WHITE TOO LONGThe Legacy of White Supremacy in American ChristianityBy Robert P. JonesIn 1968, James Baldwin wrote in The New York Times: “I will flatly say that the bulk of this country’s white population impresses me, and has so impressed me for a very long time, as being beyond any conceivable hope of moral rehabilitation. They have been white, if I may so put it, too long.” Robert P. Jones, who leads the Public Religion Research Institute, a polling firm focused on the intersection of politics and religion, draws on Baldwin’s quote for the title of his book “White Too Long: The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity.” Jones calls on his fellow white Christians to extricate themselves from what he asserts has defined their religion for too long: the imagined superiority of white people and anti-Black racism as its inevitable corollary. Jones sets out to prove that “American Christianity’s theological core has been thoroughly structured by an interest in protecting white supremacy.” According to him, white Christianity has not merely been a passive bystander in the construction of this nation’s racial caste system, it has been the primary cultural and religious institution creating, promoting and preserving it. Jones builds his case with evidence, drawing on an eclectic blend of history, theology, sociology and memoir. His use of autobiography works especially well.

Source: New York Times August 18, 2020 09:00 UTC