Mastodawn

William Lindsey

“As it has evolved out of southern Christianity, evangelical theology’s emphasis on individual conversion and faith deftly dispenses with issues of race with claims that racism is an expression of personal sin."

~ Holly Berkley Fletcher, The Missionary Kids: Unmasking the Myths of White Evangelicalism (Minneapolis: Broadleaf, 2025), p. 111

#SouthernBaptists #WhiteEvangelicals
/1

https://www.broadleafbooks.com/store/product/9798889832034/The-Missionary-Kids

The Missionary Kids: Unmasking the Myths of White Evangelicalism

What do we learn about white evangelicalism from those raised by its heroes? Written by historian Holly Berkley Fletcher, The Missionary Kids is a first-of-its-kind look at how the experiences of children of missionaries illuminate currents in American...

Broadleaf Books

William Lindsey

"The aim of color blindness — I see people, not color — shuts down any conversation around race, the Black experience, and white evangelicals’ appallingly poor track record by implying that anyone who brings it up is perpetuating the problem and failing to forgive.”

~ Ibid.

#SouthernBaptists #WhiteEvangelicals
/2

William Lindsey

"Survey data from Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) shows an abundance of white evangelical self-deception; PRRI found that white evangelicals rate themselves highly in having ‘warm feelings’ toward Black Americans even while they hold the most objectively racist views of any category of Americans.”

~ Ibid.

#SouthernBaptists #WhiteEvangelicals
/3

William Lindsey

“Missions offer white evangelicals a safe arena in which to act out a narrative of racial harmony without risking their self-conception, control, comfort, or power”

Fletcher quotes historian Jesse Curtis: “If I say that Kenyan police forces are corrupt and brutal, evangelicals won't bat an eye."

~ Ibid.

#SouthernBaptists #WhiteEvangelicals
/4

William Lindsey

"But if I say the same of American police forces, well, now we're talking about deeply held emotional/social/cultural commitments. There is a Christian nationalism connection here. Our beloved Christian nation, in its foundation, cannot be wrong."

~ Ibid., p. 112

#SouthernBaptists #WhiteEvangelicals
/5

William Lindsey

“I can't help but wonder what the United States would be like if white Christians had devoted even a tenth of the money, effort, sacrifice, and prayer toward efforts for racial equality, repair, true justice, and reconciliation as they have chasing dreams of spiritual heroism and cleansing themselves in the warm, inviting waters of other cultural contexts."

~ Ibid., pp.112-3

#SouthernBaptists #WhiteEvangelicals
/6

William Lindsey

“More importantly, global evangelical theology is largely based on a doctrine of individual salvation and transformation, a message central to the American movement. … There may be an even more stark financial appeal to the prosperity gospel in some evangelical movements outside the United States. But the general promise of faith yielding success pervades American evangelicalism."

~ Ibid., pp. 121-2

#WhiteEvangelicals #ProsperityGospel
/7

William Lindsey

"The critique of wealth & the love of money — a major biblical theme, about which Jesus had much to say — is similarly deep prioritized in both American and much of global evangelical Christianity. Instead, focus on sexual morality is central, as is the tendency for that to bleed into the control and subjugation of women, hypermasculinity, & the targeting of the LGBTQ community, especially in contexts with weaker human rights protections than in the United States.”

~ Ibid.

#Evangelicals
/8

William Lindsey

“The more recent, extra-biblical detours of white American evangelicalism have also had an echo overseas. Vaccine skepticism and broad suspicion of science, xenophobia, openness to theocratic government, belief in QAnon conspiracies, and even love of Donald Trump are visible in evangelical cultures around the world.”

~ Ibid., p. 122

#WhiteEvangelicals #Trump #vaccines #QAnon #theocracy #science #xenophobia
/9

lupus_blackfur Oct 23

I surmise/perceive/suspect that more vitriol, hatred, xenophobia, and just plain wretchedness, damage, and torture has been perpetrated on humans by religion than by any other reason/cause/belief in human history...

And, it appears, that which is called "Christianity" is chief among those perpetrators...

🤦‍♂️🤷‍♂️🤡🤡🖕🖕💩💩

William Lindsey

@lupus_blackfur You and I read history differently, it seems. I see two faces to religion — not merely Christianity, but world religions in general — over the course of world history. One is a redemptive face and the other a demonic one. Sometimes the energies of religion have been used to heal, to see people fed and sheltered, to make peace, to encourage love. Other times, religion produces precisely the opposite effects.

lupus_blackfur Oct 26

Oh, I absolutely agree with your assessment...

But I submit that more of the demonic/subjugation side has been perpetrated on so-called "others" than has the redemptive/welcoming side...

But I am certainly no scholar in this realm and it's entirely possible that the "big name" events of history have left me with a rather skewed perspective. 🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️

William Lindsey

@lupus_blackfur I see both faces in full evidence over the course of history. In the Nazi period, large numbers of German Christians overtly or tacitly supported the Nazis — but this was not the whole picture. People like Dietrich Bonhoeffer or Franz Jäggerstätter gave courageous witness and gave their lives, and stated that their reason for sacrificing themselves was their religious conviction.

lupus_blackfur Oct 26

Agreed...

I'm just not certain the 2 sides balance out...

Perhaps that balance is more equitabe in recent history...??

As I say, though, perhaps my perspective is skewed by events such as the Inquisition/Crusades and the actions perpetrated by Christians against "the old gods" and pagans in general.

Wulfy—Speaker to the machines Oct 22

"... and #Jesus said, Lo, behold they without coin, stone them for they are an affront to god"

Red_Shirt_no2 Oct 22

@wdlindsy
“deep” => “de-“