelicals south of the border1. I argue on the contrary that […]

Pope revises catechism to say death penalty is ‘inadmissible’

Commits the church to working toward its abolition worldwide1 Aug 2, 2018 by Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service Theology   photo above: Pope Francis gestures before speaking about the death penalty at an event marking the 25th anniversary of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, at the Vatican in this Oct. 11, 2017, file photo. […]

The Last Temptation

How evangelicals, once culturally confident, became an anxious minority seeking political protection from the least traditionally religious president in living memory Michael Gerson April 2018 Issue Politics WN: This is a greatly informed, wise and even hopeful assessment of what has happened to white Evangelicals in America since their embrace of Trump (81% voted for […]

Don’t Just Protect Affirmative Action From Trump—Demand More

Racism’s economic effects are pernicious.​ August 24, 2017 By Bryce Covert WN: Similar realities obtain of course in Canada. Please see for instance a trilogy edited by Steve Heinrichs of Mennonite Church Canada. Affirmative action – railed against by a close family member – is a drop in the bucket for what is needed. As the […]

We Are the 99 Percent—Except for the Top 20 Percent of Us

 In a new book Dream Hoarders, Richard V. Reeves argues that members of the upper middle class, not just the ultra-wealthy, are making our society profoundly unequal. By Bryce Covert JULY 3, 2017 WN: What the author calls for in the article highlighted below is what biblical Jubilee Justice repeatedly heralds: that for everyone “enough should be […]

Obama: a Hollow Man Filled With Ruling Class Ideas

Obama: a Hollow Man Filled With Ruling Class Ideas JUNE 2, 2017 by PAUL STREET WN: The review below of the recent massive biography of Barack Obama is scathing with reference to Obama’s supreme narcissism (matching Trump’s one could argue, though not in constant bombast). Paul Street powerfully demonstrates how Obama, in a long line […]

Trump Revives a Shameful Tradition: Targeting a Minority Group with Crime Reports

February 8, 2017 What the author is describing is scapegoating, ubiquitous in human cultures and history. René Girard, recently deceased, is the dominant modern theorist in this regard. For more on scapegoating violence and Girard on my website, please see amongst others this and this. (You will also see below each article  related posts highlighted.) […]

Donald Trump’s Acceptance Speech Reconfirmed His Fascist Authoritarianism

Friday, 22 July 2016 05:14 MARK KARLIN, EDITOR OF BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT an excerpt:   “Law and order” were the key code words for Nixon’s Southern strategy that finalized the conversion of the deep South from voting Democratic in presidential elections to voting Republican. The words sent the message that Nixon would seek to keep […]

State Terrorism and Racist Violence in the Age of Disposability: Expanded Version

Sunday, 10 July 2016 00:00 By Henry A. Giroux, Truthout | Op-Ed photo above: Demonstrators record a crowd of police officers on hand in New York’s Times Square, where a large crowd protested after fatal police shootings in Louisiana and Minnesota, July 7, 2016. (Photo: Christopher Lee / The New York Times) an excerpt: Note […]

Race in the US: What if your identity was a lie?

Features Racism 21 August 2015 @JohnMetta John Metta is a writer on racial issues in the US. Caption beneath above image: “There was a deep anger in my father …. ‘We are Indian,’ he said, pointing toward the street, ‘but out there, I am just a black man’.” [Samar Zureik] Powerful! an excerpt: As an […]

Capital Punishment

image above: izquotes.com WN: I was invited to dialogue with Dr. Richard Land of (later) “The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission” of the Southern Baptist Convention. The dialogue was organized by the Presbyterian Church in Alaska, and took place March 22, 1997 at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. It was teleconferenced throughout Alaska including into […]

Restorative Justice

  NOTE: Some of what follows is excerpted from Chapter One of Justice That Transforms: Volume 1 WN: From a Canadian vantage point, Dr. Herman Bianchi, a Dutch criminologist, is one of the three “grandfathers” (if one must use that term) chronologically of Restorative Justice, together with Mark Yantzi and Dave Worth, the first and longstanding […]