Tag: race
patriotism good, nationalism bad?
There is a recurrent discourse about nationalism and patriotism that I generally find stultifying. In general, many have (following C.S. Lewis) declared that patriotism is a good love of one’s country and people, while nationalism is the bad belief that...
things that can be true at the same time
I’ve made these points at greater length in other essays, but I can’t seem to get people who disagree to push back in a meaningful way. So I’m trying a different strategy, for the skeptics who seem to think that...
can white people be saved?
I know many of my followers might be skeptical of the concept of “whiteness” and may bristle at the question, “Can white people be saved?” If that’s you — and even if it’s not — I invite you to read...
black homeschooling in America
This piece about black families in America choosing to homeschool captures many of the elements that families struggle with over the public school system: Yet Fields-Smith made a point of noting the respect black families had for the people running...
transitional justice for Jim Crow
Decades after the Civil Rights Act and the end of Jim Crow, it’s clear that American attempts to reckon with racial injustices have been insufficient. But what could we have done — or do — differently? Anthony Bradley has a...
the enduring absurdity of race
This essay by W. Ralph Eubanks is a good introduction to the challenges of race’s enduring power in America: Race is an absurdity, having long ago been discredited as a valid biological category and, in the Brown decision, a defensible legal one....
“we don’t speak a language, we speak normal!”
Our family lived down the road from Shelvis and Nancy Smith-Mather when I worked in South Sudan, and we were enormously blessed to be their neighbors and friends. They, like us, have had to relocate and are now doing peacebuilding...
when churches commodify diversity
Duke Kwon allows the text to speak for itself in his review of The Urban Church Imagined: Religion, Race, and Authenticity in the City: This consumer orientation also has implications for the way the church relates to racial diversity and its members...
Andy Crouch on race, power, and culture making
Just wanted to quickly highlight some recent podcasts featuring Andy Crouch. I have long enjoyed Andy’s writing and his work with Christianity Today (here’s my review of his most recent book, Strong and Weak), but I found these podcasts full of...