People Don't Understand that Racism Is the Shame of Christianity
White supremacy isn't naturally occurring, and the story of its invention will shock you
We often talk about racism, but we spend less time examining where racism came from. Unfortunately, in the modern United States, people are more likely to denounce you for labeling something as racist than they are to join you in denouncing racism.
This mechanism is both devastating and powerful, and it's fundamental that we understand why racism works the way it does. This is critical because the evil that's contained within racism is being used against more and more innocent people every day.
The mechanism of racism derives its power through the concept of sin.
Essentially, racists have conditioned themselves to define people as “sinful” based on the color of their skin. This allows racists to view their fellow human beings as something other than human. Once oppressors are able to convince themselves that some people lack humanity, they're released from the constraints of their conscience.
In the minds of racists, they are inflicting pain upon an object rather than a human being. In their minds, it's no different than cutting up a board or hitting a nail with a hammer. Through the concept of sin and sinfulness, racists are able to remove the basic concept of humanity from their worldview.
The development of racism happened in two parts.
In 1493, Pope Alexander VI decreed that European Christians were “allowed” to enslave heretics. This decree included an exception that Christians were not to be enslaved. Naturally, the church went on to accumulate a huge fortune based on the enslavement and oppression of human beings. The church still retains the remnants of this fortune to this day.
Eventually, the human slaves that were the victims of Pope Alexander VI's crime against humanity figured out that converting to Christianity was a means of escaping slavery. But the thing about oppressive, authoritarian organizations is that they don't abide by their own rules. When the church figured out they were at risk of losing their profit machine, they retro-fitted the Bible to equate race with sin.
For hundreds of years, racists have judged people by the color of their skin rather than the content of their character. They’ve normalized the mechanism that indoctrinates people with this worldview. It all starts with lessons about sin.
This little extrapolation from history also suggests the origin of why Christians think they deserve exemptions for themselves. In 1493, the Pope declared that “sinful” people would be made slaves, but never Christians. It leads me to believe that when Christians say, “Everybody is a sinner,” they give themselves a little asterisk.
In modern times, the concept of declaring huge groups “sinful” and therefore deserving of punishment has been going through a terrible expansion. More and more innocent groups are being viewed through the same judgmental Christian lens that has been responsible for atrocities against humanity such as slavery, racism, and the terrorism of white supremacy.
People often talk about the threat of Christian nationalism. There have been warnings about an effort to turn the United States into a Christian nationalist state. More and more often, we see people in positions of power stepping forward with huge golden crosses hanging from their necks, brandishing the Bible like it's a weapon.
Christian nationalism is another label we often say, but what does it really mean?
Again, the easiest way to understand it is to put it in terms of sin. In short, Christian nationalism is just another term for white supremacy.
Christian nationalists believe immigrants are “sinful.” That assumption strips immigrants of their humanity, and emboldens the oppressors to treat them as if they are sub-human.
They believe the LGBTQ+ community is “sinful.” That assumption strips the LGBTQ+ community of its humanity, and emboldens the oppressors to treat them as if they are sub-human.
They believe people living in poverty are “sinful.” That assumption strips impoverished people of their humanity, and emboldens the oppressors to treat them as if they are sub-human.
Oppressors are so fixated on sin that they don't even see human beings at all. They think the quest to eradicate sin allows them to perform any act without consideration as to its cruelty or lack of humanity.
All the while, they demand an exception for themselves. Based on their definition, they are Christian and therefore they are not sinful.
Again, this started through the oppression of what the white Europeans called “heretics.” During the Age of Discovery, Europeans traveled the globe and found many people who didn't look like they did. These people were enslaved first because they believed in a different religion, and then because of the color of their skin. This evil that's been brought into the world is the shame of Christianity, and it's only continued to become more corrupted throughout the centuries.
We're all familiar with signs of Christian terrorism. The KKK dressed like priests, burned crosses, and considered themselves warriors of Jesus.
Agents of oppression often disguise themselves behind religious symbols. Rather than say, “Let's bring white supremacy into schools” they say, “Let's make our children pray.”
At the end of segregation, there was a surge of enrollment in Catholic schools. Today, private schools are largely segregated. Voucher programs exist that divert millions of dollars in public funds away from public schools.
All of these actions hurt innocent people. The mechanism for this action is the deplorable belief that some people are “sinful” and therefore do not possess basic humanity.
White supremacists have long disguised their communication through the use of coded language. The unfortunate reality is that when white supremacists invoke the name of God, they are using it to forward their agenda of white supremacy. Even something as simple as the reference to God in the Pledge of Allegiance, or “In God We Trust” on our currency is part of this mechanism.
We are surrounded by the symbols of white supremacy.
This has been going on so long that even decent, rational people defend these symbols because they're the only tradition they've ever known.
For the sake of our basic humanity, we have to recognize this ongoing threat. Racism operates on the concept that some human beings are inherently sinful and therefore “undeserving” of the inalienable rights that it is our sacred duty to defend.
Christians, by holding up their badge of Christianity, declare themselves to be exempt from the judgment that they inflict on others. The most terrifying part of this is that once people convince themselves they have an exemption from the laws of decency, or they claim they have a “mandate” to stomp out sin, they commit terrible crimes against humanity. As they become more emboldened and corrupted, they set their targets on more diverse populations.
This is the real issue that is confronting us today. In order to effectively respond, we can't be content to urge people to “Go back to the teachings of Christ.” We have to go further than that and recognize that the concept of sin itself is corrupting.
The idea of sin needs to be eradicated because it's been used as an argument for establishing dominion over innocent people. This does not mean that we have to remove Christianity. There are plenty of good things within Christian teachings that can be preserved. But we do have to make a concerted effort to free our society from the harmful language of sin which has been used as a justification for tormenting and enslaving our fellow human beings.
There has to be accountability.
A chief characteristic of white supremacy is its insatiable hunger. We cannot be content to stand by and do nothing as innocent people are consumed. If we do nothing, it's inevitable that we and everyone we love will one day become the focal points of oppression. Our only chance is to rouse ourselves to action, form coalitions of kindness, and push back against the encroachments of hate.
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Absolutely on target, Walter. Thank you.
As a child, I always noticed the dissonance in what christians said vs what they publicly actually did. It only took me a few years as a young female to reject it altogether as complete controlling bullshit. Virtue signaling at its worst. The kindest, nicest, most at peace folks I know are atheists.
I agree that the concept of sin ought be eradicated.
And it should be noted: erasing the idea of sin is tantamount to erasing Christianity -as we know it-.