The 7 Deadly Sins of White Christian Nationalism, A Call To Action, By Carter Heyward

I am a member of Land of the Sky United Church of Christ in Asheville. I am an activist against White Christian Nationalism. I came across this book which spoke to me. I hope that what I have picked out of the book will speak to you as well. And, by the way the author, Carter Heyward, is a resident of this area. Please do not let the reference to religious beliefs keep you from appreciating this, but to open your heart and mind to the importance of this message. Most of the information is from the book – The 7 Deadly Sins of White Christian Nationalism. They are: the Lust for Omnipotence, Entitlement, White Supremacy, Misogyny, Capitalist Spirituality, Domination of the Earth and its creatures, and Violence. The following information includes quotes directly from the book as well as other contributors.

But first I want to share with you what I found In the Winter 2023 issue of Southern Poverty Law Center I came across an article on “Responding to Hate With Solidarity” by Margaret Haung. “In the last decade alone, we have witnessed a resurgence of white nationalism and violent extremism that has torn apart the fabric of our democracy and left countless communities grieving and feeling unsafe and unwelcome. An FBI report found that religious- motivated hate crimes against Jewish people and institutions making up 55% of all religious- based incidents. Inclusive learning and dialogue is essential for the health and safety of our communities and for realizing a vibrant and just democracy.”

In White Supremacy Culture, by Tema Okun . dRworks . www.dismantlingracism.org; he lists characteristics of white supremacy culture that show up in our organizations: Perfectionism, a sense of urgency, defensiveness, quantity over quality, worship of the [literal] written word, only one right way, paternalism, either/or thinking, power hoarding, fear of open conflict, individualism, I’m the only one, progress is bigger, more objectivity, and right to comfort.”

In Carter Heyward’s book, he writes …”But honest learning and open-minded debate are skills that white American Christians, like people of other colors and cultures, need to develop if we are going to learn as much as we can about ourselves, one another, the world around us, and our Creator God. If our churches have not already (and many have) done this, we should form study groups, or call together other groups of friends, neighbors, and colleagues, to get to know the history of white supremacy in America, including the racial histories of our own churches. This will help us better understand who and where we have been and therefore see more clearly where we can go from here – as Christians and as Americans. We need to urge each other beyond defensiveness toward sharing in openhearted, open-minded ways whatever we can about where we and our people-ancestors and progeny-have been in the past and where we now can go together into a present-future that is ours to help build.”

…”Over centuries, white people had done great evil to black people – and almost always in the name of a white God and a white Jesus. Then as now, in color-coded moral universe, in which white supremacy is a prevailing power, white is evil from a moral perspective. In this same color-coded moral universe, Black and Blackness is liberating and healing. Goodness and kindness and joy are Black. People – all antiracist people, Caucasians as well as Black people – can be Black, regardless of our ethnographic identities.”

The Seven Deadly Sins of White Christian Nationalism are – The Lust for Omnipotence (to be God over all), E+ntitlement (I deserve to have more than you), White Supremacy (I have power over you), Misogyny (male power over women), Capitalist Spirituality (money is power, God is white), Domination of the Earth and its creatures (God created the earth and ordered

MAN to be Lord of the earth), and Violence (God’s army).

“The Black God condemns white Christians to the extent that our idolatry of whiteness continues to undercut the possibilities of there ever being liberty and justice for all Americans.

But there is a better way, … to wrestle with the challenge – TO DO SOMETHING.”

The following recommendations on what to do about it…what needs to happen. “How can we help sharpen and secure American democracy as a dream worth pursuing, a vision signaled in the Declaration of Independence by those who wrote it in 1776: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men (and women) are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness?”

SECURE VOTING RIGHTS

“… At the top of the Christian moral agenda right now must be to secure and guarantee voting rights for all by the Republican Party, much as it was 150 years ago by the Democratic party – and for the exact same reason: to keep America in the hand of white privileged Christian men. This is idolatry. This is sin. It ought to be illegal…

Regardless, it is morally indefensible for Christians in America. We cannot be silent in this moment. There is no compromise on this urgent moral mandate. Not now, not ever.”

Concerns about “states’ rights” (a different conversation) or “voter fraud” (a sham) have no spiritual value or ethical meaning in the urgent effort to secure the vote of all Americans, regardless of where we live. “States’ rights” and “voter fraud” are bogus excuses being used now, as they were in the late nineteenth century, to deny Black people and other people of color the right to vote.

Whatever our politics or ideologies, if we have any desire to follow Jesus, American Christians must speak up and do whatever we can, collectively and individually, on behalf of a voting system that makes it possible for the voices of all Americans to be heard and encourages the votes of all Americans to be cast, counted, and determinative of who wins and loses in every election.”

REPENTANCE AND CONVERSION

…”To repent the sin of white supremacy is essential, because – if honest – our repentance signals a taking of responsibility for helping shape the future. In fact, repentance is a key to a just and compassionate future. And honest repentance will lead to conversion, a turning around to go the other way. It means not getting stuck, bogged down in guilt and shame, but rather encouraging one another, to do the next right thing – to work and struggle for liberty and justice for all, not just some… We cannot, in good faith, stay stuck, resigned to the status quo or willing to let others do the right thing while we stand on the sidelines and quietly applaud. We, all of us, must take up our mats, and walk.

This will take us and our churches to any number of possible social justice endeavors in realms of health care, mental health, addiction, immigration reform and refugee support, criminal justice reform (including law enforcement, prisons, rehabilitation, elimination of the death penalty and the “three strike law” for minors, gun safety laws, etc.). Honest repentance and true conversion will also lead us to the moral matter of reparations.”

REPARATIONS

“As we join ongoing conversations about reparations, we ought not let ourselves be confused or questions often intended to deflate the serious moral call to white Americans to collectively offer some “repair,” However inadequate it will always be, to our Black sisters and brothers.

It will work fine. Ways will be found to make reparations feasible and fair. This is another way that I have been actively working to support reparations in Asheville. They don’t need more hotels or pickle ball courts. We took away their homes and their businesses. My proposal is to take all land that is still not used and build homes for them and create black businesses – all free of charge. That’s the least that we can do. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) is heading up

the congressional effort to pass H.R.40 – Commission to study and Develop Reparation Proposals of the African Americans Act. Congressional Democrats will struggle to bring this bill to the floor, and sooner or later it will become law. Meanwhile, over the past few years, many American church bodies, Roman Catholic and Protestant, are urging reparations, and groups like the Jesuits are offering them; American cities like Evanston, Illinois, and Asheville, NC, are taking steps toward bringing reparations to life in forms of housing assistance and community development…”

“That white Americans are not personally -individually – responsible for what our ancestors did to the slaves is beside the point and rings pitifully hollow in discussion of reparations. Of course, we are not personally responsible for what our ancestors did or did not do. But we most certainly are responsible collectively, for help clean up their mess, much like the men and women who work in the wreckage of collapsed buildings. People of good faith, people who love a Black God who calls us to pick up our mats and walk, cannot simply walk away from the damages left by those who preceded us. We must get into the wreckage, assess the damages, salvage whatever we find that may be usable, and do whatever we can to help rebuild a stronger future. Only in this way, working as faithfully as we can and empowered by the Spirit of a Black God, can we turn back the tide of the white Christian nationalism that threatens to engulf our nation and overpower our efforts to walk with Jesus.

This is one sure way we can begin to dismantle the theology of normalized whiteness – by turning away from concerns about our own entitlement and turning instead to who we are graced to recognize as we catch a glimpse of ourselves in the fullness of who we are, reflected collectively in the translucent Blackness of God.”

Presented by Melody Pajak 04.22.24