#Racism and Christianity

[mindfulldsliving]

Discussing Racism in LDS History: A Compassionate Approach

Recently, I received a message regarding a heated discussion over at Glen E. Chatfield’s blog, specifically on his recent post titled Some Quick Thoughts About LDS Racism. The conversation highlights familiar critiques of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) concerning race and the historical statements of its early leaders, such as Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, and John…

[autistic-ben-tennyson]

If people could stop reblogging from trad fascists like Greater-than-the-sword or Prolifeproliberty that’d be a huge improvement.

[magnetothemagnificent]

Something ex-Evangelical Christians, ex-Mormons, ex-any-flavour-of-fundementalist-Christianity etc. need to understand is that while yes, you were a victim of those communities, you were also the perpetrator of immense violence towards marginalized communities, particularly towards Jews and Indigineous people.

Yes, mission trips were traumatizing for you, but you were also either consciously or unconsciously taking part in Christo-colonialist efforts and ruining the lives of countless people. Yes, sermons about fire and brimstone were traumatizing for you, but the sermons you absorbed either consciously or subconsciously were laced with racist and antisemitic messages.

So when you call yourself an ex-Fundie, that doesn't absolve you of needing to deconstruct all the harmful ideas you learned and practice.

Because too often I've encountered people who may have *physically* left these spiritual systems (and I'm happy for them that they've gotten out of those abusive environments, don't get me wrong), but their belief systems still harbor the same antisemitic and colonialist ideas that they were taught in those environments, and they are still perpetuating the same harm they were conditioned to do.

[idylls-of-the-divine-romance]

I say, "Ableism is bad." You say, "Ableists all live in their mom's basements and don't contribute anything to society!"

I say, "Misogyny is bad." You say, "Fuck all men."

I say, "Homophobia is bad." You say, "All religious people should be shot in the streets."

I say, "Racism is bad." You say, "White people are the devil."

I say, "Murder is bad." You say, "I hate any idiotic bitch who disagrees with this."

I say, "Body shaming is bad." You say, "Everyone who disagrees is ugly and has small dick energy."

I say, "Fascism is bad." You say, "Yeah, kill all nazis!"

To which I say: you do not know why ableism, misogyny, homophobia, racism, murder, and body shaming, and fascism are wrong.

Go, go and meditate on why these things are wrong and don't come back until you arrive at the answer.

[q--uee--n]

It doesn't quite sit well with me when parts of the fandom act as though they don't understand why, exactly, people become so hyper-defensive/are so hyper-sensitive when people bring up Mel being manipulative. It's because this trait has been weaponized to demean and disparage her at the expense of acknowledging any other nuance/facet about her character, and this also often goes hand-in-hand with ignoring the faults of other characters as to emphasize hers. The fact that Mel is a Black woman can not be put aside as a definitive factor as to why and how she's perceived the way she is—by both the fandom and the writers of the show. I would even argue that one of the show's original sins is a lack of understanding of the real-world intersections between race, class, and colonialism.

In regards to both Mel and Ambessa, this lack of understanding is evident in the writing. Writing that ignores the real-world implications of the Medardas and their social position relative to whiteness, which is one informed by socioeconomic and sociocultural disparities as a result of racism and misogyny. Yes, I understand it's a high fantasy show where things like racism don't exist, so to speak, but Arcane, like all media, is informed by the state of affairs of the world we live in. With classism—classism, which Black people are disproportionately victims of—being a core theme of the show (ostensibly), it's disingenuous to disregard the, from a Doylist perspective, haphazard nature of Mel's function in the narrative as a wealthy Black woman in a classist society juxtaposed against poor, oppressed white main characters (this also applies to Ambessa as a warmonger).

With that said, and harkening back to the beginning of this post, even if you're not bringing attention to Mel's flaws and complexities to demonize her, you have to acknowledge them in the context of her as a Black female character being written with little understanding of intersectionality and how they've been weaponized against her, which are the reasons people—specifically Black woman fans such as myself—are compelled to defend her (or even pretend these flaws don't exist. After all, it's never been a problem in fandom when non-black and male characters' flaws are erased/diminished. It can't suddenly become one now). It's easy to say Mel is a multi-faceted, three-dimensional character, thus, that's why downplaying her flaws is a disservice to her charcter, and this isn't an unreasonable point. However, it's harder to admit that the reason people point out these flaws is not always in the service of acknowledging her complexities but instead in the service of demonizing her due to internalized/unknown biases against Black women. In the end, no one has to like a character. No one even has to defend a character they don't like on principle. No one has to not be annoyed at the sanitization of a multidimensional character. But if those things are being done without an acknowledgement of how the perception of that character is mired by racism and misogyny—knowing or unknowing, from the writers on down—then maybe it's time to address some oversights or unpack some internalized biases before wondering why people feel the need to defend that character.

