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The delicate disposition of the white southern man
After Rusty had killed the man (He shot him in the back) he needed to reshape the evidence. That man–he came at me! This, of course, was hogwash But the shots were justified (All 12 of them to the back) self-defense is such an easy excuse – he came at me! – he would claim…
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For Proclaiming the Gospel, Context is Everything
Between the Lectionary and the world, we’re getting hit with fireballs: the kind of truth that burns and purifies, leaving us naked and lost. I know I wasn’t the only one on Sunday, talking about Jesus in the Temple. A story often referred to as a “cleansing” of the Temple, but more to the point,…
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The Problem of Proof
Having to prove a white dude hates blacks to even charge racism is like having to prove a spree killer hated his specific victims to even charge him with murder.
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No More Racists
We struggle with truly understanding racism. Many of us think that racism is what begins inside our hearts. That racism is the necessary outward expression of an internal feeling of bias or racial animus. That one hates another so much that they intentionally push them down and oppress them. We often think that racism is only…
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Focus on the Body
The body of Michael Brown lay in the street for over four hours. Nearly every conversation I have had or story I’ve consumed about Michael Brown has focused on the circumstances or the politics surrounding his death. We have focused on what led up to the shooting, about the character, the police, the press, the…
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What war on faith actually looks like in America
You might be under the impression that there is some kind of war on faith in our country. From the talk of many Christians, one could be easily confused by the annual declaration of a War on Christmas and the recent cries for religious liberty from those seeking to diminish ours. You may think there is some…
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From Ferguson to the Washington Football Team
The one thing that can describe everything in my Facebook feed today is this: all of our news right now involves victims of racism. We can call it something else, because we white folks want to feel better about ourselves than we deserve to feel, but systemic racism is the source of everything right now.…
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When evolution begins and our Civil War ends
There is something fitting that this date in history would be momentous. That August 20th would, in 1858 usher in the modern world and eight years later close our bloodiest chapter. Charles Darwin’s The Origin of the Species was published 156 years ago today. The work is credited, as we know, with the birth and…