Wednesday, November 30, 2016

Southern White Evangelicalism and Racism: A Compelling Intersection

It's time to Break It Down!

As the 2016 Presidential Election season wound down recently, a counterintuitive and for many, troubling, alliance was highlighted by a number of observers.  The GOP Nominee, and subsequent winner of the Election, having garnered 316 Electoral Votes (270 Electoral Votes are required to be elected President), Donald Trump, attracted the support of the lion’s share of white Americans who identify as Evangelicals.  According to CNN exit polls, 80% of persons who identified as born-again or Evangelical Christian said they voted for Donald Trump.  Of those polled 16% said they voted for Hillary Clinton, while the remaining 4% said they voted for someone else, or they did not respond to the question. (National Polling base on 24,558 Respondents)

Over the past 17 months I have unpacked numerous aspects of the, shall we say, unconventional means and methods employed by Mr. Trump on what we now know was his road to the White House.  By and large, many, if not most of those means and methods would likely be deemed incongruous with the folkways and mores of the born-again and Evangelical Christian community.

Before I examine this oddity any further, allow me to establish (at least from my viewpoint) some of the baseline parameters of Evangelicalism, and the born-again, and Evangelical movement:

·      Evangelicalism

The term “Evangelicalism” is a broad definitional “canopy” that covers a diverse number of Protestant traditions, denominations, organizations, and churches.  In the English-speaking world, the modern term usually describes the religious movements and denominations which sprung forth from a series of revivals that swept the North Atlantic Anglo-American world in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.

The concept of evangelism—revival-codified, streamlined, and routinized by evangelists like Charles G. Finney (1792-1875)—became “revivalism” as evangelicals set out to convert the nation.  Post World War II, changes in American society wrought by powerful forces such as urbanization and industrialization, along with new intellectual and theological developments, began to weaken the power of evangelicalism within American culture.

In the 20th century evangelicalism still held the status of a pervasive American “folk religion.”  This is particularly so in many sectors of the United States, especially the South and certain areas of the Midwest.  

·      Evangelical Christian

An Evangelical Christian is a Protestant who spreads the Gospel. In recent decades the term has narrowed to designate a white conservative Protestant, usually with a belief in the inerrancy of scriptures. "Evangelical" includes Fundamentalists.

Fundamentalism" is not an organization but a style of religious activism:

·      Fundamentalists are fighting evangelicals taking on mainstream religion.
·      Most Fundamentalists believe in Dispensationalism (which most Calvinist Evangelicals reject).
·      The largest Evangelical church is the Southern Baptist Convention, which is largely Fundamentalist.
·      Also important is the Missouri Synod Lutheran Church, which is both Fundamentalist and Lutheran.

There is no single accepted way to define who is an Evangelical. Pollsters often pose the query, "Are you a born-again Christian?" to define the group. Sociologists tend to look at membership in specific denominations, and often include Holiness Movement, Pentecostal and Nazarene groups. Some scholars focus on the Bible beliefs, together with a personal commitment to Christ.
Christian researcher and author George Barna defines "Evangelicals" as a subset of those who meet the basic criteria defining born again Christians, but who also meet several other doctrinal conditions. A distinction is then enabled to be manifest in other areas of faith beliefs.

That is a lot of preamble to lead to what I consider an inescapable conclusion.  To wit, Donald J. Trump is an unlikely candidate to be embraced, endorsed, and ultimately adopted by anyone who wears the label Evangelical.  At least, that would seem to be the case at first blush.  However, deeper inspection reveals there is a dark, and frankly, nefarious association between Southern Evangelicalism and racial enmity…racism, if you will.

The Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II recently penned an essay on Evangelicalism that appeared in a number of publications, including the Washington Post.  Rev. Dr. Barber is the Pastor of Greenleaf Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), in Goldsboro, NC, a North Carolina political leader, national board member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and chair of their Legislative Political Action Committee.  He is President of the NAACP’s North Carolina state chapter, the largest in the Southern United States, and the second largest in the country.  Sin 2007, Rev. Dr. Barber has been leading "Moral Mondays" civil-rights protests, usually in North Carolina's state capital, Raleigh.

You can get the sense of the thematic tenor of the essay from its title The Racist History of Southern White Evangelicalism and the Rise of Donald Trump.  It is natural to want to believe that racism and Evangelicalism or Evangelical Christendom is antithetical.  Of course many of the folks who marveled at the verbal stylings of Donald J. Trump on the campaign trail could naturally have thought the same thing about any perceivable relationship between Mr. Trump and Evangelical Christendom.  Apparently, if they did, they were wrong.

