The Passion of Southern Christians

[elleng]

NASHVILLE — In the world of apostolic betrayals, it’s Judas who gets the headlines, but the everyday believer is more apt to fall in line behind Peter. Coldly handing Jesus over to his death in exchange for 30 pieces of silver was an over-the-top, cartoon-level move, but Peter’s terrified denial of the man he believed to be the savior of the world? That one seems immensely human to me.

I have a lot of sympathy for Peter these days. Here it is nearly Easter, and for the first time in my life I don’t want anyone to know I’m a believer. To many, “Christian” has become synonymous with angry white voters in red hats, personally responsible for handcuffing all those undocumented mothers and wrenching them out of their sobbing children’s arms.

A good number of Southern Christians tend to vote Republican, but in truth the values of the rural South are not incompatible with the policies of the Democratic Party. Our famed Southern hospitality is just an illustration of Jesus’ exhortation to welcome the stranger. And consider what happens here whenever there’s a flood or a tornado: Long before the government agencies mobilize, local churches are taking up donations, cooking hot meals, helping people pick through the wreckage — helping everyone, no matter their religion or the color of their skin or the language they speak at home.

But as with a lot of people, including secular liberals, the way Christians behave as human beings can be completely at odds with the way they vote. Decades ago, when I was still a teenager in Alabama, I heard my grandmother refer to some new neighbors as the Tallyho Boys. Turns out a gay couple had bought or inherited a farm just down the road from her. The good ladies of that rural community welcomed the couple with poundcakes and homemade jelly, but would they have voted for a political candidate who supported marriage equality? Not a chance. . .

Tribal bonds have always been a challenge for our species. What’s new is how baldly the 2016 election exposed the collision between basic Christian values and Republican Party loyalty. By any conceivable definition, the sitting president of the United States is the utter antithesis of Christian values — a misogynist who disdains refugees, persecutes immigrants, condones torture and is energetically working to dismantle the safety net that protects our most vulnerable neighbors. Watching Christians put him in the White House has completely broken my heart.'>>>

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/08/opinion/the-passion-of-southern-christians.html?

[guillaumeb]

1. Recommended.

All the more reason for progressive people of faith to proclaim their belief and their progressive ideals.

[Warpy]

2. What she talks around but doesn't confront head on is something

I frequently noticed when I lived in the south, that people who were stone bigots about strangers were perfectly OK with people in their own area that they knew whether they were gay, black, Muslim, or anything else the Republican party loves to hate. The bigotry was always against those other people they didn't know and it is entrenched bigotry.

That's why so many of them went nuts when we voted for a black president twice. It also explains the deep resistance to voting for a woman and why Dolt45, who seemingly hates everybody who isn't him or a blood relative, looked attractive.

She needs to know this hateful stuff isn't exclusive to Christians or even to the south. It's pure tribalism.

[murielm99]

4. I live in the North, in a

small, rural community. It is a red area, but times are changing a bit. (Maybe not enough, yet)!

It has always been that way here. We accept our own gay, black, Muslim, etc. If they are established in the community, their family name is known here, or they have been here and have been productive and law-abiding, they are fine with nearly everyone. They are ours. It is outsiders or newcomers of any stripe they suspect. If any of them make waves, the questions are, "Who are they? Do they have family here? Are they FROM here?" The word "from" is said with noticeable emphasis.

Tribalism is everywhere.

[jaysunb]

5. You've hit upon something here.

When I'm in my birth State of Mississippi ( several times a year ) I'm always a little surprised when the viciousness I experienced as a child in the 40's and 50's seems to have gone away or is at least in hiding. Only occasionally will I get that old feeling of fear and loathing, and I quickly remember that lots of ugly shit happens right here in California.
At first I thought it was because I am there on business and the folks I deal w/ seem to understand green more than black. But I've come to realize that these so called good Christians treat the local blacks w/ contempt at every opportunity...with a smile on their face. With me, it's a steady stream of, " I guess that's the way yall do things out there in California. " Or sly remarks about "them foreigner's ," and so on..... A fellow once told me that his brother lives out here, and later another person said the brother was gay and they were glad he moved away to a more Sodomite area. I almost laughed in his face, because I'm thinking, he probably had a lot of "special " friends right around here.
But you are right, they don't come off to their local community as anything but wunnerful good Christians. What a barrel of hypocrisy

[Warpy]

6. Sugar coated strychnine

was how I described that famous southern hospitality if you were a true outsider.

I also knew a fluttery church lady and stone bigot who used to go to all the parties thrown by the gay couple downstairs, share recipes with them, and bake them cakes on their birthdays. Go figure.

If they know you down there, it doesn't seem to matter. If they don't, well bless your heart.

[dalton99a]

7. +1

[jaysunb]

3. Good article, but...

she left out the racism part.

[MarinCoUSA]

8. They love their hate more than love what they say they love.

n/t

[yurbud]

9. probably a lot of good Christians at lynchings too

and Harriet Jacobs wrote in her slave narrative of an overseer who raped women at work then was an usher at church and leered at the same women when he passed the plate.