[socialjusticeinamerica]

These people are shit and are never held accountable.

🤬

[hussyknee]

Jesus is Under the Rubble

“This Advent, while global Christians prepare to commemorate the arrival of the Prince of Peace, our Palestinian kin in Gaza suffer unthinkable violence. Their cries of deliverance, echoing those of two millennia ago, seem to be falling unheard on the United States.”

— by Kelly Latimore icons. All proceeds from sales of this digital image will go toward Red Letter Christians trusted partners in Gaza.

Transcript: Christ in the Rubble A Liturgy of Lament Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church Bethlehem Saturday, December 23rd, 2023 We are angry…

We are broken…

This should have been a time of joy; instead, we are mourning. We are fearful.

Twenty thousand killed. Thousands under the rubble still. Close to 9,000 children killed in the most brutal ways. Day after day after day. 1.9 million displaced! Hundreds of thousands of homes were destroyed. Gaza as we know it no longer exists. This is an annihilation. A genocide.

The world is watching; Churches are watching. Gazans are sending live images of their own execution. Maybe the world cares? But it goes on.

We are asking, could this be our fate in Bethlehem? In Ramallah? In Jenin? Is this our destiny too?

We are tormented by the silence of the world. Leaders of the so-called “free” lined up one after the other to give the green light for this genocide against a captive population. They gave the cover. Not only did they make sure to pay the bill in advance, they veiled the truth and context, providing political cover. And, yet another layer has been added: the theological cover with the Western Church stepping into the spotlight.

The South African Church taught us the concept of “The state theology,” defined as “the theological justification of the status quo with its racism, capitalism and totalitarianism.” It does so by misusing theological concepts and biblical texts for its own political purposes.

Here in Palestine, the Bible is weaponized against our very own sacred text. In our terminology in Palestine, we speak of the Empire. Here we confront the theology of the Empire. A disguise for superiority, supremacy, “chosenness,” and entitlement. It is sometimes given a nice cover using words like mission and evangelism, fulfillment of prophecy, and spreading freedom and liberty. The theology of the Empire becomes a powerful tool to mask oppression under the cloak of divine sanction. It divides people into “us” and “them.” It dehumanizes and demonizes. It speaks of land without people even when they know the land has people – and not just any people. It calls for emptying Gaza, just like it called the ethnic cleansing in 1948 “a divine miracle.” It calls for us Palestinians to go to Egypt, maybe Jordan, or why not just the sea?

“Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” they said of us. This is the theology of Empire.

This war has confirmed to us that the world does not see us as equal. Maybe it is the color of our skin. Maybe it is because we are on the wrong side of the political equation. Even our kinship in Christ did not shield us. As they said, if it takes killing 100 Palestinians to get a single “Hamas militant” then so be it! We are not humans in their eyes. (But in God’s eyes… no one can tell us we are not!)

The hypocrisy and racism of the Western world is transparent and appalling! They always take the words of Palestinians with suspicion and qualification. No, we are not treated equally. Yet, the other side, despite a clear track record of misinformation, is almost always deemed infallible!

To our European friends. I never ever want to hear you lecture us on human rights or international law again. We are not white— it does not apply to us according to your own logic.

In this war, the many Christians in the Western world made sure the Empire has the theology needed. It is self-defense, we were told! (And I ask: how?)

In the shadow of the Empire, they turned the colonizer into the victim, and the colonized into the aggressor. Have we forgotten that the state was built on the ruins of the towns and villages of those very same Gazans?

We are outraged by the complicity of the church. Let it be clear: Silence is complicity, and empty calls for peace without a ceasefire and end to occupation, and the shallow words of empathy without direct action— are all under the banner of complicity. So here is my message: Gaza today has become the moral compass of the world. Gaza was hell on earth before October 7th.

If you are not appalled by what is happening; if you are not shaken to your core— there is something wrong with your humanity. If we, as Christians, are not outraged by this genocide, by the weaponizing of the Bible to justify it, there is something wrong with our Christian witness, and compromising the credibility of the Gospel!

