Divided by Faith: Evangelical Religion and the Problem of Race in America - Michael O. Emerson, Christian Smith Audiobook
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In recent years, the leaders of the American evangelical movement have brought their characteristic passion to the problem of race, notably in the Promise Keepers movement and in reconciliation theology. But the authors of this provocative new study reveal that despite their good intentions, evangelicals may actually be preserving America’s racial chasm.
In Divided by Faith, Michael O. Emerson and Christian Smith probe the grassroots of white evangelical America, through a nationwide telephone survey of 2,000 people, along with 200 face-to-face interviews. The results of their research are surprising. Most white evangelicals, they learned, see no systematic discrimination against blacks; indeed, they deny the existence of any ongoing racial problem in the United States. Many of their subjects blamed the continuing talk of racial conflict on the media, unscrupulous black leaders, and the inability of African Americans to forget the past. What lies behind this perception? Evangelicals, Emerson and Smith write, are not so much actively racist as committed to a theological view of the world that makes it difficult for them to see systematic injustice. The evangelical emphasis on individualism, free will, and personal relationships makes invisible the pervasive injustice that perpetuates inequality between the races. Most racial problems, they told the authors, can be solved by the repentance and conversion of the sinful individuals at fault.
Combining a substantial body of evidence with sophisticated analysis and interpretation, Emerson and Smith throw sharp light on the oldest American dilemma. Despite the best intentions of evangelical leaders and some positive trends, the authors conclude that real racial reconciliation remains far over the horizon.
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| Creation Date: | Fri, 28 Jul 2023 19:10:55 +0200 |
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This post has 12 comments with rating of 5/5
July 28th, 2023
This is an interesting take, that Christians really just don’t see it. But then again, what is meant that an emphasis on personal relationships causes such a blindness? Free will? Aren’t these things useful in subverting the barriers, or is racism being defined as not admitting (perpetuating) racism?
In practical terms, I see mexican, white, and black people interacting well enough all around me in middle America. The old forms of actual racism still have pockets, but aren’t mainline, like the 1940’s south US. I also see divides - those mexicans seem to be banded together in their own little community, working hard and providing excellent grocery and restaurant services. We’d do well to emulate those things about them. But if definitions are twisted in the first place, then maybe a *worse* problem than actually exists can be trained up in the newer generations in an attempt to give the ugly thing new life.
Look out, contemplate the wider scenario, but then look around yourself and find all the places where the practical solutions in place with those who work together have some transferrable properties to the practical difficulties, and make good change.
July 28th, 2023
Pale us evangelical is more a political designation than a religious one. If poll self-labelled evangelicals on questions like “was jesus divine or just a cool guy?” you get a 60/40 split, but try instead “communism bad?” and the answer is pretty unanimous. The core of evangelical teaching then comes from people like reagan rather than paul and is all about “bootstraps” and “no government”, making system-level view taking and intervention incompatible.
July 29th, 2023
You seriously don’t agree that communism is bad? With the last genocidal century in the rear view, what’s the honest system-level view? I can tell you that, from a European perspective, we have few illusions about the evil, failed “isms”/wasms. No simple-minded nostalgia here.
July 29th, 2023
GiLGiJ-Christians really just don’t see it.
It’s the ole no brain no pain philosophy.
caesar963- Yes I absolutely believe that that communism is bad.
July 29th, 2023
That’s refreshingly incisive. As for Christianity, we must remember that it actually gave us the university; the hospital; international law; the first mass peace & charitable movements; preserved ancient texts, culture & knowledge; spread literacy & learning; developed philosophy, theology, art, architecture, music & agriculture; created the concept & doctrine of human rights; etc. etc.
July 30th, 2023
“Communism”, in the context of us politics, does not refer to a system of government; it’s a catch-all term that means “gay people, public healthcare, universities, brown people, atheism, sex education, civil unrest, etc”. Evangelicals in the us have no shared consensus on even the most basic questions of religious belief (is jesus god? how does one get to heaven? are babies born innocent?” etc), but ask about “communism” and suddenly speak in unison, because evangelical is a political rather than a religious designation, and it’s central tenets come from the television (and youtube, and megachurch pastors with financial incentive to prioritise political topics above all else and dedicate their church services to telling the half of evangelicals who actually attend church who to vote for).
July 30th, 2023
Objectively, communism may be observed for what it truly is - the historiography is available. A majority in the West have always been opposed to it & what it represented. In direct contrast, people here have freely chosen the fundamental human rights-based legal order; the rule of law; the market system of economics; liberal democracy & constitutional govt. This is as true of the US as it is of the rest.
