Evangelical theology, the poison of white male supremacy and the Georgia spa killings

[marmar]

Evangelical theology, the poison of white male supremacy and the Georgia spa killings
No one who understands evangelical theology can be surprised if sexual "sins" are seen as punishable by death

By MICHAEL REA
MARCH 22, 2021 10:00AM


(Salon) In the evangelical parachurch organization I was involved with in college, there was a running joke that would come up often when the men in the group were discussing marriage ideals: "Murder? Maybe. Divorce? Never." None of us were genuinely cavalier about murder; and, to my knowledge, although some of us from this group have had marriages end in divorce, none have committed murder. Still. The idea that "sins" in the realm of sexual ethics might be on a par with murder, or might (like murder) merit a death penalty is, in my experience, far from unusual in conservative evangelical communities.

A beloved and influential minister I knew took the deeply biblical idea that God and the laws of God are good to the apparently "logical" conclusion that an ideal state would be governed by all of the moral laws documented in the Old Testament book of Leviticus. His views are not unusual; they are part and parcel of a strand of evangelical thought known under the label "theonomy." It is part of the view that the death penalty for certain sexual "sins" — most notably, sexual relations between members of the same sex — is appropriate. I don't know anybody, not even this minister, who would say that it makes sense for U.S. lawmakers actually to impose the death penalty for such acts. Still. The idea that death is not a grossly inappropriate punishment for sexual sin is uncomfortably close to mainstream.

....(snip)....

Conservative American evangelicalism is steeped in the male-supremacist ideology of complementarianism — a worldview that, among other things, asserts male privilege, valorizes male aggression and identifies males as the ones most fit for leadership and authoritative teaching. That this represents a corruption of Christian ideals — and that many of its recent excesses are a faithful reflection of what one might call the evangelical "cult of masculinity" — has been amply documented in Kristin Kobes DuMez's recent and bestselling "Jesus and John Wayne," and receives further treatment in Beth Allison Barr's forthcoming "The Making of Biblical Womanhood." Some of the ways in which these same ideals of masculinity, the ones that prop up contemporary male supremacist ideologies, are deeply intertwined with white supremacist ideology are documented, among other places, in Gail Bederman's "Manliness and Civilization." ...............(more)

https://www.salon.com/2021/03/22/evangelical-theology-the-poison-of-white-male-supremacy-and-the-georgia-spa-killings/

[multigraincracker]

1. The OT law was death by stoning.

The words of Jesus, in Red Ink, says "let he who is without sin cast the first stone."

and they call themselves Christians.

[cyclonefence]

4. I've never understood

why self-described Christians--i.e. those following the *New* Testament--rely so heavily on the Old Testament for determining moral law. The whole point of Jesus' teachings is to turn from the cruelty of the Old Testament god to the loving kindness--for all of us--of the new.

[multigraincracker]

5. A Christian Country would not preach the 10 Commandments,

they would preach the words of Christ, the Beatitudes. It's almost like they've never read the words of Jesus.

[cyclonefence]

6. You never see Jewish groups agitating to have the 10 Commandments

displayed at the courthouse. And you never, ever see Christian evangelicals agitating for "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself" to be displayed *anywhere,* not even at their churches.

I think they all skipped Sunday school when they were kids.

[50 Shades Of Blue]

2. K & R

[keithbvadu2]

3. To most Christians, mainstream and evangelical, the Bible is a buffet of tales and can be cherry-pic

To most Christians, mainstream and evangelical, the Bible is a buffet of tales and can be cherry-picked at will.

Believe the parts you like and ignore the rest.

One major example of that is divorce.

Jesus was very specific and vocal about divorce, remarriage, and adultery.

There are very few churches that practice what Jesus spake.

The sanctity of Holy matrimony for conservative Christians - Kim Davis