If you fail to call this a genocide. It is on you. It is a sin and a darkness you willingly embrace.

Some have not even called for a ceasefire.

I feel sorry for you. We will be okay. Despite the immense blow we have endured, we will recover. We will rise and stand up again from the midst of destruction, as we have always done as Palestinians, although this is by far the biggest blow we have received in a long time.

But again, for those who are complicit, I feel sorry for you. Will you ever recover from this?

Your charity, your words of shock AFTER the genocide, won’t make a difference. Words of regret will not suffice for you. We will not accept your apology after the genocide. What has been done, has been done. I want you to look at the mirror… and ask: where was I?

To our friends who are here with us: You have left your families and churches to be with us. You embody the term accompaniment— a costly solidarity. “We were in prison and you visited us.” What a stark difference from the silence and complicity of others. Your presence here is the meaning of solidarity. Your visit has already left an impression that will never be taken from us. Through you, God has spoken to us that “we are not forsaken.” As Father Rami of the Catholic Church said this morning, you have come to Bethlehem, and like the Magi, you brought gifts with, but gifts that are more precious than gold, frankincense, and myrrh. You brought the gift of love and solidarity.

We needed this. For this season, maybe more than anything, we were troubled by the silence of God. In these last two months, the Psalms of lament have become a precious companion. We cried out: My God, My God, why have you forsaken Gaza? Why do you hide your face from Gaza?

In our pain, anguish, and lament, we have searched for God, and found him under the rubble in Gaza. Jesus became the victim of the very same violence of the Empire. He was tortured. Crucified. He bled out as others watched. He was killed and cried out in pain— My God, where are you?

In Gaza today, God is under the rubble.

And in this Christmas season, as we search for Jesus, he is to be found not on the side of Rome, but our side of the wall. In a cave, with a simple family. Vulnerable. Barely, and miraculously surviving a massacre. Among a refugee family. This is where Jesus is found.

If Jesus were to be born today, he would be born under the rubble in Gaza. When we glorify pride and richness, Jesus is under the rubble.

When we rely on power, might, and weapons, Jesus is under the rubble.

When we justify, rationalize, and theologize the bombing of children, Jesus is under the rubble.

Jesus is under the rubble. This is his manger. He is at home with the marginalized, the suffering, the oppressed, and displaced. This is his manger.

I have been looking, contemplating on this iconic image….God with us, precisely in this way. THIS is the incarnation. Messy. Bloody. Poverty.

This child is our hope and inspiration. We look and see him in every child killed and pulled from under the rubble. While the world continues to reject the children of Gaza, Jesus says: “just as you did it to one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it to me.” “You did to ME.” Jesus not only calls them his own, he is them!

We look at the holy family and see them in every family displaced and wandering, now homeless in despair. While the world discusses the fate of the people of Gaza as if they are unwanted boxes in a garage, God in the Christmas narrative shares in their fate; He walks with them and calls them his own.

This manger is about resilience— صمود. The resilience of Jesus is in his meekness; weakness, and vulnerability. The majesty of the incarnation lies in its solidarity with the marginalized. Resilience because this very same child, rose up from the midst of pain, destruction, darkness and death to challenge empires; to speak truth to power and deliver an everlasting victory over death and darkness.

This is Christmas today in Palestine and this is the Christmas message. It is not about Santa, trees, gifts, lights… etc. My goodness how we twisted the meaning of Christmas. How we have commercialized Christmas. I was in the USA last month, the first Monday after Thanksgiving, and I was amazed by the amount of Christmas decorations and lights, all the and commercial goods. I couldn’t help but think: They send us bombs, while celebrating Christmas in their land. They sing about the prince of peace in their land, while playing the drum of war in our land.

Christmas in Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus, is this manger. This is our message to the world today. It is a Gospel message, a true and authentic Christmas message, about the God who did not stay silent, but said his word, and his Word is Jesus. Born among the occupied and marginalized. He is in solidarity with us in our pain and brokenness.

This manger is our message to the world today – and it is simply this: this genocide must stop NOW. Let us repeat to the world: STOP this Genocide NOW.

This is our call. This is our plea. This is our prayer. Hear oh God. Amen.

(Source)

I found these on Twitter a while ago. Original creator unknown.