I’m no expert on Evangelicalism, or American Evangelicalism specifically (aside from being aware that they’re none too fond of my lot - historically or currently). However, on elementary principles, I observe that they’re Trinitarian & hold to Sola Scriptura. So what we have there is mainline Protestantism.
Prior to the 1970s, Evangelicalism didn’t have a political dimension (many didn’t even vote due to political contention & perceived corruption). However they were inducted as a group into politics by Jimmy Carter’s campaign, as he was one of their own. Again, I’m not the expert on all of this.
July 30th, 2023
I ought to add that they are interdenominational, so this will account for there not being a rigidly imposed consensus. They are not an undifferentiated agglomeration. This might also explain the opposition to the oppressive uniformity of extreme political ideology (such as the failed “isms”/wasms of the last century).
July 30th, 2023
Thnx
July 30th, 2023
I grew up with evangelical extremists in the us and visited hundreds of churches across the continent. Grandmother’s cohort, from the 1920s or so, had only a few things they cared about: go to church, no sex, and be racist. They tended to stick with churches of their own age group and are pretty much all dead by now. The next generation largely grew up hippies, though goldwater had some going for Politics! even then. They really got going in the 80s, though, embarrassed former hippies joining in, diving full on into authoritarianism and us supremacy. Anti-abortion was a religious topic before then, so it had no consensus about it, but political leaders in the 80s made it a political issue instead and started heavily recruiting. The politics > religion turn is most visible in loving reagan and hating carter.
Around the 90s is when homeschooling really took off among evangelicals too, as the ideal way to teach alternative political facts and minimise exposure to diversity of opinion. By the 00s, evangelicals were split into mega churches, which used prosperity gospel type stuff to harvest money, and little churches in rented spaces forever forming and dissolving because their members couldn’t agree about doctrine and liked to fight. And now in the 2020s evangelicalism has rapidly declined among young pale people, with around 20% market share in 65+ and only ~7% in under-30s (the difference moving to the “none” category). Those remaining have been retreating into their homes and taking cues from tucker carlson more than just about anyone else, whose message on religion is “god is cool, sure, but what he really cares about is who you voted for and how much you hate the radical leftist communist liberals like joe biden and his trans predator allies”.
So it’s no surprise at all for surveys like the above to show a unified political front, even when it’s counter to biblical jesus’ teachings; christianity for other-coloured us people is religion, but for the pale evangelicals it’s politics.
July 30th, 2023
Just a few things on that - serious & not so much. A cohort of grandmothers having a “no sex” rule doesn’t entirely make sense. Authoritarianism in the context of liberal democracy is not even in the same dimension of reality as compared to actual authoritarianism. “Hating carter” - yet it was Carter who initially successfully utilised the Evangelical block in the mid ’70s. Voters can indeed be fickle.
On homeschooling, my limited understanding here is that the American state school system - much like the disastrous system over in the UK - is catastrophically awful. An 82% failing grade - from results of study disclosed by Education Secretary Arne Duncan & Pres. Barack Obama. Standards are extremely low, not fit for purpose. So the factors behind the increase in homeschooling may be more complex than any nefarious theory might reveal.
Regarding Evangelical people as a whole, once again, not my crowd, but it might be imprudent to take an apparently obnoxious sample of prominent media types & allow them to stand for all people. I’m sure there are a few human beings in there who love their families & want the best for them. On a personal note, I had a fairly chaotic family situation myself, something I was determined not to repeat. In the final analysis, that’s about all we can manage as individuals. And that’s a serious struggle.
July 30th, 2023
Responses, then:
- “no sex” means “never say the word aloud and try to hide all evidence of its existence in public spaces, using means like censorship and genital mutilation
- “loving reagan and hating carter” means “You were supposed to be politically like us, but it turns out you were just a christian, a let-down. Whereas this fellow isn’t actually christian, but he’s using all the right political catchphrases.”
- on homeschooling: my own understanding is based on, again, years of intimate interaction with evangelicals doing it, reading the books and going to meetups with hundreds of their children. It’s exactly as “nefarious” (that is to say, politically motivated) as it seems, and the public school system collapsing is something they have caused rather than reacted to, via legal sabotage and diversion of funds to charter and private schools. There actually are a few parents homeschooling for academic reasons, but they are generally non-religious and a rarity. See also: https://responsiblehomeschooling.org/
- And again, my impression of evangelical people as a whole is based on being related to them, having met thousands across the continent, and now having assorted friends who grew up in similar circumstances and dealt with similar bouts homelessness, poor health, and so on because their families rejected them, preferring politics to any such love. A label cannot stand in wholesale for case-by-case analysis, but one would have to be incredibly clueless and detached these days to not know what that label means, and so to choose it for oneself speaks very loudly (and it’s no surprise but considerable relief that their children are mass abandoning it).
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