Remembering this important history as another MLK Day passes, a history that continues to play out among White Evangelicals who vote for Donald Trump.
A very brief insight into the history of White Christians and their failure to recognize racism within worship spaces and denominations.
Today's newsletter won’t be a detailed history of racism in White church spaces. If you want to do a deep-dive into this, Historian of Race & Religion Jemar Tisby wrote a fantastic book called “The Color of Compromise” on such a matter. (In fact, I quote Tisby throughout this email newsletter.)
Why was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. a Christian preacher?
The history of the Christian church in securing dominance and control over others through re-worked theology is well-documented but often hushed to oblivion.
Throughout the rise of Christianity in Europe and around the world, missionaries — who often worked under the auspices of colonialism (remember, the Roman Catholic Church is the second-largest real estate owner in the world) — believed that Indigenous folks and Africans brought into other places through chattel slavery deserved to hear the Gospels but weren’t worthy enough to benefit from the Christian Bible’s themes of love, justice, and freedom from oppression.
As a reminder, the following Biblical passages reference the requirement to free others — not just ourselves — from systems of oppression: Deuteronomy 20:20, Deuteronomy 4:5-8, Deuteronomy 18:1-3, Genesis 1:26, Genesis 18:19, Job 29:12-17, Zechariah 7:9-10, Proverbs 31:8-9, Jeremiah 22:3, Isaiah 11:1-5, Psalms 146:7-9, Exodus 6:5-6, Luke 14:12-14, and Micah 6:8.
Don’t want to look up those verses? The Bible Project succinctly explains this Biblical theme of restorative justice and freedom from oppression.
From Historian of Race & Religion Jemar Tisby in his book, The Color of Compromise:
“Over time, Europeans compromised the message of Christianity to accommodate slavery while also, in their minds, satisfying the requirement to make disciples...Missionaries carefully crafted messages that maintained the social and economic status quo. They truncated the gospel message by failing to confront slavery, and in doing so they reinforced its grip on society...Instead of highlighting the dignity of all human beings, European missionaries told Africans that Christianity should make them more obedient and loyal to their earthly masters.”
White Evangelicals, who were often slave owners themselves, did this to ensure Black slaves did not revolt against their captors. In the colony of Haiti, for example, slaves fought back against their White captors, and when these slaves won their freedom under such circumstances, the rest of the modern world at that time demonized them and refused to trade with them. The rest of the world did this to Haiti because their revolt would set a positive example for other slaves who sought their freedom to rule themselves outside of the narrative of the Transatlantic Slave Trade.
Africans brought to the colonies, and later the United States, already possessed religious beliefs themselves. Not only that, they would have most likely known about Christianity since early theologians like Augustine lived in areas of North Africa. (In other words, these Africans weren’t ignoramuses, “heathens” without culture and understanding of the modern world in which they lived.)
In the same book, The Color of Compromise, Tisby continues to say:
Christianity served as a force to help construct racial categories in the colonial period. A corrupt message that saw no contradiction between the brutalities of bondage and the good news of salvation…Although many Africans arrived as enslaved persons, colonists sometimes permitted them certain rights, such as earning their own money, purchasing their own and their family’s freedom, and learning skilled trades...Colonists may have initially seen Africans in America as laborers just like any other and patterned their economy and politics to allow for their full inclusion. American history could have happened another way. Instead, racist attitudes and the pursuit of wealth increasingly relegated black people to a position of perpetual servitude and exploitation.”
As you can discern from the above quote, slave-owning colonists developed a theological narrative to suppress resistance and to further enforce a hold on their wealth.
To add to their fears of slaves revolting, White slave owners also didn’t allow Black slaves, who may have deeply enjoyed and benefitted from the Gospel message of the Christian Bible (as many did), to gather on their terms to discuss the Gospels among themselves and how it may benefit their unique lived experiences.
Simply put, that is messed up: one had to hear the Gospels only with White people present so they could tell Black slaves how to think and feel about such texts.
What then does any of this have to do with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Civil Rights Era?
Because Black Christians continued to experience racism among their White Christian counterparts and their respective denominations after the American Civil War, they would later set up Black worship spaces, like the African Methodist Episcopal Church. These Black Christians did so to have agency around the continuing effects of racism and to have a stronger sense of community and solidarity.
This is why Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. utilized Black churches to galvanize support around the awareness of racial inequality and systemic oppression that historians now define as the Civil Rights Era.
This reality continues into the present day as it pertains to Donald Trump and his appeal among White Evangelical voters. It’s called White Christian Nationalism, and I wrote about it here.
While Black Christians may be as religious as White Christians, they differ greatly on the issue of social justice reforms and initiatives that seek to better the quality of life for all.
Conversely, the data shows that White Christians who are very religious will instead support issues that suppress Freedom of Religion and support toxic political candidates, like Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis.
Again, the White Evangelical narrative I’ve outlined above that developed during the Transatlantic Slave Trade proceeds to rear its ugly head in White church spaces.
What do we do then as modern followers of Jesus, considering this history?
Listen to Black folks. Read books like The Color of Compromise and How to Fight Racism.
Also, don’t be an ignoramus. *wink* Dive into the history of White churches, approaching it with an open heart and mind.
And for the love of all that’s precious, talk to your White Evangelical friends who continue to support Trump in 2024. (Heck, you can send them my articles.) -Meghan
Correction: I originally included a photo at the top of this article that I miscaptioned to say, “Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. speaking to crowds at an African Methodist Episcopal Church in Hartford, CT.” This is incorrect. That original photo was taken in Newark, NJ at Southside High School on March 27, 1968.
Hi folks,
We have our work cut out for us in 2024. Donald Trump, one of the most fascist presidential candidates to date, has already claimed victory in the Iowa Caucuses.
He also continues to lead in the polls among the current line of Republican presidential candidates.
Can I ask you to do something for me? Please share my work with others.
Also, tell your friends to vote for Joe Biden. It’s the only way out of our current mess and to save our historic democratic institutions. We all know that Joe Biden and Donald Trump will most likely be the presidential candidates. (This isn’t a time to be selfish and vote for some random third-party candidate.)
As a fascist leader, Trump intends to lead our country through a minority of a few, which is the most unAmerican, undemocratic thing I’ve heard ever and it’s a slap in the face of the witness of the Church. (Yes, he has even communicated that he intends to get rid of the U.S. Constitution. Plus, he’s already drumming up antisemitic fervor and hatred toward others. How is that Christ-like, folks?)
Will you stand idly by while this country dies in silence, or will you choose to do something about it?