KTF Weekly Newsletter: The Insurrection, Christian Narcissism, 40 Billion in Reparations
Happy New Year, everyone!
We hope your first week of 2022 has been a good one. We have today’s unfortunate (to put it mildly) anniversary to cover from a couple angles, as well as lots of other interesting articles, a book, and a movie to share. So let’s get started with this week’s highlights to help us leave colonized faith for the kingdom of God.
Jonathan’s recommendations:
Faithful Christians in America need to be expert apologists in word and deed against Christian nationalism. Slate’s What Next Daily News and Analysis podcast published two episodes this week on the events surrounding the insurrection on January 6, 2021. What this research and commentary makes disturbingly clear is that large swaths of the United States population believe former President Trump should still be in power, and political operatives are laying groundwork for an improved plan to overthrow the 2024 election. Moreover, what should trouble followers of Jesus is that many who tout the conspiracy theories place their faith and nationalism into an unholy union that is wholly incompatible with the Jesus of scripture. Tuesday’s episode titled “The Coup Next Time” features an interview with political scientist Bart Gellman that reviews the reasons for his 2015 prediction of coming political turmoil, and why those reasons still indicate a likelihood of political violence in 2024.
Don’t Look Up is one of Netflix’s latest trending films. This parody about climate change denial features critically-acclaimed actors including Leonardo DiCaprio, Meryl Streep, and Jennifer Lawrence. Their talent and artistic dexterity is on full display as they bring to life a disturbing storyline about a comet streaking toward Earth as political fights, business interests, and disinformation stop humanity from addressing the comet. As I watched, the line between art and reality blurred to the point that I felt the same familiar frustration and fatigue that plague me daily during the pandemic. I believe stories are the most powerful when they help us see ourselves as we are and not just as we hope to be. At most, they plant the seeds of transformation, and at least, they expose those who choose to live in denial. This film brings to light the fact that those who choose reality and those who select denial are both subject to the truth. In the world of alternative facts, echo chambers, and algorithms that entrench us where we stand, it is important to remember that when it rains, we all get wet.
When Narcissism Comes to Church by Chuck DeGroat is a powerful book that pushes deep into the waters of pride, shame, and woundedness in church leadership. This book shows how the refusal to reflect or receive counsel and correction while wielding spiritual leadership, influence, and authority is a toxic cocktail to which many institutions are susceptible. This book is a much-needed invitation to see what’s happening in many congregations and to reflect seriously on what’s inside of us so that we can heal instead of reproducing the same patterns.
Sy’s recommendations:
The University of Alabama’s Department of Religious Studies and the Smithsonian National Museum of American History have partnered to create a digital archive of videos, photos, and other media documenting the religious aspects of the January 6 insurrection. The project also has over a dozen articles written by scholars of religion and history discussing the significance of some of the images. These include Shake the Dust guest Kristin Kobes Du Mez on the imagery from the movie Braveheart, and that movie’s importance in the world of evangelical patriotic manliness. And there are other essays from authors we have mentioned in this newsletter before, like Anthea Butler and Philip Gorski. It’s a fascinating website to poke around, and you will learn a ton about the Christian influences on the election violence of that day.
A fascinating series of blog posts trace John Piper’s decades of citations and recommendations of Robert Lewis Dabney, a reformed theologian and virulent white supremacist. The author, Daniel Kleven, attended Piper’s church and seminary in Minnesota for years, and began looking at Piper and Dabney when researching an article for Piper’s well-known website, Desiring God. He uses this particular case study as a detailed, informative illustration of exactly how and why Christians can overlook the plainly bad fruit of someone’s faith if that someone espouses the right doctrine. The series is thorough, well-researched, and definitely worth your time.
As we discussed in our Shake the Dust episode on foster care, indigenous families are some of the hardest hit by the inequities of child welfare in America. The same is true in Canada, to a frankly stunning degree. In 2016, just under 8% of Canadian children were indigenous, but they made up about 52% of the country’s foster children. However, the federal government has gone through a truth and reconciliation process with First Nations people. Consequently, it agreed to settle several lawsuits over discrimination in child welfare for the largest sum of any settlement in Canadian history: 40 billion CAD. You can read all about where the money is going and how First Nations advocates are reacting to the news in this New York Times article. Stories like this remind us that significant restorative action are both possible and often a matter of ordinary legal processes, defying those who assert the infeasibility of reparations.
Thanks for reading, and we’ll see you next week!
The KTF team