Thread by @C_Stroop

“'If the KKK or any other group, if what they’re doing is within the law,' he told me, 'I would consider it an honor to have them use the platform and share the hope of Jesus with them.'"

- Jacob Wells, GiveSendGO founder, quoted by @chick_in_kiev

thenation.com/article/societ…

I'm proud to have contributed some comments to @chick_in_kiev for this article, which is excellent. In addition to the overlap b/w the Christian Right and the overtly racist right, we discussed the significance of the "sin flattening" she quotes @JeffSharlet on here.

It's really important to understand how that functions in evangelical subculture, serving as the foundation for gross false equivalence that serves to uphold the (white supremacist patriarchal) status quo, much like post-truth politics functions in authoritarianism in general

Here's an old thread I did on that. It looks a bit broken now, but you can still find the numbered replies:

https://twitter.com/C_Stroop/status/874036941163040768?s=20

Anyway, sin flattening is just one way theology--in this case, original sin, and, especially, total depravity--can be used as a refuge for bigotry, hate, and injustice, in this case by those who wish to appear "respectable."

"Oh, you're gay? Well hey, I'm a sinner too..."

Scale that attitude up into a platform like GiveSendGo, and you can see how founder-siblings Jacob Wells and Heather Wilson justify fundraisers for racist terrorists and murderers by saying, essentially, "We allowed an LGBTQ fundraiser too!" (That fundraiser has raised $0.)

Apropos of all this is, too, how white evangelicals and other conservative Christians understand the notions of harm and fairness. GiveSendGo won't allow fundraisers for abortions because that would be directly funding harm. But funding the KKK? Just fine and dandy! No harm there

As we watch social media companies continue to flounder over how to deal with hate speech and conspiracy theories, it's worth noting that this is also why an ethos of "free speech absolutism" online, far from promoting and preserving democracy, ultimately serves to undermine it.

GiveSendGo has been successful at continuing to fund hate so far, perhaps in large part thanks to the pervasive Christian supremacism of our society and its espoused theological raison d'être.
And hey, @stripe, you need to stop coddling Christian extremists - cut GiveSendGo off

Even as I'm encouraged that the press is beginning to take the kid gloves off when dealing with conservative Christian theology and white evangelical subculture, taking note of e.g. how harmful purity culture is, we need to keep the pressure on civil society in this regard.

That which is Christian must no longer be treated as untouchable. When Christians do harm with their Christianity, they must be held accountable.

Key point: declaring authoritarian, bigoted believers "fake Christians" is counterproductive; it reinforces Christian supremacism

There are many interpretations of Christianity. Some of them are evil. Christians can be good people or terrible people, just like everyone else. Christians are capable of atrocities, and all you do by pretending otherwise is help cover their tracks when they do so. So stop that.

Here are several articles you can read making this case in more detail, all by me except the last one linked:

religiondispatches.org/news-flash-chr…

cstroop.com/2017/05/03/abo…

playboy.com/read/the-gospe…

sojo.net/articles/myth-…

#TuesdayThoughts

.@chick_in_kiev's GiveSendGo exposé in @thenation is not only a must-read, but is also a perfect illustration of how to report on harmful Christian theology without denying, erasing, or downplaying that it is genuine Christian theology

thenation.com/article/societ…

CC: @jeffjarvis

Thanks again, @chick_in_kiev for reaching out to experts like me and @JeffSharlet to help explain that theology instead of tossing it aside as not "real" Christianity. It's so important for the future of American civil society and democracy to get this right!

Optimism is not my strong suit. It honestly comes quite unnaturally to me.

But I think we're starting to see a real shift in American discourse on conservative Christianity in a democratic direction.

My latest (just dropped) on @RDispatches is apropos:

religiondispatches.org/have-white-eva…

I'll end this thread with a reminder that freelancing does not pay all my bills. I am only able to do this work full-time thanks to readers like you.

If you are able to pay something for my work via @Patreon, please do.

I'm so grateful to my patrons! 🥰

patreon.com/cstroop