Everyone is talking about Critical Race Theory. Never mind that most of us hadn’t even heard about it till, like, last week. Folks are talking and pontificating and bloviating about this complex subject as though they’ve been experts all their lives. White evangelical leaders, in fact, are stumbling over themselves to denounce it. Consider this: • The Southern Baptist Convention teed up CRT as a subject of debate during this week’s annual meeting, and some white pastors made plans to assail it, going so far as to rally under a pirate banner with the slogan “Take the Ship!” (I couldn’t
Derek Chauvin’s eyes flashed, cutting through the judge’s bland intonation of guilty…guilty…guilty. That moment in a Minneapolis courtroom on April 20 signaled what I believe to be a historic shift: Twelve ordinary Americans—six people of color, six white—reached unanimous agreement about what they saw in the killing of George Floyd. They called it murder. These everyday folks, with a decidedly mixed bag of preconceptions about race, were able to process two weeks of testimony from 45 witnesses, reason together face to face, and arrive at the same conclusion. This happened in a nation with a history of aggressively denying the
You saw it. The defense attorney’s opening statement in the trial of Derek Chauvin, the Minneapolis police officer who planted his knee on George Floyd’s neck for 9 minutes and 29 seconds. Not once did the attorney acknowledge that a tragedy had taken place, that a man’s life had been snuffed out. You heard the excuses. That Chauvin was a little guy, and Floyd was very big. Illegal drugs were found in Floyd’s system. The onlookers made the officers feel stressed and anxious. Now it’s time for a heart check. Do you lean toward the excuses, or do you lean
Here is the good news: God is moving in people’s hearts. I have personally witnessed and heard of many people who’ve repented of their involvement in our national sin of racism. These weren’t folks who climbed on a stage to make some big public pronouncement, just everyday Christians who humbled their hearts and were moved by the Holy Spirit to confess their sins one to another. I hope this is an encouragement to the African-American Christians who’ve cried out to the Lord for justice for many years and have seen so little fruit. I pray it is also a salve
Let the ballot counters do their job. It’s been a comfort to see images of these ordinary people of all ages and colors doing their painstaking work. They are the nuts and bolts of democracy, and I believe in them. To do otherwise would be to give up on America altogether. That’s why I’ll offer no view of who’s going to win the presidential election. I’m much more concerned about the divisions it’s laid bare—and how the Church is no better and possibly worse, reflecting the exact same polarities of race, geography, and socioeconomic status. Let’s take a look at
A couple godly friends repeated to me President Donald Trump’s assertion that he has done more for the Black community than any president since Abraham Lincoln. These friends are white, and I know they sincerely believe this statement, which Trump made again in last week’s debate. So how does one reconcile this with the fact that Black people are streaming to the polls in record numbers to vote overwhelmingly against Trump? Why are they lining up for as long as eight hours in a pandemic that disproportionately affects them to cast votes all over the country? Are they ungrateful? Are
One of the more remarkable aspects of Donald Trump’s rise to the presidency is that at least two prominent Pentecostal-charismatic ministers publicly foretold it. Another individual, a retired fireman, also prophesied that Trump would become president, and his “word” circulated widely in Pentecostal circles. Since that time, we’ve seen many leading Pentecostal-charismatic figures become deeply entwined in Trump’s presidency. Preacher, pastor, and author Paula White; Robert Morris, pastor of Gateway Church, the biggest Pentecostal-charismatic church in the Dallas-Fort Worth area; Cindy Jacobs, who leads a Red Oak, Texas-based prophetic ministry with an international profile; and Lance Wallnau, a Dallas-based author
It happened in those convulsive days after the killing of George Floyd, when every major city erupted in demonstrations. Things were moving so fast you couldn’t keep up. One day I glanced at the news and saw a photo of a skinny white guy, whose grotesquely contorted body lay face-down in the street. Black blood was pooled beside his head. Then I saw that this happened right here in Dallas—in Deep Ellum, the nightclub district. I was shaken for the rest of the day. The news was sketchy at first, but it appeared that a bunch of guys kicked, stoned,
As I write these words, the latest video has emerged of police putting a white hood on an obviously mentally ill, handcuffed, naked, and unarmed black man, then shoving his face into the asphalt as he suffocates to the point of unconsciousness. I apologize if these words provoke additional trauma. Those who have seen the video will recognize that mine is an abbreviated account; I left out several ugly details. These events happened on March 23 in Rochester, New York. Daniel Prude, a human being, died seven days later. Let me stop for a moment and identify myself. I am