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Current Events

Back to the ’90s: My Hometown (Again) Spurns the LGBT Community

by Don M. Burrows in Current Events, Fundamentalism, LGBT

Like many others, I was very disappointed earlier this week when my hometown of Fayetteville, Arkansas, where I was born, went to college, and worked for nearly a decade as a reporter, editor, and columnist, again repealed an anti-discrimination ordinance passed by the City Council.

Ordinance 119 gave legal protection from discrimination to gays, lesbians, and transgender individuals, but a vocal group from outside of the city, led by famous breeders Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar, waged a campaign of fear and misinformation and successfully repealed it at the ballot box Tuesday.

For those from Fayetteville, it was history repeating itself.

The very same thing happened in 1998 when the city passed a resolution merely extending a similar policy to its own employees. The religious conservatives would have none of it then either, and spread similar libels, lies, and misinformation, leading to its repeal the following November.

I remember feeling hopeful then, as I did earlier this week, that Fayetteville could prove to the outside world how different it is from the rest of Arkansas on matters of diversity and inclusivity. But ultimately the votes then and now show that while the core of Fayetteville — the University of Arkansas and the downtown businesses that give the town its unique and interesting flavor — often does buck the unfortunately well-deserved stereotypes earned by the rest of the state, there is still enough anti-gay ideology simmering from its many… [Read more…] about Back to the ’90s: My Hometown (Again) Spurns the LGBT Community

The Misuse of Scripture (Southern Baptists seem to lead the way)

by Chuck Queen in Christian Issues, Current Events

When our President issued his executive order giving deportation relief to millions of undocumented people in our country, as part of his explanation he quoted Scripture: “You shall not oppress a resident alien; you know the heart of an alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt” (Exodus 23:9; also 22:21). This angered a number of conservative Christians who apparently felt they had a monopoly on the Bible.

Mark Coppenger, professor of Christian apologetics at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, wrote a piece for the Religion News Service claiming that the President misused Scripture by running “roughshod over context.”

The irony of this is that the Southern Baptist Convention passed a resolution in 2011 quoting this very Scripture as a basis for compassionate action. The resolution declared: “The Scriptures call us, in imitation of God Himself, to show compassion and justice for the sojourner and alien among us.” Following that declaration the Scripture the President quoted was listed along with several others.

Did Coppenger change his mind or did he never support the SBC resolution to begin with? My purpose here is not to critique Coppenger’s hypocritical hermeneutic. Mainline Biblical interpreters can easily tear his shoddy reasoning apart (see Mark Silk’s excellent critique at the same website).

The question I want to ask is: Could there be some bias at work behind the argument that the President misused Scripture? Could it be a general… [Read more…] about The Misuse of Scripture (Southern Baptists seem to lead the way)

Actual War on Black People Distracting from Fictional War on Christmas

by Don M. Burrows in Christian Issues, Current Events

I feel sorry for the Fox-News War-On-Christmas crowd.

This is normally the season of the year when they foment anger and offense at perceived slights anytime a city renames a Christmas parade a “holiday parade” or anytime retailers dare to remain inclusive with Season’s Greetings banners.

For them, the failure of anyone to use the word Christmas amounts to a “war,” yet the actual gunning down of statistically large numbers of unarmed black men is no real cause for concern.

It is perhaps the greatest sign of privilege that those who continually parrot a narrative of “Christian persecution” based on nativity scenes and holiday cards will bend over backward to excuse the literal war – the actual systematic killing of civilians by increasingly militarized police forces – being waged on poor black communities in our own country.

So we should feel pity, I guess, for current events ruining their War On Christmas season. Kirk Cameron’s silly Saving Christmas has a dismal 1.3 stars on IMDB, and the exaggerated slights against the holy day have taken a backseat to protests over the latest round of grand jury decisions failing to indict white officers for killing unarmed black men. Jesus, a brown-skinned transient and known practitioner of civil disobedience executed by a brutal police state, is indeed perhaps the reason for the season, just not in the way the War on Christmas crowd wants to talk about.