I can't stop you ascribing hateful, paranoid meanings to these images, but they're not about blaming religions. Jesus was a Jew born to a community of Jews in Palestine, the cradle of the Abrahamic faiths. He was raised and loved by them, betrayed by their rulers* and killed by Romans. He's a Prophet of Islam. End of.

*Y'know, like how the people of the Arab and Muslim nations love Palestine and crying to help them, except their leaders are greedy and rotted to the core. The ruling class will always only serve the empire.

Edit: alt text provided by @this-world-of-beautiful-monsters

[jewishbarbies]

so much antisemitism comes from pop culture insisting being jewish is JUST a religion and you can’t convince me otherwise.

[odinsblog]

No Action, No Peace

Republican lawmakers in Tennessee have been accused of overt racism after expelling two Black Democrats from the state legislature in an act of unprecedented retaliation, for their role in a peaceful protest calling for gun control in the aftermath of a massacre at a school in Nashville.

The Republican-controlled legislature voted on Thursday to spare a white Democratic lawmaker who participated in the same protest.

Justin Jones, representative for Nashville, and Justin Pearson, who represented Memphis, gave rousing speeches in the chamber before the majority-white legislature voted to oust them, leaving tens of thousands of mostly Black and brown Tennessee residents without representation.

Justin Jones, 27, said he had “no regrets” and would “continue to speak up for Tennesseans who are demanding change”, in an interview with CNN on Friday,

“What happened yesterday was an attack on our democracy and overt racism. The nation got to see clearly what’s going on in Tennessee, that we don’t have democracy especially when it comes to Black and brown communities. This is what we have been challenging all session, a very toxic, racist work environment.”

Jones said Republican lawmakers were trying to take Tennessee backwards, and pointed to the state’s history of white supremacy, the birthplace of the ultra-violent Ku Klux Klan.

After the vote to expel them, Jones and Pearson, the two youngest Tennessee lawmakers and former community organisers, were greeted with rapturous chants and songs of resistance by a huge crowd outside the state capitol building. During the vote, the visitors’ gallery exploded in angry shouts of “Shame!” and “Fascists!”

Pearson, 27, told reporters that in carrying out the protest, the three had broken “a house rule, because we’re fighting for kids who are dying from gun violence and people in our communities who want to see an end to the proliferation of weaponry in our communities”.

He later tweeted: “We will not stop. We will not give up. We will continue working to build a nation that includes, not excludes, or unjustly expels. People power will always prevail!”

Gloria Johnson, the white Democrat spared expulsion by a one-vote margin, was asked by reporters about the split vote as she left the chamber on Thursday.

“I’ll answer your question; it might have to do with the color of our skin,” said Johnson, a retired teacher.

(continue reading)

[is-the-thing-actually-jewish]

Thanks for your help with head coverings-by-devorah.

Is the site https://hebrewnations.com/ actually Jewish?

It’s giving me weird vibes.

(My jumblr is @tzipporahs-well.)

Rating: Not Jewish (and also extremely racist and bonkers)

You are right about the weird vibes, it is in the category of what we would call "Biblical pseudoscience". Hebrewnations.com is an offshoot of Brit-Am, an organization headed by Yair Davidiy. The sole mission of Brit-Am is to "prove" that different nations and ethnic groups around the world are actually part of the lost Ten Tribes, which also involves greatly misinterpreting other Indigineous groups' beliefs and origins. On his LinkedIn, Yair Davidiy lists absolutely no qualifications- he calls himself a Rabbi, and yet no Rabbinical school is listed. He calls himself an expert in biblical archaeology, and yet no program is listed, not even a BS or BA.

Yair Davidiy can also be found on Atlantipedia, a pseudoscience website that promotes archaeologicial misinformation, and that's a damning enough fact.

Among his many outlandish claims, Yair Davidiy identifies the French as the tribe of Reuven, the Celts as Shimon, the Italians as Levi (nevermind that Levites are still around today), the Finns as Yissachar, Holland as Zevulun, the Goths as Dan, the Norwegians as Naftali, the Swedes as Gad, the Vandals as Asher, the Scythians as Yosef, and the Normans as Binyamin. (Nevermind that Binyamin was not included in the lost Ten Tribes).

Davidiy also claims that Mashiach ben Yosef will actually be found among the Anglo-Saxons, which he uses interchangably with white USAmericans.

