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Emma Green
@emmaogreen
, 8 tweets, 4 min read Read on Twitter
White supremacy has created one of the brightest dividing lines in American Christianity today. Churches & pastors from various traditions disagree profoundly about how to speak prophetically on the issue of race and, by extension, American politics. 1/x theatlantic.com/politics/archi…
In my reporting, I have not found the common progressive caricature of conservative Christians to be true--that they don't care about racism, etc. In fact, many conservative churches are multi-ethnic, and intensely debate racism in their communities. 2/x
theatlantic.com/politics/archi…
The biggest dividing line right now--which was exposed by the El Paso shooting--is more about how Christians analyze the problem. Is white supremacy a matter of evil and individual sin? Or is it produced and reinforced by our political system? 3/x
theatlantic.com/politics/archi…
I interviewed prominent TX pastors on the shooting, incl. @jackngraham & @robertjeffress, both Trump advisers and conservative evangelicals. They say "politicizing" the shooting demeans it. And they both emphasized their opposition to white supremacy. 4/x
theatlantic.com/politics/archi…
@jackngraham @robertjeffress Notably, Rev Samuel Rodriguez, the head of the prominent Hispanic evangelical group @nhclc and another Trump adviser, differed: "Words matter," he said of anti-immigrant rhetoric like Pres. Trump's. He wants white Christians to stand up for immigrants.5/x
theatlantic.com/politics/archi…
But there's another Christian perspective here, too. I spoke with an Austin pastor who is grieved by what he sees as the church's role in mainstreaming anti-immigrant, white supremacist views.6/x
theatlantic.com/politics/archi…
This progressive pastor called on Christians to speak prophetically from the margins--give up on power, call out political leaders, call out anti-immigrant rhetoric. He believes white supremacy is produced and reinforced by systems. 7/x
theatlantic.com/politics/archi…
Sorry for the long (and late) thread; I've been traveling. But take a look at my piece on the El Paso shooting and the way American pastors have responded. The themes here will stay with us for a long, long time. /fix
theatlantic.com/politics/archi…
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Emma Green
@emmaogreen
I spent some time hanging out with a new (aspiring) coalition of conservative nationalists this week. My dispatch from the HQ of the nationalist revolt, which, naturally, was at the Ritz: theatlantic.com/politics/archi…
A few thoughts. First, it was bracing to hear so many diehard conservatives condemn the right’s worship of the free market — including the former architects of Washington’s free-market nerve centers. theatlantic.com/politics/archi…
Second, it was clear that this is an unapologetically elite movement. The new nationalists have declared war on the conservative establishment, and want to replace the intellectual infrastructure of the right. theatlantic.com/politics/archi…
Read 5 tweets
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Emma Green
@emmaogreen
Today, The Atlantic published a piece I have been working on for a long time, about one of the most powerful stories of our time: The decimation of Christianity in the Middle East. This is tragic, on its face. But it's also devastating for democracy. 1/x
theatlantic.com/international/…
I traveled to the Nineveh Plain in Iraq, a strip of land that is the focus of epic bible stories and tense geopolitical wrangling. I met a family there that embodies the impossible struggle that Christians face in staying in the region. 2/x
theatlantic.com/international/…
One brother, Thabet, is a priest in a town called Karamles. He sustained his neighbors for years while ISIS occupied their home. Now that ISIS is gone, he wants people to come home, to return to normal.

He cannot even convince his own family to stay. 3/x
theatlantic.com/international/…
Read 8 tweets
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Emma Green
@emmaogreen
Over the past few weeks, we've seen a huge amount of hopefulness about 2020 from folks who identify as the "religious left," and nobody has inspired that more than Pete Buttigieg, who argues that Christianity has a progressive-friendly message.

