Locs, Heels, and the Bible

In an era where politicians are legislating the shape of education by banning books that come close to telling the truth of America’s origin story, let’s foreground how the Bible has been used to support every form of harm. Whether it’s humans against humans, or humans against creation, each time there is a form of subjugation, exclusion, or dominance, we can always count on someone finding a passage in the Bible that can be used to support it. I like the Bible and find it to be most fascinating and yet, I will also say (as I have on multiple occasions) that the Bible is the most dangerous book ever published.  As if we have forgotten about the racialized, beaten, and lynched body that is central to our religious belief and practice, at least one day per week, millions of people gather collectively around a book that is still being misused to frame and structure racial and racist irrationality.  The Book in question: The Bible is a library of sixty-six books - thirty-nine in t...

Matthew 5:13-20 These verses are part of the sermon on the mount. And if it’s read as a whole, you’ll find a movement of grace and demand. Jesus expresses a balance we often miss in interpreting the Scriptures - where we are asked to be or do a particular way or thing, we get help before the ask. It's called grace.  In this passage, Jesus calls us to be both salty and lit. There is some controversy about salt – you know the one: consume too much, you get into trouble. Don’t consume enough, you get into trouble. Then there’s also the taste preference to contend with. Some like it sweet, some like it salt, some like it lightly seasoned, some say not at all. (I like it seasoned 😃) It’s weird. Jesus though, was not talking about taste buds or even the impact of salt intake on the body. Jesus is concerned with the efficacy of salt, its durative nature, and as it relates to the covenant that God initiated.  The original setting is 1 st Century Palestine and so, given that the ...

  Love God and then love people as if you were them (Mark 12:30-31) Race is a human construct. It is not biological. This being the case, it means that all the bs we experience the social, political, legal, and economic echelons were intentionally designed and constructed by human beings. CRT exposes this. Those who oppose CRT are either ignorant of its value and power to advance equitable futures, or they are viciously intentional at keeping things the way they are and even worse. So! What is CRT? Well, CRT is the acronym for Critical Race Theory. It provides a way to think about the intersection of politics, law, racism, and religion - everything. It draws a map that connects the centrality of white supremacy to every facet of life. It presents a framework to understanding the way racism (human construct) is foundational to the systems that determine who are privileged and how this privilege is exercised in the judicial, political, social, cultural, religious, and theological are...