It truly boggles my mind the extent people go to in order to avoid admitting Republicans are shitty people.
The *desperate* search for redeeming qualities in people that either never had them to begin with or gleefully jettisoned them the second they had a chance, the countless second chances, the Olympic level mental gymnastics undertaken in order to make excuses for the inexcusable. Fucking Christ.
We are also on the verge of having to recognize the conspicuous wearing of a crucifix by conservative women, as no longer merely a sign of "faith" but as a barely coded symbol of support for repressive "fundagelical" Christianity and/or Christian Nationalist fascism. The fact that not everyone wearing a crucifix is a Christian Nationalist fascist will become a sad, meaningless fact when every Christian Nationalists is wearing one. (Yes, the swastika was once a Buddhist symbol and is also a reversal of the Native American "rolling logs" sign. No one cares now. They are all "swastikas".) If Mr. Embry had truly wanted to engage people "where they were", he might do better to invest in a conspiculously sparkly crucifix and engage others displaying the still ambiguous symbol, rather than an overtly divisive and deeply partisan "red hat". Ask these publicly performative Christians where they stand on immigrant detention and deportations, ask them about trad wives and trans girls and women in sports and non-gender specific public restrooms, ask them what the Bible says about slavery and abortion and homosexuality (and don't forget adultery). Ask them about the meaning of the Book of Revelations. Ask them what acts of charity they perform to support those less fortunate in their community and who those less fortunate people are.
And this is why I stuffed my modest confirmation cross into the neck of my tshirt and started asking other Christians about what the crucifix mean to them back in oh, 2018 oh so. Nothing creepier than diamond encrusted display of mortal suffering.
I mean, Christianity means a lot of different things over time! 2000 years and billions and billions of adherents; it's hard to reduce it to any one thing!
Given that, historically speaking, most of it has been imperialist, xenophobic, anti-intellectual, and death cult adjacent, I feel like I'm on pretty solid ground here.
The black church in America *is* a bastion of civil rights, but that has less to do with it being Christian and more to do with it being the only place black people could organize without instant violence getting dished out at them.
But as much as people want to believe "liberatory" Christianity can be a thing (and I'm damn fucking skeptical since most of the time "BUT LIBERATION THEOLOGY!!!!1!1!1!!!211!!!" mainly seems to be thrown around as a way to tone police anyone criticizing the church) the fact remains that Christianity's core theology is authoritarian.
christianity doesn’t have a core theology! it’s a 2000 year old tradition with billions and billions of adherents and literal millenia of arguments and sects and heterodoxies and orthodoxies. Unless you believe that there’s a transcendent througline (and I don’t because I’m not a Christian!) then it doesn’t mean any one thing, good or bad.
Black Christians would very much dispute that their faith is not about Christianity.
The core theology of "God created everything and you damn well better do everything he says OR ELSE" is as close to a through line as anything can get in Christianity.
And I didn't say black Christians aren't Christians? The black church is one of the forms of Christianity that does some good in the world, but I don't think you can separate the fact that churches were one of the few places black folks could safely congregate from it being a cornerstone of the civil rights movement.
I don't trust "liberation theology" because it flies in the face of 2000-ish years of Christian behavior and because I typically see it used as a bludgeon against anyone who dares say that maybe Christianity shouldn't be integral to our culture.
Embry is perhaps in the situation of a person whose idea of joking have sexually harassed a co-worker and who complains that penalties are unfair because everybody knows he is one of the nice guys. Except that he has chosen to put himself in a place where he has to say, "Not all MAGAs." He didn't stumble into it like a recent frat boy raised by wolves and business majors.
It truly boggles my mind the extent people go to in order to avoid admitting Republicans are shitty people.
The *desperate* search for redeeming qualities in people that either never had them to begin with or gleefully jettisoned them the second they had a chance, the countless second chances, the Olympic level mental gymnastics undertaken in order to make excuses for the inexcusable. Fucking Christ.
We are also on the verge of having to recognize the conspicuous wearing of a crucifix by conservative women, as no longer merely a sign of "faith" but as a barely coded symbol of support for repressive "fundagelical" Christianity and/or Christian Nationalist fascism. The fact that not everyone wearing a crucifix is a Christian Nationalist fascist will become a sad, meaningless fact when every Christian Nationalists is wearing one. (Yes, the swastika was once a Buddhist symbol and is also a reversal of the Native American "rolling logs" sign. No one cares now. They are all "swastikas".) If Mr. Embry had truly wanted to engage people "where they were", he might do better to invest in a conspiculously sparkly crucifix and engage others displaying the still ambiguous symbol, rather than an overtly divisive and deeply partisan "red hat". Ask these publicly performative Christians where they stand on immigrant detention and deportations, ask them about trad wives and trans girls and women in sports and non-gender specific public restrooms, ask them what the Bible says about slavery and abortion and homosexuality (and don't forget adultery). Ask them about the meaning of the Book of Revelations. Ask them what acts of charity they perform to support those less fortunate in their community and who those less fortunate people are.
"C'mon, what are you DOING, man?"
And this is why I stuffed my modest confirmation cross into the neck of my tshirt and started asking other Christians about what the crucifix mean to them back in oh, 2018 oh so. Nothing creepier than diamond encrusted display of mortal suffering.
The fact that Christianity's holy symbol is a literal torture device says a lot about the religion as a whole.
I mean, Christianity means a lot of different things over time! 2000 years and billions and billions of adherents; it's hard to reduce it to any one thing!
Given that, historically speaking, most of it has been imperialist, xenophobic, anti-intellectual, and death cult adjacent, I feel like I'm on pretty solid ground here.
The black church in America *is* a bastion of civil rights, but that has less to do with it being Christian and more to do with it being the only place black people could organize without instant violence getting dished out at them.
But as much as people want to believe "liberatory" Christianity can be a thing (and I'm damn fucking skeptical since most of the time "BUT LIBERATION THEOLOGY!!!!1!1!1!!!211!!!" mainly seems to be thrown around as a way to tone police anyone criticizing the church) the fact remains that Christianity's core theology is authoritarian.
christianity doesn’t have a core theology! it’s a 2000 year old tradition with billions and billions of adherents and literal millenia of arguments and sects and heterodoxies and orthodoxies. Unless you believe that there’s a transcendent througline (and I don’t because I’m not a Christian!) then it doesn’t mean any one thing, good or bad.
Black Christians would very much dispute that their faith is not about Christianity.
The core theology of "God created everything and you damn well better do everything he says OR ELSE" is as close to a through line as anything can get in Christianity.
And I didn't say black Christians aren't Christians? The black church is one of the forms of Christianity that does some good in the world, but I don't think you can separate the fact that churches were one of the few places black folks could safely congregate from it being a cornerstone of the civil rights movement.
I don't trust "liberation theology" because it flies in the face of 2000-ish years of Christian behavior and because I typically see it used as a bludgeon against anyone who dares say that maybe Christianity shouldn't be integral to our culture.
Embry is perhaps in the situation of a person whose idea of joking have sexually harassed a co-worker and who complains that penalties are unfair because everybody knows he is one of the nice guys. Except that he has chosen to put himself in a place where he has to say, "Not all MAGAs." He didn't stumble into it like a recent frat boy raised by wolves and business majors.