Will the Real Christianity Please Stand Up?

 
 
 

By now, many of you are aware of the events that transpired last week in Kenosha, WI.Protests broke out in support of Jacob Blake who was shot in the back seven times by police officers.  As armed White men showed up to protect their city, Kyle Rittenhouse illegally traveled across state lines with an AR-15 to join their cause, ultimately killing two people and wounding another.  Like everything else that has happened this summer, both my social media accounts and the country remain divided in their response.    

While Rittenhouse waits for his day in court, a privilege Jacob Blake was not afforded, some Christians are already advocating with their dollars.  One Christian fundraising site has raised more than $265,000 to support the 17 year old.  GiveSendGo.com advertises themselves as “a place to fund hope.  A place to work together with the body of Christ around the world to make a difference.”  And yet, many of the people I know would not describe Rittenhouse’s actions as hopeful, nor would they unify themselves with a form of Christianity that supports the harm he caused.  Two families are grieving the loss of a family member because of his actions and another person is healing from a serious wound.  

As someone who chooses to name herself as a Jesus follower, I wonder how Christians can find themselves divided when their supposedly unified goal is to love God and neighbor.  As an Mdiv student, I am disheartened by the theological chasm that separates Christians from each other.  There are two or three (or more) very different expressions of Christianity in this country right now.  Is it possible for people to be Christians on both sides of this issue?  Will the real Christianity please stand up?  

Unfortunately, this division has existed in various forms since the inception of the United States.  Jemar Tisby, in his excellent book, The Color of Compromise, outlines the ways White Christianity has consistently compromised on the side of power and racism, thus exacerbating the harm done to the BIPOC communities.  This fundraiser for Rittenhouse is merely the next expression of this harm.  But it doesn’t feel like compromise.  It’s an outright endorsement of support for his illegal actions.  How can this possibly be Christian?  

Historian Bruce Gourley, who has studied the forms of Christianity that existed at the time of the Civil War, writes of that time, “For Baptists, the dividing line runs right through the Bible.  Southern biblical conservativism is firmly rooted in America’s racist past, while a future of racial equality hinges upon a newer understanding of scriptural interpretation unfettered by the chains of biblical literalism.”  I believe this, right here, encapsulates the issue at stake in 2020.  

Will we be Christians who, confined by our racist conservativism, side with those in power?  Or will we be courageous enough to discover a way of reading the Bible that is spacious enough for the flourishing of all people?  

When will we stop re-enacting the evil harms of the past?  The time is now!

In a future post, I’ll imagine what it might look like to read the Bible for the flourishing of all people.  But for now I’d like to invite you to stay with this story and see those who have been most impacted.  See the harm that has been done, sometimes in the name of God, and consider which expression of Christianity you align with.  

Will White Christians continue to compromise?  Or will we courageously reach toward a new way of life marked by justice?

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/aug/26/kenosha-militia-protest-shooting-facebook

https://www.newsweek.com/christian-site-raises-over-250k-alleged-kenosha-shooter-kyle-rittenhouse-1528691#:~:text=A%20Christian%20crowdfunding%20site%20is%20hosting%20a%20fundraising,has%20the%20money%20from%20more%20than%206%2C000%20donations

https://givesendgo.com  This information is listed on the front page of the website.  

4 Jemar Tisby, The Color of Compromise: The Truth About The American Church’s Complicity in Racism, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2019).

5 Bruce Gourley, Crucible of Faith and Freedom: Baptists and the American Civil War, (Macon, GA: Nurturing Faith, Inc., 2015), 65.