RE: Just how pervasive is white supremacy among Christians?
August 20, 2018 at 8:42 am
(This post was last modified: August 20, 2018 at 8:51 am by The Grand Nudger.)
Differences in experience on that count can probably be traced back to three main factors. The timeframe that christianity or christians were introduced to a person. Specifically, before or after the conceptual unification of competing sects as a monolith for political purposes, the denomination one was made familiar with, and the level of segregation in services.
To this day, the overlwhelming majority of christian chruches are completely racially segregated. Not by command from on high, but by fiat. It;s noted that the prevalence of racist views within a congregation increases with segregation and decreases with desegregation. The contact hypthesis states that it becomes difficult to maintain racial myths when meaningful and constant interaction with the other exists.
It is difficult, for example, to continue to believe that the source of all of a persons troubles is that they lack sufficient christian virtue and have rejected the divinely ordained family structure..when they're at your service with their wife and kids every sunday. On the other hand, it's easy to believe this if they are not. Related but distinct, to these segregated services..is that racist views aren't entirely apparent or obvious when no one has to interact with the other. In effect, they're there, but go unspoken and unchallenged.
Denominational differences exist. The methodists, for example, have an explicitly abolitionist history, the catholics draw and explicitly interacial crowd..and the baptists...well.......there are two distinct types baptists churches, lol. This latter denom actually tried to punt the white supremacy issue as late as last year..because they know damned well that their pews are full of mouth breathing klansman. Wouldn't want to upset the base by categorically rejecting white supremacy without putting up the token fight.
Then you have political and geographic distinctions..part and parcel of the history of each denomination as it relates to the demographics they serve. Whether a person is in an area that is explicitly part of one political camp or the other..and more broadly if they were introduced to christianity before or after it became so overtly politicized.
So..if a person, for example, was made aware of christianity 40 years ago in a northern methodist church with any level of desegregation, they likely would have encountered fewer overtly racist people than they would have in a dixiecrat baptist church 40 years ago. Or a staunchly rightwing evangelical fellowship 4 years ago. On the other hand, it may simply have been the case that there was no occassion for overt racism in their completely segregated church of any denomination at any timeframe regardless of it's presence.
The religious economy model postulates that these denominations and their local variation are, in effect.. brands to differentiate competing service providers..and that some portion of what you find in a church boils down to the demands of the people with their checkbooks open. A racist will find a sufficiently racist church, that affirms all of their racist ideology as though it were the message of christ himself. Same goes in the other direction. The same for political persuasions in church. A person might church shop if they find this or that service to conservative, or too liberal.
The white supremacist market is largely served by southern baptist and evangelical denominations. It's amusing to note that a map of the bible belt is also a map bordering that denominational market...with an assortment of mostly protestant but particularly northern and abolitionist denominations on the mid north and far mid west, catholics in the south east south west, and north east. Non de-noms and charisma movement filling the gaps. The state I grew up in is so neatly spilt down the middle that you have a good chance of guessing a persons party affiliation, religious sect, and level of racial antipathy just by knowing whether they live to the north or south side of Tampa Bay.
To this day, the overlwhelming majority of christian chruches are completely racially segregated. Not by command from on high, but by fiat. It;s noted that the prevalence of racist views within a congregation increases with segregation and decreases with desegregation. The contact hypthesis states that it becomes difficult to maintain racial myths when meaningful and constant interaction with the other exists.
It is difficult, for example, to continue to believe that the source of all of a persons troubles is that they lack sufficient christian virtue and have rejected the divinely ordained family structure..when they're at your service with their wife and kids every sunday. On the other hand, it's easy to believe this if they are not. Related but distinct, to these segregated services..is that racist views aren't entirely apparent or obvious when no one has to interact with the other. In effect, they're there, but go unspoken and unchallenged.
Denominational differences exist. The methodists, for example, have an explicitly abolitionist history, the catholics draw and explicitly interacial crowd..and the baptists...well.......there are two distinct types baptists churches, lol. This latter denom actually tried to punt the white supremacy issue as late as last year..because they know damned well that their pews are full of mouth breathing klansman. Wouldn't want to upset the base by categorically rejecting white supremacy without putting up the token fight.
Then you have political and geographic distinctions..part and parcel of the history of each denomination as it relates to the demographics they serve. Whether a person is in an area that is explicitly part of one political camp or the other..and more broadly if they were introduced to christianity before or after it became so overtly politicized.
So..if a person, for example, was made aware of christianity 40 years ago in a northern methodist church with any level of desegregation, they likely would have encountered fewer overtly racist people than they would have in a dixiecrat baptist church 40 years ago. Or a staunchly rightwing evangelical fellowship 4 years ago. On the other hand, it may simply have been the case that there was no occassion for overt racism in their completely segregated church of any denomination at any timeframe regardless of it's presence.
The religious economy model postulates that these denominations and their local variation are, in effect.. brands to differentiate competing service providers..and that some portion of what you find in a church boils down to the demands of the people with their checkbooks open. A racist will find a sufficiently racist church, that affirms all of their racist ideology as though it were the message of christ himself. Same goes in the other direction. The same for political persuasions in church. A person might church shop if they find this or that service to conservative, or too liberal.
The white supremacist market is largely served by southern baptist and evangelical denominations. It's amusing to note that a map of the bible belt is also a map bordering that denominational market...with an assortment of mostly protestant but particularly northern and abolitionist denominations on the mid north and far mid west, catholics in the south east south west, and north east. Non de-noms and charisma movement filling the gaps. The state I grew up in is so neatly spilt down the middle that you have a good chance of guessing a persons party affiliation, religious sect, and level of racial antipathy just by knowing whether they live to the north or south side of Tampa Bay.
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