By Aswad Walker
Defender
Reprinted – by Texas Metro News
https://defendernetwork.com/
During U.S. Congressman Al Green’s Slavery Remembrance Day Legislative Update held last year, James Dixon, pastor of Community of Faith Church and president of the NAACP Houston Branch, shared a word about the connection between the crime against humanity known as the enslavement of African people and the faith/theology of those who did the enslaving (human trafficking, kidnapping, torture, rape, and murder) and profiting off stolen labor.
Dixon said: “Slavery exposed the grave indecency of people. And many had bibles in their hands. I’ll never be impressed with a man with a bible and a whip. Because if you can whip me with one hand, with a bible in the other hand, you don’t represent the God that I serve.”
Dixon didn’t stop there.
“And where are the bible-toting, scripture-quoting preachers today in the face of HISD being taken over; in the face of the fact that we don’t have a Voting Rights Act; in the face of the fact that our schools are without libraries?”
Dixon also said that because of these past and present “sins” conducted under the guise of faith, “America owes God an apology.”
If you can whip me with one hand, with a bible in the other hand, you don’t represent the God that I serve.Dr. James Dixon, Pastor of Community of Faith Church and president of the NAACP Houston Branch
What Dixon was doing was essentially calling out practitioners of what some Black religious scholars and others call “white Christianity.” And though there is a chorus of Christians who claim their faith is universal and has no “color” or racial dividing lines, an army of scholars and preachers beg to differ.
WHAT IS WHITE CHRISTIANITY
Critics of “white Christianity” agree that not all whites practice that brand of faith, but rather those who believe consciously or unconsciously in the myth of white supremacy and the reality of white nationalism, two things Reverend Andrew Seegars says are deeply intertwined with “white Christian culture.”
“The phrase white Christian nationalism is often used to describe a particular demographic and political movement in the United States that is primarily composed of white Christians who believe that the United States should maintain its cultural, racial, and religious identity as a white, Christian nation,” said Seegars. “White Christianity has a long, well-documented connection to violent and oppressive acts against humanity.
White supremacy and white nationalism (and thus white Christianity) are toxic ideologies that should be rejected and condemned by all Christians.Rev. Andrew Seegars
The foundational ideologies of white Christianity (white nationalism and the myth of white supremacy) have been and are frequently used to justify violent, racist, and discriminatory tactics against Black people, Native Americans, and other oppressed communities, added Seegars.
“White supremacy and white nationalism (and thus white Christianity) are toxic ideologies that should be rejected and condemned by all Christians.”
Yale University’s Philip Gorski argues that “White Christian Nationalism,” his term for white Christianity, was the theology that inspired many who attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
In Gorski’s book “The Flag and the Cross: White Christian Nationalism and the Threat to American Democracy, he argues that white Christian nationalism inspired many who attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and that it contains these foundational elements:
- The belief in the myth that America was founded as a Christian nation by white Christians and that its laws and institutions are based on Protestant Christianity;
- America is divinely favored and has been given the mission to spread religion, freedom, and civilization;
- This mission and it values are under threat from the growing presence of non-whites, non-Christians (i.e. Christians and others who don’t espouse White Christian Nationalism), and immigrants;
- Those posing this threat have corrupted and “stolen” America and White Christian Nationalists have to take it back.
HOW IT SHAPED DEEPLY AMERICAN BELIEFS
Critics of this white Christianity contend that the religion’s beliefs have been foundational to the American way of life for centuries. They argue that white Christianity is a form of Christianity that centers whiteness by defining God, Jesus, the Hebrews, the angels, etc. as white and all things evil as Black. During slavery, “massa” was viewed as God’s representative on earth; enslaved Blacks were divinely required to be obedient to their master. The only way for the enslaved to enter heaven’s gates was to accept their enslavement and to fight against it was to fight against God’s will.
Thus, Black people’s efforts to fight for equality, from those seeking to end slavery centuries ago to Black people today fighting for voting rights, criminal justice reform, and equal access to healthcare. Educational resources have been viewed by believers in this white Christianity as evil, wrong, misguided, and/or un-Christian.
