So I read this thoughtful & much-discussed piece by @sullydish and have a few quick thoughts for further discussion...
Sullivan makes some powerful & salient points about the human tendency to absolutize political ideology with religious fervor and also about the way waning religious commitments in America have disconnected us in many ways. HOWEVER...
...like the @DouthatNYT piece from last week, I think Sullivan nurses too much nostalgia for white civic religion, which may have perks for some, but should not be confused with the spirituality that has sustained millions of (less privileged) Americans for centuries...
...(and which shouldn’t be confused with the gospel)...
...We see this is how Sullivan laments the rise of “social justice without Christianity,” a sentiment that ignores, among other things, the historic & ongoing prophetic work of the black church...
Spend a week with the sermons of @OtisMoss3, @neichelleg, @austinchanning, @RevDrBarber, @WilGafney @pastortraci & try telling me today’s social justice movements are faithless! Look at images from Charlottesville where people in clergy collars & stoles led counterprotests...
...Yes, white civic religion in America is dying. And yes, some of us “woke-ish” white folks are trying to do justice work without the spiritual practices & community connections that help make that work sustainable. But the solution is not to pine for the past...
...The solution is to learn from the people who have been at this faith & justice stuff for a while, to look for the Spirt in the margins, and to welcome the clarity that comes when Christianity is less effectively weaponized by the state. Just my two cents.
Oh and also: His claim that Christianity is the only monotheistic faith that “seeks no claim over Caesar” is absolutely false. Like, look at the last 2,000 years of history.
I see Christians repeating this claim that Christians were responsible for all the justice movements in American history, forgetting somehow that their primary opposition was OTHER CHRISTIANS. Slavery, colonization, Jim Crow. Perpetrated & sustained by Christians.
I mean, ideally that would be the case; I think that’s what Jesus taught. But historically, the church has often been entwined with the state with disastrous results.
