Victimhood must be maintained for those whose moralview is rooted in Cultural Marxism. According to this false religion, there are oppressors and victims. And the victims are good while the oppressors are on the side of evil. With race, the whites are the oppressors, therefore are in need of repentance. So when Woke Evangelicals corrupt Christianity with their Social Justice Gospel, they attack white Christians, accusing them of white supremacy. Christina Barland Edmondson’s article The Shocking Necessity of Racist Violence on Christianity Today is no different.
She starts off with a generic history of racism featuring the Tusla Massacre as though this is somehow relevant to white Evangelicals in 2020.
White supremacy’s sinful dance, swaying back and forth between Klansmen’s sheets and clergy robes, pains and plagues Christian of color and lies to white Christians. Violence is not neutered or challenged. White Christianity’s very design exists to maintain false piety and sear the consciences of white people against the oppression and exploitation of blacks.
Edmondson makes no effort to convince you of her premise other than emotional anecdotes prior to leveling an accusation on all white Christians. And it’s important to remember in this instance that Critical Race Theorist view white supremacy as a system, not an ideology. They have redefined white supremacy and racism in their own image. Under normal circumstances, we should ask for names and evidence. And indeed, many will still ask and ignore the Marxist ideology being applied. Instead, these wolves need to be marked.
This necessary violence of racism is not only physical, but deeply psychological and spiritual. Spiritual violence abusively castes people within our systems but also in our imaginations and social media feeds with name-calling such as “heretic” or “unbeliever.” Social power further amplifies and legitimizes these accusations. How we think about our neighbor and enemy, resources and rights, duties and governance is both theological and political. Moreover, our theologies are political because how we live in light of who God is is necessarily public, civic, and embodied.
The arguments put fourth by Edmondson, devolve into premising disagreement as violence. She expands the definition of violence to include nonphysical varieties. This is to achieve ultimate victimhood of claiming to have had violence inflicted on you. And who is committing this violence? Specifically those who call out the Social Justice Gospel.
Spiritual violence against black Americans in the political sphere means disparaging and minimizing the faith of black Christians. Appealing to the notion of a singular Christian worldview, Southern Baptist Seminary president Al Mohler stated in a room filled with white men that a vote for Trump in 2020 would be most in line with “Christian worldview.” Mohler’s statement went beyond the partisan and political. His statement was theological with significant implications for the unity of the church in America. As president of the flagship seminary for the largest Christian denomination in the United States, his religious endorsement of a highly controversial president known for racist and sexist rhetoric and actions mattered significantly.
Christians debate the appropriateness of religious leaders speaking so openly about their personal support of candidates and the necessity of other Christians to fall in line. My concern, while subtle, knocks at the door of spiritual violence. By saying one’s “Christian worldview” leads to reelecting Donald Trump in 2020, Mohler asserts that faithful Christian theology applied to politics must draw the same political conclusions as most white conservative Christian men in this country. This is the group that has voted and will likely vote for Trump in large numbers again.
I find myself in the odd position of defending Al Mohler who has been credibly accused of being woke. But Al Mohler said something that was true, a vote for Trump would be most in line with a Christian worldview. Interestingly enough, Edmondson puts that in quotations which in writing is meant to distance the author from what is in between the quotation marks, whether it be a quote or a term that the writer does not embrace. Edmondson does not appear to believe that there is a Christian worldview. Now, I agree with the argument sh has characterized Al Mohler of having made. But note, Al Mohler is committing “violence” by trying to faithfully live a Christian life.
Despite claiming loyalty to the same Jesus, divergent “Christian worldviews” historically produce people like George Whitefield, Johnathan Edwards, John Gresham Machens, and even Al Mohlers on the one hand, and the Harriet Tubmans, Ida B Wells, Vashti McKenzies, and Stacey Abrams on the other.
Does she just call Stacey Abrams, the pretend governor of Georgia, a Christian?
Most people, I imagine, watched in horror the recent footage of the unarmed black men killed in 2020 and wept through the details of Breonna Taylor’s death. Even those who deny systemic racism likely oppose the in-your-face violence of public lynchings. However, the horrors of 2020, coupled with the trauma-cementing psychological and spiritual violence of news networks popular to white “conservative Christians,” discredit each victim. Prominent white church leaders and their political candidate pile on by publicly minimizing or justifying their deaths.
We have to accept victimhood without question or else we are committing violence, according to this article. She closes:
The humanity and its intrinsic resistance to oppression is so evident in the black believer in America, pushing, pressing, praying, and protesting against the violence of racism. Through humor, scholarship, and art, they mock the foolishness of the caste system that places the beloved of God on the bottom. The necessary violence of racism is combated by the nonviolent and steadfast resistance of black Christians, which reminds all of us who we are designed to be. White Christians, will your shared humanity and Christianity move you from violence and violence-denying to the nonviolence of empathy, solidarity, and repair?
To answer her question, no. I reject the premise of systemic racism and the Marxist horse it rode in on. Instead I seek objective truth in “racial” incidents such as George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. Woke Evangelicals prioritize victomhood while Christians prioritize truth.
2 Responses
What this cultural marxism tells us is that its not someone’s sins that have lead to the trouble in the world, but rather the ‘system’ is corrupt and said group a victim of the system. Who also tries telling us its not our fault, that how the world was made leaves us no choice but to sin just to get by. Its not us, its the creation thats faulty?
They also can’t seem to get their head around we aren’t voting for someone because they’re pious or holy, but rather because their actions are far better for the Church.
They project their worship of the state onto us.