Skip to main content

White Christians and Black Lives

Lives destroyed in Dallas

John the Baptist, Rodin, St Louis Art Museum


On Friday morning I ambled toward the breakfast room of my St Louis hotel. Black hands took turns with my white hands filling plates with yellow eggs and brown sausages followed by filling white cups with black coffee.

The room was full of black families watching horrific Dallas scenes. “Officer down. Officer down.”

We all learned five of twelve injured officers had died—gunned down at a #blacklivesmatter protest, which followed the shooting of black lives earlier in the week.

I’m mindful of another catastrophic week not far from here -- the 2013 events in nearby Ferguson, Missouri. #blacklivesmatter

I return to my room passing an open door. The sign says, “Family Reunion.” Children scamper to and fro ignoring parent calls. Some black families are enjoying time together. #blacklivesmatter.

Like the screen in the breakfast room, police’ lives become the focus of attention. Now more families and friends will grieve and deal with so much pain. We must take time to mourn with those who mourn. Police officers are important people too! Police are critical to a peaceful protest. Police are essential to making #blacklivesmatter.

Christian friends on social media remind me that all lives matter. I see plenty of evidence that white men’s lives matter. I’ve seen evidence that women’s lives matter more than they did when I was a boy. I see some evidence of progress toward #blacklivesmatter.

I head over to the St. Louis Art Museum. Inside I’m greeted by a black statue of John the Baptist (Rodin). I thought all Bible characters where white men-- you know like Jesus. When I was a kid, sin was black and white was pure. Oh my God!

We Christians write practical theology by the way we live. We tell others whose lives matter in our art, stories, symbols, people we hire and promote, and in our prayers and media posts. In Jesus’ day Samaritan lives mattered. Peter and Paul learned that gentile lives mattered.

Today we must learn #blacklivesmatter.


Notes

See "Why Jesus' Skin Color Matters" in CT March 18, 2016

Read more about Christian cultures in A House Divided









Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

EASTER: VARIATIONS IN BELIEF

Differences in Religious & Spiritual Beliefs Relevant to the Easter Story By Geoffrey W. Sutton, Ph.D. at suttong.com Like most Christians, my wife and I attend an Easter Service. And, a s usual, the media rise to the Spring occasion with Bible stories, comments from various religious leaders and a few atheists—just to keep things balanced. Other religions are on the back burner until Monday. So many statements of beliefs come from the Easter events.  For now, here’s a sample of some core beliefs from various sources. God: 51% believe in God as in the Bible Statista (May, 2023) reported US belief "in God as described in holy scriptures" at 51%. Another 22% reported a belief in a higher power or spirit. Pew researchers from 2021 find 58% believe in God as described in the Bible and another 32% believe in a God or Higher Power.  Belief in God is obviously a core belief. U.S. belief has declined to 58% having no doubt God exists and another 17% have do...
Post a Comment
Read more

9 Beliefs of Christian Counselors

Updated 26 Feb 2018 What Christian Counselors Believe, Value, and Practice Part I: Beliefs I once asked a conservative evangelical Christian Chaplain how he handled counseling when he was pretty sure a dying patient was not a Christian and, according to his tradition, would soon spend eternity in hell. He sincerely said he would have to think about that question. A female health care provider told me she switched jobs so she could work with children rather than seniors, because she believed that, unlike the elderly, children would go to heaven if they died. In this case, her Christian beliefs appeared to have a cause -effect influence on her career. Counselors normally focus on the needs of clients and help clients find solutions in a supportive setting. Theoretically, rapport ought to be enhanced when counselors and clients share common values and beliefs.  Why ask what Christian Counselors Believe? The primary reason ...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Turing Test and Chat Psychotherapy 2025

  Where are we now? The Turing Test, originally called the "Imitation Game," is a concept proposed by Alan Turing in 1950 to address the question, "Can machines think?". Instead of trying to define the complex notion of "thinking," Turing suggested a practical test to determine whether a machine could exhibit behavior indistinguishable from that of a human (Vation Ventures.com). How it works Participants: Three individuals participate: The Interrogator (Judge): A human whose goal is to determine which of the other two participants is human and which is a machine. Human Participant: A human who aims to convince the interrogator that they are human. Machine Participant: A computer program that strives to imitate human conversation and responses so effectively that the interrogator cannot reliably distinguish it from the human participant. Communication : All three participants are isolated from each other and communicate solely through a text-based interf...
Post a Comment
Read more