Rocky backstory to 2023 ‘International Week of Prayer for Christian Unity’

Last year, Rev. Dr. Kelly Sherman-Conroy and two colleagues traveled to the World Council of Churches in Geneva, Switzerland to discuss the liturgy, weekly reflextions, and Bible Study they had been asked to create for the 2023 International Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. “They wanted the perspective of Black and Indigenous people,” said Sherman-Conroy, who is Lakota.

What should have been positive experience was traumatic, as Sherman-Conroy’s Christianity was called into question.

Religion of Whiteness, Part IV

What’s next, and who will lead?

(See also Part I: The Religion of Whiteness: What survey data says about White Christians’ attitudes about race and privilege, Part II: Religion of Whiteness: What is it? and Part III: Stories and reflections from Christians of Color.)

New research data shows that White Christians are twice as likely as other groups to agree that it’s acceptable for White people to have more wealth than other people. And 70 percent agree with the statement: “racial minorities use racism as an excuse for economic inequalities.”

Jim Bear Jacobs, the Minnesota Council of Church’s (MCC’s) Co-Director for Racial Justice, said one of the research’s stunning revelations was that these opinions were uniformly held between Conservative Christians, Mainline Protestants, and Catholics.

“That was an eye opener,” he said.

Jacobs has wavered between hope and despair about the church’s ability to move to a racially justice future, he said. Based on the research, he didn’t think White leadership could get us there anymore. “Racism and White Supremacy is so entrenched in Christian thought.”

“Maybe for the White church, it’s time that we stop sitting hospice and attend the funeral,” he said, citing Soong-Chan Rah. “Rather than trying to do all the work to reform, do we let it die and believe in resurrection?”

Religion of Whiteness, Part III

Stories and reflections from Christians of Color

(See also Part I: The Religion of Whiteness: What survey data says about White Christians’ attitudes about race and privilege, and Part II: Religion of Whiteness: What is it?)

Rev. Dr. Kelly Sherman-Conroy, a member of the Oglala Sioux Nation, ordained ELCA pastor, and a Native theologian, speaks at various churches and events about Lakota traditions and values, and the important role culture plays within the Christian church experience.

It can be emotionally draining for her.

She recalled that after speaking at a congregation last spring, a man approached her and said: “So let me get this right. What I hear from you is that you believe Indigenous people are the superior race. …”

Sherman-Conroy had her nine-year-old son with her. She tried to figure out how to respond, as the man continued to pontificate.

She didn’t finish that story. She did say when she goes somewhere to speak or preach now, she asks the congregation to have someone with her “so they can hear the crap that I go through.”

Religion of Whiteness, Part II

What is it?

(See also Part I: The Religion of Whiteness: What survey data says about White Christians’ attitudes about race and privilege.)

An entire religion has developed in the United States around “the worship of Whiteness,” says Prof. Dr. Michael O. Emerson.

The Religion of Whiteness “believes that White people and White ways are superior, theologically, morally, legally, economically, [and] culturally,” Emerson said.

The Religion of Whiteness, Part 1

What survey data says about White Christians’ attitudes about race and privilege

White Christians are twice as likely as other groups to agree that it’s acceptable for White people to have more wealth than other people.

Seventy percent of While Christians agree with the statement: “racial minorities use racism as an excuse for economic inequalities.” (The majority of those who aren’t White Christians disagree.)

White Christians are twice as likely as other White people to say they often feel the need to defend their racial group. They also are twice as likely as other White people to say being White is extremely important to how they think about themselves

These are among the findings Prof. Dr. Michael O. Emerson presented at the “White Church Truths” event sponsored by the Minnesota Council of Churches (MCC) Nov. 5 at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Minneapolis.

Why are White Christians different from even other White people?, Emerson asked. “We think there is a different religion operating, the Religion of Whiteness,” he said. “It disguises itself as being Christian. … It’s not.”

News/Events: Congregations invited to address systemic racism, land back victory, and more

In this post:

• Congregations invited to step into the work addressing systemic racism
• Line 5 crude oil pipeline tunnel under Great Lakes put on hold
• Onondaga Nation gets land back
• How a kelp farm could help restore Tribal sovereignty

Good words will not give me back my children: Truth telling and historical recovery as the foundations for racial justice

Prof. Yohuru Williams faced a tall task: How, in a single speech, do you set the stage for a decade-long, faith-based initiative of truth telling, education, and repair with Native American and African American communities in Minnesota?

Williams, an author and Founding Director of St. Thomas University’s Racial Justice Initiative, was one of two keynote speakers invited by the Minnesota Council of Churches to help launch its effort: Truth and Reparations: Dismantling the Structures and Repairing the Damage of Racism in Minnesota.

The talk, given Sept. 25 at Plymouth Congregational Church, brought in many voices from the struggle: James Baldwin, Isabel Wilkerson, Frederick Douglass, Stokley Carmichael and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It included a number of historical and personal stories as metaphors for our current work of addressing racism.

His talk would return to a central theme: “Good words are not enough.”

Momentum is building for truth telling and healing around the cultural genocide that took place in Indian Boarding Schools and the trauma that continues today

First in a two-part series.

The Minnesota Council of Churches (MCC) is moving into a decade-long commitment to truth telling, education, and repair with Native American and African communities. Those communities suffered deeply from America’s original sins: Slavery and Native American genocide. Those sins have never been fully acknowledged or addressed, let alone healed or repaired.

Christine Diindissi McCleave, CEO of the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition, gave one of two keynote addresses at MCC’s inaugural event, “Minnesota’s Racial Legacy: Finally Telling the Truth,” Sept. 24-25 at Plymouth Congregational Church in Minneapolis.

McCleave (Turtle Mountain Ojibwe) put the work ahead in stark terms: “Why don’t we tell the truth about genocide in this country?” she asked. “Because people have things they will lose. It’s tied to Empire and control and money and land.”

At the same time, there’s a tremendous amount of healing that can happen and actions that could put this nation and its religious institutions on a more solid moral foundation.

Events: Rally on Minneapolis charter amendment, march to honor boarding school survivors and victims, and more

In this blog:

• #LetThePeopleVote Rally for Democracy, Friday, Sept. 17
• Boarding School Survivor and Victim Memorial March, Friday, Sept. 24
• MN Council of Church’s first ‘truth telling’ event on the state’s racial legacy, Sept. 24-25
• 2021 Overcoming Racism Conference set for Nov. 12-13 online

Registration open for MN Council of Churches’ truth-telling event; Walker to unveil new sculpture by Native artist, Line 3 updates

In this blog:

• Registration now open for MN Council of Church’s first ‘truth telling’ event Sept. 24-25
• Walker to install sculpture by Native artist where ‘Scaffold’ once stood
• New report: Indigenous resistance is disrupting climate damage
• More than 60 water protectors arrested outside Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s Residence
• LaDuke, Hauska register complaints with U.N. Special Rapporteur on Human Rights