Oppression and injustice happen when a person or a group of people is deprived, usually by law or by force, of basic and equal rights that are allotted to others. Often oppression and injustice use categories of people to afflict their damages. For example, our country was founded and built on laws that allowed for the brutal killing and enslavement of blacks and Native Americans, with many laws explicitly benefiting white people by name. This is oppression and injustice. Refugees are oppressed by something going on in their home country that they are fleeing from in order to save their lives. This is often religious or ethnic persecution and is often related to wars or guerrilla warfare dangers. The oppressed are the ones under the boot of those with power. We get less comfortable talking about oppression and injustice when we start looking at the vast inequities in the United States between whites and people of color. It’s a lot easier to talk about oppression of biblical times and the distant past, but much more uneasy when it’s right under our nose and we may or may not even be aware of it or acknowledge it.
All Lives Matter vs. Black Lives Matter
It prompted me to write this post about what Black Lives Matter (or “black lives matter”) means and doesn’t mean, looking at the values of Black Lives Matter & All Lives Matter and say-it-ain’t-so, actually finds some common ground between the two.
The Babylon Bee Gets Defunded by Christians Who Love Black Lives #DefundTheBee
MINNEAPOLIS, MN – Defunding is all the rage these days. After consistently mocking the concern for black lives, Christians finally rallied their efforts to defund The Babylon Bee, a popular satire website ran by politically conservative white guys who use a lot of words from the Bible.
The Bee made its name years ago with genuinely funny articles poking fun at the quirks of being Calvinist or Baptist, repetitious Chris Tomlin choruses, and smoke machines used in worship sets.
Racism 101 – First Steps – Defining Racism
Want to take some steps beyond your #GeorgeFloyd social media post but don’t know where to start?
Racism 101 – First Steps – Defining Racism
Becoming a Multi Ethnic Church: It’s Biblical, not Political
I did a sermon last Sunday (at bottom) that looked at how to apply the many biblical texts about oppression and injustice to a 2017 American context. At Crossroads, we are making intentional steps to become a multi-ethnic church. I’ve been immersed in the multi-ethnic and racial reconciliation conversation since 2008 (when I first read Divided […]
Choppin it Up Episode 8: Why aren’t churches more diverse? No charges to Keith Lamont Scott’s police shooter. Difference between police getting shot and blacks getting shot.
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