Overt expressions of White Supremacy engulfed Charlottesville this past weekend. The evil, hatred, and violence incited by White Supremacists resulted in a death and injuries of brave image-bearers opposing such hatred. Many Christians have rightly spoken out against these overt acts of White Supremacy. Those who willingly embrace a White Supremacist ideology might not necessarily […]
What happened in Charlottesville, VA on Saturday, August 12th was a demonstration of evil in the form racism and bigotry. White Supremacists and White Nationalists are homegrown terrorists groups. When I was trained as a field artillery officer in the US Army, I was told there were two types of targets: planned targets and targets […]
Jemar and Tyler talk about the events following the death of Philando Castile
This article and podcast has first published on the Christianity Today website. You find the original post and more great content here. For many young Christians, the goal of a diverse local church seems like a given: What socially conscious millennial believer wouldn’t want to worship alongside people of every color, country, and culture under […]
30-year-old Charleena Lyles had 3 children (ages 11, 4, and 1), and was pregnant with her fourth, who watched and listened as their mother was gunned down. They heard the pleading, promises, screams and gun blasts echo throughout their apartment. Dae’ Anne, the 4-year-old daughter of Diamond Reynolds, was in the backseat of Philando Castille’s […]
June is African-American Music Appreciation Month. We pay tribute to the legacy and contributions African-Americans have made over the centuries. As I reflected on this history, I was taken back to arguably the most influential musical genre in the African-American narrative: The Negro Spiritual. Touching on the meaning of the Negro Spiritual, Howard Thurman, an […]
This article by D.L. Mayfield is originally posted on the Sojourners Magazine site. An excerpt has been reposted below with permission. LAST YEAR, STANDING at a microphone in front of our city council at a town-hall meeting, I came to a stark realization: I needed a theology of gentrification. There I was, shakily demanding that […]
The Lord has called me to do some redemptive work in a predominantly white Presbyterian church in Atlanta that desires to become more diverse. As I have started to interact with members, staff, and leaders, I have ran into this idea of the “authentic self.” This is a highly-individualized self-awareness developed by a specific worldview […]
This compiliation was originally posted on Ligon Duncan’s personal blog. You can find the original, as well as more great content here. Important Online Resources: Race and Church Thabiti Anyabwile, “Jonathan Edwards, Slavery, and the Theology of African Americans,” https://blogs.thegospelcoalition.org/justintaylor/files/2012/02/Thabiti-Jonathan-Edwards-slavery-and-theological-appropriation.pdf Thabiti Anyabwile, “Bondage or Freedom? Questions in Early American Theology,” The John L. Girardeau Lectures, […]
LeBron James’ Los Angeles home was vandalized when an unidentified person spray-painted the word “Nigger” on the front gate. This discouraging event took me back almost three years ago to the sight of my own vandalized home. Much like James’ incident, an unidentified person, in the darkness of a cold December night, spray-painted the homes […]
Nothing demolishes the idea of American exceptionalism more thoroughly than an honest account of how people of color have been treated in this country.
Charlottesville is an hour away from me. I’ve visited several times, attended a few college basketball and football games, and even preached in a few churches in the area. So when I saw the recent pictures of a “protest” led by white nationalists and held around a statue of Robert E. Lee, it was infuriating, […]
“How do I find other Black kids for them to play with?” I was asked this question by a White adoptive mom of two Black preschool-aged daughters. After I recovered from the shock of the question, I responded she needed to start by meeting Black families in her neighborhood, children’s preschool, and church. If those […]
Mississippi was not a state I had ever envisioned moving to. Growing up in San Diego and attending college in Los Angeles, the deep south was both foreign in concept and periphery in mindset. However, two years ago in March of my senior year, I received a phone call. Instead of continuing onto graduate school, […]
How might women fulfill their purpose while not violating God’s principles?
I thought being a black man in America was difficult. This is certainly true, but prior to reading Dr. Chanequa Walker-Barnes’ book, “Too Heavy a Yoke: Black Women and the Burden of Strength”, I made the incorrect assumption that so many others have made about the plight of the black woman. To be a black […]
Podcast: Play in new window | Download You knew this one was coming… Tyler and Jemar debate the usefulness of the term ‘woke’, the definitions perceived around it, and the use of secular terms by Christians. Donate to RAAN Subscribe – iTunes – Satchel – RSS Social – @_PassTheMic – Facebook
THIS WEEK IN SYRIA: “One of the worst chemical bombings in Syria turned a northern rebel-held area into a toxic kill zone on Tuesday, inciting international outrage over the ever-increasing government impunity shown in the country’s six-year war. It was the worst toxic gas attack since the 2013 attack on a Damascus suburb that killed hundreds of […]
I’m the mother of two pink loving girls–gifts I wouldn’t trade for the world. Raising daughters is a high calling, and I’m thankful for the opportunity to shape and shepherd the hearts of my two little women. As we recognize the achievements of women this Women’s History Month, my prayer is my labor as a […]
In a recent post, I introduced a series titled “Why Racism Might Defeat American Evangelicalism.” I mentioned the classic 2001 study of Emerson and Smith (Divided by Faith) in which they identified the American evangelical movement as a predominate white racialized movement, based on their multiple telephone surveys and face-to-face interviews with those who identified […]