HISTORY OF WHITE CHRISTIANITY
Dr. Earle Fisher, pastor of Abyssinian Missionary Baptist Church, “The Blackest church in Memphis” and community activist/leader said, “White Christianity has always been more concerned with whiteness and political power than it has been with humanity and piety. To that end, it has and continues to intend death and destruction to Blackness and everything that stands in contradiction to whiteness – including divinity itself. White Christianity has been killing Black people since, at the very least, Constantine and the Roman Empire imperialized the religion centuries ago.”
Award-winning author and minister Velma Maia Thomas put it another way: “Any time your savior is your oppressor you are in trouble.”
Both Fisher and Thomas contend that white Christianity ordained the enslavement of African people; promoted and pushed eurocentric religious iconography; championed white domestic terrorism; preached segregation; fought against civil rights, voting rights, integration, etc.; and ignored the SCOTUS Brown v. Board ruling that “ended” segregation in public schools and created segregation academies (churches that built adjacent buildings with classrooms so white children wouldn’t have to attend school with Black children).
MODERN IMPACT OF WHITE CHRISTIANITY
Fisher, Thomas, and others say that modern proponents of white Christianity stand today against Black Lives Matter, DEI policies, and Black history and perspectives taught in schools.
“White supremacy is a global system that has corrupted every facet of modern human existence,” said Houston’s own Dr. Abdul “Robert” Muhammad, a student minister of Muhammad Mosque #45. “Within the confines of this demonic mindset, nearly every religious, educational, economic, and political system has been used as a tool of oppression and exploitation rather than pathways to equitable advancement for the entire human family.”
Efforts to block police reform and gun reform, the anti-CRT movement, and the demonization of Muslims and immigrants, have been linked to foundational white Christian positions. So too have the rejection of the need for environmental/climate justice, and both anti-Semitic and pro-Israel positions.
As a result, many Black religious leaders have argued for years that white Christianity is harmful to Black life.
“The past 400 years have shown us that white western Christianity is a debilitating doctrine for non-white people,” said historian and theologian William Moore. “The longer we turn our pain, grief, and sorrow over to a false- white-euro-savior the longer our prayers for justice, equality, and freedom will fall on deaf ears. We must look for the Godpower already within us for healing, transformation, and our ultimate liberation”
HOW CAN WE PROTECT OURSELVES FROM IT?
Theologian Randy Brown, a Beaumont native, believes a different biblical interpretation is needed if Black people are going to protect themselves from the negative repercussions of white Christianity.
“Black people have relied on Western biblical interpretation, and it has resulted in a bipolar, love-hate relationship with white people and a distrust of anything Black,” said Brown. “White Christianity has an agenda that is counterproductive to the aims and destiny of Black people. Therefore, if Black people are to live with dignity, we must develop our own Biblical interpretation that removes our history, culture, and lived experiences from the sidelines and places them at the center of our interactions with the stories in the Bible. Then and only then will Black people discover what it really means to live free.”
Here is a list of “Things To Do” to create and practice a form of Christianity that recognizes Black humanity:
- Recognize the importance of the spiritual teaching “Man/Woman, know thyself,” which speaks to the importance of knowing one’s history.
- Make geography and history an integral part of Christian education. Doing so will reveal that the vast majority of the Bible story took place in Africa during a time when different Black nations were interacting with one another in both positive and negative ways.
- Don’t be afraid to explore and reconnect with African roots, and the influence faith systems like Ma’at out of ancient Egypt/Kemet had on Christianity and other faith systems, as history reveals that all religions borrowed elements from neighboring faith traditions.
- Welcome knowledge from books beyond the Bible.
- Stop letting white Christian definitions of good and bad, evil, and just guide you
- Challenge yourself to read about and study the history of biblical times to get a better understanding of the context in which the faith emerged
- Explore the assertion of legendary Black Theologian, the late Dr. James Cone who argued the most humanist and universal theology is Black theology because it recognizes the equality of all.
