religion
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Wisconsin Group Files Complaint Against Guyger Judge for Spreading the Gospel of White Jesus
A Wisconsin group that seeks to ensure the separation of church and state has filed a complaint against a murderer-embracing judge for transforming into Reverend Save-a-Heaux and sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with a former police officer who so loved herself that she crucified an unarmed man in his own apartment so that he…
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Alabama Quietly Passes Law Allowing Church With History of Racism and Homophobia to Form Its Own Police Force
In 2017, when Briarwood Presbyterian Church asked the overwhelmingly Republican legislature of Alabama to grant it the authority to form its own police force, politicians let the bill die amid public outcry over the separation of church and state, the congregation’s history of racism and its public homophobia. Two years later, the Associated Press reports…
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The Whole Black Church and Me
One of the first sermons I ever preached was titled “Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve.” In it, a very young and naive preacher, emboldened by an atmosphere that allowed impenitent homophobia to go unchecked, uses the language of revulsion to articulate why he believed same-sex relationships were wrong and not in line with…
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'Slave Bible' Converted Slaves to Christianity by Omitting Parts That Could Lead to Uprising
A new exhibit at a Washington, D.C., museum featuring an abridged version of the Bible sheds light on how Christian missionaries converted enslaved Africans to Christianity by teaching them the Gospel… except the parts about freedom, equality and resistance. According to NPR, Parts of the Holy Bible, Selected For the Use of the Negro Slaves,…
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10 People Who Are Possibly Behind the God Account on the TV Show God Friended Me
Have you watched the show God Friended Me? It comes on CBS on Sunday nights, and let me tell you, I love this damn show. I can’t tell you exactly why, but I do. For whatever reason, as on-the-nose as nearly every aspect of the show is, it just … works. Here’s the premise: An…
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Black Ramadan and the Importance of Finding Community in Isolation
When I was a child, my mom would tell me stories about Ramadan in our homeland of Comoros. Some parts weren’t the most idyllic—the idea of fasting under mosquito nets without air conditioning that close to the equator is not my concept of pleasant by any stretch of the imagination. The one part that I…
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Slaves, Dinosaurs and White Jesus, Oh My! How Taxpayers Fund Crazy Christian Conservative Education
Slaves who accepted Jesus into their hearts were better off than the ones who held on to African religions. Black people were pretty happy under Jim Crow until Northerners messed everything up. Noah brought dinosaurs onto his ark and Africans had dinosaur puppies, but the Nazis don’t want you to know that. These are not…
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‘If God Is White, Kill God’: Why Dr. James Cone Was Once the Most Hated Theologian in America
I had just returned to New York City from delivering the 2018 Trout Lectures at Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Columbus, Ohio, when I received word that my beloved professor, now colleague and friend, Dr. James Hal Cone had died. In 2012, Dr. Cone had been invited to lecture at Trinity Lutheran but had to cancel…
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Donald Trump: White Jesus
“The most dangerous madmen are those created by religion, and … people whose aim is to disrupt society always know how to make good use of them on occasion.” —Denis Diderot Any day now, the Robert Mueller investigation will end and everyone will read an FBI report about how President Donald J. Trump obstructed justice…
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A Prayer of Congregation for Those of Us Who’ve Made It to the Super Bowl Without Watching the NFL All Season
If you know like I know, bow your heads. Dear 8-pound, 6-ounce, newborn baby Jesus, don’t even know a word yet, just a little infant, so cuddly but still omnipotent, I come to you with a prayer of silent struggle. For it is only by your grace that I and many like myself have managed…