He claims:

There will be a future re-union of Judah and Joseph. Neither the MALBIM nor Rabbi Schneerson were consciously aware that JOSEPH is to be identified with the "Anglo-Saxon" related peoples, i.e. the British, North Americans, and their "colonial" cousins. Nevertheless, their description of the relationship between Judah and Joseph finds some parallels in recent times with that between the Jews and the "Anglo-Saxon" nations. As pointed out in our book “Ephraim” (1995, 2001), the "Anglo-Saxon" nations are really the only cultural-ethnic bloc that is capable (barring supernatural miracles) of physically fulfilling the role ascribed to "Joseph" in Jewish sources. They are the only ones capable of defeating the combined forces of Edom (Germany and Europe) and Ishmael (the Moslem peoples) in armed confrontation. They are also the only ones who unto now have actively assisted the Jews in settling the Land of Israel. They have taken this task upon themselves almost as part of an obligation springing from their own national heritage. This point holds true despite mistaken and negative stands often taken by certain politicians and national leaders in America and Britain against the Jewish-Israelis. There are some bad Israelites, some bad Jews, and some bad people of other origins in Israelite nations. The "Anglo-Saxon" nations in the past have proved themselves capable of successfully organizing the orderly and secure mass movement of their own peoples in settling them overseas, in new countries. Eventually a re-union between Joseph and Judah will take place. The sooner the better. 

Essentially, he has created a pseudo-religion of his own, based in American exceptionalism. He has also allied himself with the American Evangelical Christians who only support Israel because they believe it will bring about the end of times that will purge any non-Christian from the earth (including Jews). He also frequently uses the (Christian) King James Bible translation of the 'Old Testament', which is of course concerning for someone who claims to promote Jewish ideas.

The only good thing is that he doesn't seem to have much of a following.

So, as far as we know, Yair Davidiy is a Jew, but his organization and ideas most certainly are not.

[creature-wizard]

Encountering this Christian lady who's like, "the US was put here for a reason, to fulfill God's end time purposes" like ma'am the US is on land stolen from other people, taken from them by brutal force; I think the god you worship might just be, well, evil.

[chamerionwrites]

Intellectually I understand where people are coming from, but personally I do THE biggest double take every time someone boils down conservative Christian ideology (and/or secularized cultural reflections thereof) to a kind of dour puritanism that proclaims happiness is sin/suffering is a moral good/everyone should be miserable all the time. Like I get it! I do. But also, institutionally, I have never met a group of more passionate worshippers and vicious defenders of their own comfort than evangelical Christians. There is a reason the common thread between my various weird triggers more or less boils down to "toxic positivity." There is a REASON my exvangelical tag is #walking away from omelas.

[lights-at-night]

i might be shot but tbh i think fiction podcasts have an issue with racial representation

[roundearthsociety]

Pro tip: when Zionists on this website say "Not all Zionism is support for the Israeli government", they mean this guy and his friends specifically

[typhlonectes]

[hussyknee]

Why is it that white liberals who claim to be on Palestine's side can't resist shitting a load of Islamophobia to make their point? Christ is "egalitarian and kind" but the entire system of Islamic commandments and ways of life (heavily open to various interpretations) is the great boogeyman incompatible with democracy. This coming from the white supremacist settler colonial state whose entire political establishment has for fucking decades used both religious Christian and secular grounds to destabilise, bomb, genocide and colonize Muslim countries, torture and persecute Muslims, and arm and empower fundamentalist Muslim states and groups. It's your secular democracy that delivered Afghanistan into the Taliban's hands twice! Daesh exists because of you! Saudi Arabia is your bestest buddy and you're helping it genocide Yemen and Sudan right the fuck now! Palestine is being genocided because Christian Zionism wants a vassal state of Zionist Jews! Not to mention how much of the Global South's misogyny and homophobia is the result of four hundred years of white Christian colonization, and the fact that USAmerican Christian fundamentalists are even now exporting and funding the Evangelical Christianity that's driving crackdowns on women and LGBT people in Africa. Project 2025 is a bare fraction of the misery and oppression the US government has inflicted and is still inflicting on the Global South.

All of your goddamn Western history and current rightwing extremism is about Christian fundamentalism fuelling white supremacy and brutal colonization, but when you need a boogeyman it's always some cartoon in your head about a bunch of Arab men in skull caps throwing rocks at women. Fascism is colonization turned inward bitch, but not even a quarter century of spewing its rhetoric that brought you to this inevitable endpoint is enough to make you look in the fucking mirror.