In the essay, Rev. Dr. Barber points to Franklin Graham’s (son of the Rev. Billy Graham) response to Donald Trump’s victory.  As he noted, Graham said:

“Political pundits are stunned. Many thought the Trump/Pence ticket didn’t have a chance. None of them understand the God-factor… While the media scratches their heads and tries to understand how this happened, I believe that God’s hand intervened.”

Barber credited Trump with believing that racism in its most raw and most overt form is anathema.  And yet he (Graham) thanks God for the same triumph that white nationalists/Alt-Right members celebrate because he (Graham) is an heir to a religion that accommodated itself to slavery in America, and that has morphed over and again for a century and a half to fuel every backlash against progress toward racial justice in American history.

In its most recent iteration, the squishy foundation and framework of Evangelicalism and its nexus to among other things, bigotry, sexism, and yes, racism runs directly through Donald Trump.  In his voluminous tawdry exhortations, and angry tweets and retweets, he has managed to excite and attract an eclectic mix that includes, the KKK, the Alt-Right, and oh yeah, Evangelicals, AKA the Religious Right.

Mr. Trump kicked off his campaign Tuesday June 16, 2015, promising to “Make our country great again.”  Fairly quickly he went all in on Mexicans, saying:

When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”

Not long after his kickoff Mr. Trump upped the ante by claiming he would build a wall on the Southern Border.  I suppose, to put a cherry on top of that, he added, and Mexico will pay for it.  Soon to follow, he suggested a ban on Muslims entering the country, and for good measure, added that Mosques should be “monitored.”  Keep in mind, all this with a backdrop of Trump unofficially launching his campaign by effectively becoming the voice of the Birther Movement, in which he not only argued that President Obama, the nation’s first Black President was not born in America…but, also that he was a Muslim.

In Barber’s essay, he posits that God did not intervene in Mr. Trump’s election, but quickly injects, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association did.  He noted that Graham spent $10 million in 2016 to promote a backlash against President Obama in God’s name by organizing prayer rallies in all 50 states.  In concluding his national tour in North Carolina, Graham, standing on the steps of the state capitol, told thousands assembled that they need to know the true name for those who call themselves progressives: atheists.  In essence, Barber added, sadly, Franklin Graham believes that a God who does not bless white America’s fear and nostalgia is no God at all.

For his part, Mr. Trump left a trail of incendiary assertions, allegations, and claims.  I have included below a less than exhaustive list of Mr. Trump’s comments, including him saying:

    Mexicans are thugs and rapists
    We should ban Muslims
    "The blacks"
    "The blacks" are living in hell (as he allegedly attempted to secure black votes)
    What the hell do you have to lose (also while purportedly seeking black votes)
    He didn’t mock a disabled journalist…after he did
    The media and the electoral system are rigged
    McCain is not a war hero
    Thousands of Muslims in NJ celebrated 9/11
    Obama is a Muslim
    He could walk Down 5th Ave & shoot someone & not lose any votes
    If he wins he’ll lock Hillary up
    He will repeal & replace Obamacare…with something terrific
    He'd be dating his daughter if he wasn’t her father
    Said not paying taxes made him smart
    Said he knows more about the military than the generals
    Said multiple bankruptcies means he knows how to work the system
    He get his military strategy from TV
    A judge was unqualified due to his Mexican Heritage (Indiana born)
    Grab ‘em by the genitals (using a crude term)

In my own foray across the Rubicon that separates me from understanding the religious and ethical basis of the relationship between the Evangelical community and Donald J. Trump, I found one person who gave me his earnest appraisal of why he…and presumably Evangelicals like him, supported Mr. Trump.  His answer was pretty basic.  He stated that he believed the Supreme Court (SCOTUS) is crucial, and that Mr. Trump will appoint Pro-Life jurists to the SCOTUS.  He rationalized that Pro-Life trumps (pun intended) everything else.  Full stop.

