TIL there is no Left or Right.

But seriously, there's a bazillion issues that are considered systemic by (what I know as) the Right, and NO ONE on the Left (as I know it) claims all inequalities are systemic.

But I guess if this makes the apologetics easy, have at it.
2/ Further - specifically when it comes to racism (which is what this is really about, we know) - what I believe is dangerously lacking in many such "Left vs. Right" analyses is recognition of racism as a specific, historical, contingent, social problem that exists in its own
3/ right, as an evil to be addressed uniquely, not as a specie of some wider, neutral, philosophical divide.

Attempts to fold it into a wider philosophical analysis like “structuralism” vs. “individualism,” “universalism” vs. “particularism,” even general “neutral” and
4/ "objective" enlightenment vs. backward superstition and irrational stereotyping, eschews racism's unique history and existence in the very creation and fabric of American life, culture, and institutions.

Racism is not reducible to a specie of some other philosophical
5/ conflict that can be argued about on “race-neutral” terms. It can only be discussed and addressed for what it historically and actually is. (And it is also itself the source of many of our more “general” social philosophies anyhow.)

Just as, in Keller's terms, Biblical
6/ justice “diagonalizes,” so racism “diagonalizes” across broader social philosophies as it is not just a specie or product of one or another of these social philosophies.

It's an historical, non-race-neutral fact to be grappled with at a very brass-tacks level.
7/ And I say this all as a huge Keller fan.

I just think there is an apparent tendency to mis-characterize and cheaply categorize ideas and movements in order to put them in opposition to Christianity - obscuring the unique and pervasive character of issues like racism -
8/8 primarily for the sake of apologetic arguments.

(It's also IMO, symptomatic of a very Eurocentric philosophical approach to issues of social justice. See Robert Williams' "Taking Rights Aggressively," for example.)

Anyhow, just my opinion. All love for Keller, really.

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More from @AlsoACarpenter

9 Feb
It's wild seeing so-called "Calvinists" condemning people as heretics, even saying they are not Christians, simply for believing women may preach.

Have they even read Calvin?

In his Institutes, Calvin discusses constitutions of the Church which are matters of “decency and 1/
2/ good order” (1 Cor 14:40), matters of tradition that are conducive to “common order and concord.”

He includes two classes of ordinances under this heading: (1) rituals and ceremonies which lead to Christ, and (2) those that pertain to “order and peace.”
3/ In the group of tradition ordinances meant for peace and order, Calvin includes such things as

“hours set apart for public prayer, sermon, and solemn services; during sermon, quiet and silence, fixed places, singing of hymns, days set apart for the celebration of the Lord’s
Read 5 tweets
2 Feb
If any of y'all are honestly unsure about the existence of systemic racism, there is much help available.

Might I suggest:

1. “The Case For Reparations,” by Ta-Nehisi Coates

theatlantic.com/magazine/archi…
2. Persistent Disparities, by Sandy Darity

amazon.com/Persistent-Dis…
3. From Here to Equality: Reparations for Black Americans in the Twenty-First Century, by Sandy Darity

amazon.com/Here-Equality-…
Read 10 tweets
31 Jan
Tried to post in the comments there a couple times, but they never appeared. Quickly deleted? IDK. So this is take 3:

I truly think that conflating the Frankfurt school with CRT is a basic mistake that many make. They are very different ideologies, with different purposes, 1/ Image
2/ and different histories. I try to make this clearer in my series response to Dr. Trueman:

alsoacarpenter.com/2021/01/18/car…

See especially Part 3, where I discuss the Civil Rights tradition as central.
3/3 Also, I've written a general overview here:

alsoacarpenter.com/2020/12/28/in-…

While both projects are "critical," again, they are very different and this should be very clear to anyone familiar with both. But I don't think either Pruitt or Trueman are. It's such an obvious error.
Read 5 tweets
14 Jan
It is truly sad how little folks understand about the Civil Rights Movement and message. How could he have not spent the time to read and learn the tradition before beginning his silly inquisition?

And to invoke Dr. King for his cause is just so ignorant. 1/
2/ What did the REAL King teach?

"The dilemma of white America is the source and cause of the dilemma of Negro America. Just as the ambivalence of white Americans grows out of their oppressor status, the predicament of Negro Americans grows out of their oppressed status." (1967)
3/ Or, how about:

"[O]ne of the great problems that the Negro confronts is his lack of power. From the old plantations of the South to the newer ghettos of the North, the Negro has been confined to a life of voicelessness and powerlessness. Stripped of the right to make
Read 14 tweets
13 Jan
And when you wanna make a parallel between "BLM" protests and the MAGA insurrection, take the number of people at the Capitol time total hours to get the total man hours, then divide by number of dead, injured, property, damage, democracies in jeopardy, etc., to get a rate of 1/
2/ destruction per man hour. Next, multiply that rate times the total worldwide man "BLM" protest man hours (many millions) to discover how many would be dead, how many injured, how much destroyed, how many democratic institutions threatened, etc. Finally, compare that
3/ number (i.e., rate of MAGA destruction times "BLM" protest man hours) with the actual totals from "BLM" protests.

My guess is, if the worldwide "BLM" protests had the same destruction rate of that MAGA insurrection, there would be tens, if not hundreds of thousands dead,
Read 6 tweets
17 Dec 20
Here's what I mean; a thread:

Scylla: Trumpism and Christian Nationalism

Charybdis: "In the midst of blatant injustices inflicted upon the Negro, I have watched white churchmen stand on the sideline and mouth pious irrelevancies and sanctimonious trivialities. 1/
2/ In the midst of a mighty struggle to rid our nation of racial and economic injustice, I have heard many ministers say: 'Those are social issues, with which the gospel has no real concern.' And I have watched many churches commit themselves to a completely other worldly
3/ religion which makes a strange, un-Biblical distinction between body and soul, between the sacred and the secular." (Dr. King)

The Path Between: "There was a time when the church was very powerful—in the time when the early Christians rejoiced at being deemed worthy to suffer
Read 10 tweets

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