Some thoughts after the #PCA50 #pcaga & kind of extension of this reflection I wrote last year. /1 theothoughts.com/2022/06/26/ten… As mentioned in this piece, PCA ecclesial structure is what initially drew me to the denomination. Having come out of the non-denom world, I found the structure refreshing & mitigated the need for outside interference /2

Honestly, it has become disconcerting seeing some professing believers repudiate concerns around CRT & critical theories in general under some misguided notion that ppl don’t want to confront issues of race & injustice. /1 Yes, that may be true in some cases particularly the way that social justice paradigms have been framed. But not every Christian is pushing back because of fear of the unknown or discomfort with issues of race. /2

At this point, I think Christians should be less concerned with fighting battles against racism, CRT or white supremacy but more concerned with how these battles are impacting both the church & broader society. /1 Ppl are being cast according to ideological persuasions in increasing dehumanizing ways. A person only matters per the chosen narrative & truth of situations seem to not matter at all. Hostilities & vitriol are increasingly becoming the norm. /2

(THREAD) I find it interesting, if not ironic, when the same ones decrying white supremacy over everything, do exactly what white supremacists have done: group people according to race, assign characteristics to the group as a whole, /1 encourage prejudice based on those caricatures, deny any kind of thinking or action from the supremacists’ norm, downgrade independent thinkers, take action to disallow non-supremacists lives to matter if they don’t follow the supremacists’ norms, /2

With all the stories coming out of schools & other places whereby the narrative on white privilege & dominance is so entrenched in the culture of instruction, where “white” has become an evil to be eliminated, /1 I find it utterly amazing if not befuddling how ppl claim there is a fake CRT hysteria. I don’t know if its that ppl are so entrenched in a particular narrative or just being intentionally disingenuous to see how CRT has gone well beyond a legal theory. /2

Regarding the #MaKhiaBryant incident, if we peel back the curtain we see a child who was acting out over a house cleaning dispute likely due to a lot of pain & dysfunction. Obviously, more than just about house cleaning /1 Why was she and her sister in foster care when the mom is around? What were the circumstances she lived in that shaped her and had her in foster care? What was going on in that foster home? /2

Sketching out a few thoughts here from my observations on how the church is handling issues of race and justice on social media and in reaction to blogs, books, book reviews and sermon/speeches. A thread. /1 I could be wrong, but we seem to be at an impasse because of the disparate viewpoints of what makes the course right in this area, particularly as it relates to the church & her witness to the world. /2