I believe that is his personal bottom line.  I also believe that Make America Great Again is a dog whistle, and that the open and enthusiastic support of the KKK/Alt-Right of the GOP Nominee and winner of the election is not just a rarefied, inexplicable coincidence.  It was cultivated, it was earned, and it should concern every individual who claims to believe in the principles and tenets embedded in the Bible.  Until Evangelicals make a straight forward repudiation of the KKK, the Alt-Right, and the speech and behavior of Donald Trump that inspires their allegiance, I find it difficult, no, make that impossible, to simply permit them to wink and nod and act as though this charade is OK.  I will hold them personally responsible for their actions, or lack thereof, in this matter.  It is what it is, and I for one will not pretend it’s otherwise.  It is…Southern White Evangelicalism and Racism: ACompelling Intersection!”

I’m done; holla back!

Read my blog anytime by clicking the link: http://thesphinxofcharlotte.com. Find a new post each Wednesday.

To subscribe, click on Follow in the bottom right hand corner of my Home Page at http://thesphinxofcharlotte.com; enter your e-mail address in the designated space, and click on “Sign me up.” Subsequent editions of “Break It Down” will be mailed to your in-box.

Consult the links below for more detailed information on a variety of aspects relating to this post:











Wednesday, November 23, 2016

A Time For Thanks Redux '16

It’s time to Break It Down!

Originally posted on November 24, 2010, and prior to today, subsequently on November 27, 2013, November 26, 2014,


As in the past, since it is Thanksgiving Week, this post will deviate from the standard fare. I know that travel schedules (in some cases impeded by weather events this year), meal planning, family time, shopping, football, parades, and if there is any time remaining, relaxation, will dominate this week. However, it is Wednesday, so there shall be a blog and it will definitely be brief.

Those among us who have perfected humility, and ascended to a genuine Nirvana state, have no doubt also elevated giving thanks to an art form. The rest of us must fully invest our appreciation in the notion, “That’s why we have Thanksgiving!

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day, which kicks off what we commonly refer to as the Holiday Season. Almost instinctively, Thanksgiving and Christmas come to mind. Yet, there is so much more than that to the Season.

Over the next 54 days, many of us will enjoy succulent feasting at Thanksgiving, exchange gifts and contribute to the needy during Hanukkah. We will buy, give, exchange, and/or receive gifts at Christmas, eat, drink, and celebrate the 7 Principles of Kwanzaa, and party and toast the dawn of 2017 on New Year’s Day. We will honor the life and works of The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., on MLK Day. In addition, even in these tough (though improving) economic times, this weekend, millions of Americans will pay (literally) homage to our most celebrated of shoppers’ holiday weekends, Black FridaySmall Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday, by rising early, and proceeding to scour the aisles for those perfect gifts…and if not perfect, at least cheap, relatively speaking. There are even some precociously enterprising businesses that will start the shopping clock Thursday. Sigh!

In past years, I have recounted my reasons for being thankful. This year I find that I have more reasons than ever to sit contemplatively in humble repose, and affirm boldly, that I know, without caveat, not only the goodness, no the greatness of God, but also of his inestimable and inexhaustible beneficence. I thank Him for deliverance, and for imbuing me with the sense and sensibility to discern the distinction between kairos and chronos, Greek concepts for God’s time, and man’s time, respectively.

Eons ago, when I was a college student, I pledged a fraternity. It is familiarly known as the Oldest, Boldest, and Coldest, but I digress. The point of this reference is that during the erstwhile pledge process, as prospective initiates, we were required to learn a number of poems. There were many, each selected to convey a specific life lesson. Many of them have stayed with me, but none more than Invictus, written by English poet, William Ernest Henley (1849-1903). The Latin translation for Invictus is Undefeated. You may recall it, but just in case, see it below:

Invictus (Latin for Undefeated) By William Ernest Henley:

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

So, as you go about your way tomorrow, and all the tomorrows that follow, recognize that Thanksgiving, at its core, is not simply a day on the calendar. It is a spirit that dwells within us, an impulse that prompts us to thank God (for our being undefeated), and for the graciousness to share His blessings with our fellow men and women. Indeed, everyday is “ATime for Giving Thanks Redux '16!”

I’m done; holla back!

Read my blog anytime by clicking the link:

https://thesphinxofcharlotte.com/. Find a new post each Wednesday.

To subscribe, click on Follow in the bottom right hand corner of my Home Page at http://thesphinxofcharlotte.com; enter your e-mail address in the designated space, and click on “Sign me up.” 

Subsequent editions of “Break It Down” will be mailed to your in-box.

Consult the links below for more detailed information on a variety of aspects relating to this post: