I dont think its an accident that white evangelical Christians make up a vocal core of those insisting upon the culpability of black victims of white violence. For if Gods salvation indeed flows through the blood of Jesus, the sinless one who died to pay the penalty for our sins on the cross at Golgotha, then nothing could be more sacred and significant than the death of an innocent man at the hands of sinners. White evangelicals know at their core that if Trayvon, Michael, Tamir, and Eric are in fact innocent, then something of divine, eternal consequence has taken place in their deaths. Moreover, to profess them to be innocent would mean having to accept the terrible judgment of being complicit in their dying. Even more, it would require heartrending confession, the dying of an entire way of life, and the re-orientation of everything we have and are in light of the innocent blood that was shed because of our sin. White liberal Christians carry none of this burden, which is why its so easy to march, speak out, and play the role of allies - all good things, of course. Salvation for the white liberal Christian is about love and grace and inclusion - all good things, of course - but not about judgment, and certainly not about blood. Very little about who we are, what we do, what we believe, and how we operate in the world is at stake. Nobody is asking us to put anything of real value upon the altar. Nobody assumes that anything like our core identities must be put to death so that a new kind of person bound up in a new kind of social body might be born. So while white evangelical Christians fight to death to prove that black victims are guilty, perhaps because they know deep down how much is at stake, white liberal Christians appear to be enjoying a moment to make a difference in the world, perhaps because so little of our white lives and our salvation is believed to be at stake.
Posted on: Fri, 12 Dec 2014 17:11:41 +0000
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