Instead, many white conservatives, mostly Christians, have been trying… [Read more…] about Actual War on Black People Distracting from Fictional War on Christmas

I'm a racist and you probably are too

by in Current Events

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Trayvon Martin, Renisha McBride, Jordan Davis, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, Eric Garner.

Names that white America can safely ignore. Names that will be forgotten all too soon.

If you’re a white American, you don’t have to worry about the fact that black teenage boys are 21 times more likely to be shot and killed by police than white kids of the same age. You don’t have to pay attention to the fact that more than 10 percent of black men ages 20-39 will serve time in prison or jail during a given calendar year.

You can ignore those names and statistics as you go about your life. You can retreat to an insular and self-deluded reality defined by the narrative you’re most comfortable with: that “thugs” get what’s coming to them, that blacks are far more likely to commit crimes than whites or that race isn’t a relevant issue in these tragedies.

But, whether or not you or I or any other white American admits it, race is an issue, and through our actions and inactions we all are complicit in perpetuating racism in America. The truth is that I’m a racist and you probably are too.

Whether you realize it or not, you likely harbor positive associations with whiteness. You likely associate whiteness with education, happiness, well-being, safety and honesty.

Whether you realize it or not, you likely harbor negative associations with blackness. You likely associate blackness with crime, poverty, suspicion, danger and ignorance.

This isn’t… [Read more…] about I'm a racist and you probably are too

The murder of James Foley, ISIS, and Religions of Peace

by in Christian History, Current Events

While discussing the news of the murder of journalist James Foley at the hands of ISIS, a friend of mine posed to me the question: “What does it say about your religion when you have to kill people who won’t convert?”

If the religion in question is Islam, then Foley’s murder says virtually nothing about Muslim belief. The death of Foley is deplorable. The actions of ISIS are despicable. But atrocities committed by ISIS are no more representative of Muslim belief than the actions of extremist Christians are representative of mainstream Christianity.

What extremist Christians? Surely Christians have never killed those who wouldn’t convert? Surely Christians would never slaughter men, women and children in the name of their faith?

Before we conflate the extremism of ISIS with the entire religion of Islam, let’s keep in mind the checkered history of Christianity.

In The Devastation of the Indies: A Brief Account, the sixteenth century Spanish historian and priest Bartolomé de Las Casas describes the genocide inflicted by the Christian conquistadors upon the native peoples of Haiti and Cuba (warning, descriptions of graphic violence):
And the Christians, with their horses and swords and pikes began to carry out massacres and strange cruelties against them. They attacked the towns and spared neither the children nor the aged nor pregnant women nor women in childbed, not only stabbing them and dismembering them but cutting them to pieces as if… [Read more…] about The murder of James Foley, ISIS, and Religions of Peace

The real tragedy of Ferguson isn't on TV

by in Current Events, Uncategorized

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The ongoing unrest in Ferguson, Missouri is a sobering reminder of the state of racial relations in the United States, and of the out-of-control militarization of our police force. But I fear that the real tragedy of Ferguson is that it’s destined to become nothing more than a momentary blip on the radar of history, one that, despite the historically agonizing cries of “Hands up! Don’t shoot!” will result in no meaningful change. Here’s some of why I fear that:

The social, economic, cultural and racial issues now writ so large in Ferguson are systemic. No single protest can release the nearly 1 million black males currently in prison. No one protest can change the poverty rate for blacks being more than twice that of whites. As media unfriendly as it is, the plain truth is that resolving the problems that caused the situation in Ferguson will take comprehensive and long-term approaches.
The power resides with the status quo. America’s rich, white, male power structure has the time and the resources to withstand any siege such as the Ferguson protests. Just ask the “one percent” how well the Occupy Wall Street protests worked.
The real revolution won’t be televised. Night after night powerful images are coming out of Ferguson, helping to reinforce a narrative that is ultimately as destructive as anything happening there. Images of protestors throwing back tear gas canisters, of police officers dressed in full military garb and clearly ready to… [Read more…] about The real tragedy of Ferguson isn't on TV