Curated topics for a disillusioned church
From the four gospels to Isaiah to Micah and more, the Bible paints a clear picture that Christians should pursue justice, not just with words, but with action. These actions can help repair the credibility of the church while helping marginalized groups in addition to serving as a witness to the power of the Gospel.
Professor and department head of sociology at the University of Illinois at Chicago Michael O. Emerson writes about Christians who get so caught up in social justice/injustice that they abandon Christianity. Emerson says that the means and the ends matter and that divorcing Jesus from justice ultimately leads to failure and frustration.
Living in intimate relationships with people of color or at the very least speaking with people of different opinions is a must for Christians to work through racial issues says Natasha Sistrunk Robinson, the Assistant Director of the Center for the Development of Evangelical Leadership (CDEL) at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. Sistrunk Robinson also explains three things to help white evangelicals know where some black people are coming from when they say black lives matter.
Using the story of boxer Mohammed Ali leaving his Christian faith because the church he attended would not stand up for him in the face of discrimination actor Gauis Charles wonders if the Christian church is in a similar moment. The church in the past has been complicit with slavery and many churches have not engaged in anti-racism teaching. Will the failure of the church to lead on issues of race result in people walking away?
Aaron L. Griffith, assistant professor of history at Sattler College in Boston, discusses the history of policing and the intertwining of evangelical’s support of law and order presidential candidates. Griffith also dives into what we can do to change by examining our motives, terms to be wary of and that we have to admit that we expect too much of the police which is a failure of how we have setup our society.
Poll after poll shows that the majority of white evangelicals say that police treat black and white Americans the same despite the majority of black Protestants saying police treat white and black Americans vastly different. Why does the white evangelical church not believe the black protestant church? Bonnie Kristian lists four reasons why.
A collection of seven succinct articles penned by black pastors, authors and one former policeman following the murder of Michael Brown in 2014. Stacy Hillard's, Leonce Crump's part 1 and Bryan Loritts articles are standouts. A good three or four presses of the page down key should get you to the start of each article - it is worth the extra work.
A straight forward walk-through on America and its institutions that were founded on racism. If you just want the data without personal stories, this is perfect.
Sunday to Saturday 