Good background here for putting into context the 81% of evangelical voters who went for Trump.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/act ... ald-trump/

Thatk for posting this DWill. While I do ot agree with everything the writer says, he certainly makes you think.

DWill wrote:Good background here for putting into context the 81% of evangelical voters who went for Trump.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/act ... ald-trump/

This topic is more complicated than the simplistic justice morality that Barber presents. Those allegedly racist evangelicals see anti-racism as more morally dubious than their own views.

In Australia, which lacks America’s protections for liberty, anti-racism activists mobilise the power of the state to suppress free speech. Our legal system has prohibited non-racist comments which are perceived by a judge to be illegal only because they have an offensive tone. The conservative backlash is against the manipulation of racism allegations for covert political agendas.

Here are the key lines from Barber’s essay.

The Rev. William J. Barber II wrote:To Franklin Graham, overt racism is anathema. But he thanks God for the same triumph that the white nationalists of the alt-right celebrate because Graham inherited a religion that accommodated itself to slavery in America and has morphed over and again for 150 years to fuel every backlash against progress toward racial justice in American history… a plantation caste that perverted theology to frame their backlash against “Negro rule.” … Redemptionists never officially endorsed violence. They always called for peace and a restoration of order. But their false religion worked hand in glove with lynch mobs to inaugurate the reign of Jim Crow.

Heirs of this movement wrote the theology textbooks and published the Schofield reference Bibles that taught America’s Bible-believing Christians to separate their faith from politics, in an attempt to take the edge off biblical demands for justice… faith in America… has not always been on the side of truth. In every era, reactionary forces have exploited faith to push back against the very progress that God requires of us…

Graham … told thousands of faithful followers that they needed to know the true name for those of us who call ourselves progressives: atheists…. Franklin believes that a god who does not bless white America’s fear and nostalgia is no god at all. … here … where Graham uttered his heresy… Trumpism swept the South with Graham’s blessing… As the false gods of our past are exposed, every knee must bow to the God of justice.

Barber claims in this essay to have access to a revelation of a “God of Justice” who provides a path to overcome American racism. His sentiments of racial equality are laudable, but the meaning of justice is not so simple and clear.

Exploration of what racism actually is should be central to efforts to promote practical ways to reduce and eliminate racism. Enabling everyone to achieve their full potential is a good goal that is harmed by false beliefs about racial differences.

However, the simplistic promotion of anti-racist ideology will not eliminate racism, especially where the anti-racist ideology involves the denial of facts. Exploring what is and is not factual in relation to racism is a complex and sensitive and difficult problem.

Racism is an ambiguous concept. It always involves a prejudicial dislike of people based on their ancestry or cultural background or appearance. Within this broad prejudicial framework, racism can discriminate on claimed genetic differences based on racial background, or on deeply ingrained cultural differences between communities. Regardless of whether people think that racial difference is genetic or cultural, racial prejudice involves unfair economic and political suppression of a disliked race.

How is it possible to overcome racial prejudice? There are essentially two paths, assimilation and tolerance. Broadly, assimilation is the path supported by the political right, while tolerance is the path supported by the political left. Assimilation was the ideology of the American melting pot, e pluribus unum, out of many one, whereby European immigrants accepted a shared set of American values. Tolerance is the path of European multiculturalism, whereby immigrant communities are permitted to retain their cultural practices and values within social enclaves.

I think there is much to be said for assimilation, even though it has become the object of great disdain among the politically correct.

How is it possible to overcome racial prejudice? There are essentially two paths, assimilation and tolerance.

I s'pose things are quite different in Australia, because assimilation hasn't worked in the USA. Let's say a black man moves into a white neighborhood and furthermore, let's say he's on par educationally and economically with Dr. Ben Carson, a world renowned surgeon. The racist whites in the neighborhood would not care one whit how well he has assimilated, they will move out of that neighborhood if he's within 1/2 mile of their house. Things are getting better lately, but assimilation has had almost zero effect on overcoming racial prejudice in the US. About the only thing that's working in America is attrition: the slow process of old cranky racists dying out and being replaced by young 'uns who do not care one whit about racism, LGBT, etc......

LanDroid wrote:let's say he's on par educationally and economically with Dr. Ben Carson, a world renowned surgeon.

It will be interesting to see if Trump appoints Carson to Housing and Urban Development (link)

Ben Carson wrote:I really get irritated when people complain about America. And they say that we are a terrible place and we are the source of all evil in the world. If we were so bad why is everybody trying to get in here and nobody is trying to escape. You know it’s craziness. There is such a thing as the American way and we should be proud of it. Have you noticed there is no Canadian way, there is no French way, there is no Egyptian way. There is no other way except America. Lets be proud of who we are.

And it really is one of the reasons I for one am not interested in giving away all of our values and principles so that we can be politically correct. That is a bunch of craziness. And you know some people when you say things like that say you are bigoted and racist because you don’t want people to import their way of life and we should be willing to accept the way that other people do things. Anbody is welcome to come to America as far as I’m concerned as long as they meet all of our criteria. But they don’t get to change who we are. You know that is a very important concept.”

Dr Carson highlights that when immigrants and minorities accept mainstream American values they can steadily improve their living conditions. If more of the deadbeat countries who denigrate the USA took a leaf from American values, instead of whinging about imaginary racism, the world would be a lot more prosperous and stable.

Ben Carson illustrates that holding rich and successful people in high esteem, as white evangelicals tend to do, is not intrinsically racist, even though most rich and successful Americans are white except in a few professions. Blacks make up 12.6% of the population and 8% of millionaires. The racial alignments of wealth and power refer more to other characteristics that go with wealth and power, such as skills.