But! 1/x

theatlantic.com/politics/archi…
A few notes for the wave of religious-left enthusiasm. The first is that campaign infrastructure, time, and dollars matter more than rhetoric for getting votes. Where will 2020 Dems put their resources? 2/x
theatlantic.com/politics/archi…
Two: Faith language is often window dressing in politics. That leads to events that look like “Noah’s ark," with "50 religious leaders [talking] about how dang moral the Democrats are versus the Republicans," as @shauncasey57 put it. 3/x
theatlantic.com/politics/archi…
Read 7 tweets

Related threads

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Lois Beckett
@loisbeckett
Currently reading a newspaper explainer on white nationalist ideology that quotes:
-2 white supremacists
-2 leaders of nonprofits that monitor hate groups
-2 academics

A lot of space is given to letting the white nationalists dispute that label/ claim they’ve moved on.
Some editors are still making the wrong call about when an article about white supremacy is ready for publication.

It’s not that complicated:
1) Don’t let neo-Nazis lie about themselves in your newspaper
2) Always interview & quote the people being hurt
3) Include history
An objective article on white supremacy is not one that quotes two racists and two employees of anti-racist groups.

The people being threatened and hurt by white supremacy every day *are the experts.*

Their experience *is the story*
Read 4 tweets
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DCGomez
@AllThingsNatSec
As a lifetime law enforcement professional and retired F.B.I. executive who worked terrorism their entire career, I don’t believe the FBI can effectively crack down on white supremacists under this POTUS.
Once great, the F.B.I. has become mediocre in the face of constant criticism from the POTUS and others, who see this threat, the white supremacy movement, as patriots not terrorists.
I believe the F.B.I. has seen what happened to their leadership when they tried to do their constitutional duty to protect the nation “from all enemies, foreign and domestic,” and now choose to be reactive rather than proactive in the investigation of the white supremacy movement
Read 5 tweets
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Richard James
@RichJamesBits
I have reached a whole new level of #PISSEDOFF.

I didnt think such a #dark and #scary state, or level, could be reached. It may top 12-14-17's causation. It's. That. Bad. So, I've prepared a statement...

docs.google.com/document/d/1_J…

#PascoSheriff #HaveYouAllNoShame @CigarCityBeer
Dear @FBI,
I must implore you ask your colleauges in @FBITampa to help research this new level of #PISSEDOFFNESS. As locals, they may offer a special indepth knowledge of this new level I have reached. This is not fair & law enforcement must #investigate. No one deserves this.
This is my #apogee of #Pissedoffness.
If #motherfuckers & #tears werent a noticable level.
If #HUSH or #INTIMIDATION tactics being deployed didnt strike a chord.
If #EVIDENCE, PROOF, or 30k Bonds didnt #WOW YOU.
If posting mom with no shred of investigatable value wasnt enough...
Read 463 tweets
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Keiko
@keikoinboston
1. Some thoughts on this story that @kittypurrzog covered earlier this month. If you missed it, in addition to her piece you can read @MrAndyNgo’s first-hand account:
dailywire.com/news/39089/ant…
archive.is/ltTTF
2. I feel like this shouldn’t need to be spelled out but in case there’s any doubt on my position, what happened to Andy was appalling. No one should be treated that way under any circumstances. Media who are working are no exception to that.
3. This thread will fill in some context that I haven’t seen discussed in any of the coverage I’ve read and also offer a critique of Andy & other journalists' roles in these stories. (I should note that we’ve known each other online for more than a year and met in person once.)
Read 49 tweets
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Diana Erkiletian
@derkiletian
And out of that hopeless attempt has come nearly all that we call human history—money, poverty, ambition, war, prostitution, classes, empires, slavery—the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy.
C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
In America before the Civil War, the majority of evangelical Christians were totally convinced that "their personal relationship with Jesus Christ" authorized them to own slaves. Throughout most of Christian history slavery has received the official sanction of the church.
“All servants not being Christians, imported into this colony by shipping, shall be slaves for their lives."

Source: Official Act of the Colony of Virginia, 1670. Quoted in David Brion Davis,
Read 82 tweets

Trending hashtags

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