• Latest
  • Trending
  • All
  • News
  • Politics
  • Lifestyle
white evangelical hypocrisy black church values news with nicola

News With Nicola: Black Church Politics and White Evangelical Hypocrisy

November 7, 2022
Civil Rights March 1963

The Women Who Stood With Martin Luther King Jr. and Sustained a Movement for Social Change

March 16, 2023
creed III

‘Creed 3’ Is a Great Movie That Centers Family, Friendship and Forgiveness

March 3, 2023
Roz Ryan, Andrea Lewis, and Pooch Hall are seen in this still from A Nashville Legacy

‘A Nashville Legacy’ Is a Feel-Good Hallmark Mahogany Movie Celebrating Black Music History

February 22, 2023
pile of books

In New Jersey, School Segregation Didn’t End; It Evolved

February 18, 2023
Karen Abercrombie

After Award-Winning Role in Top-Grossing Christian Movie, Karen Abercrombie Is Leading Change From Within

February 14, 2023
black women group

‘Righteous and Ratchet’ Black Women of Faith Embraced on Jemele Hill’s ‘Sanctified’ Podcast

January 23, 2023
Martin Luther King Jr. Photo

How the Distortion of MLK’s Words Enables More, Not Less, Racial Division Within American Society

January 14, 2023
Shirley Chisholm book

Historian Connects Shirley Chisholm’s Life and Politics in New Biography

January 14, 2023
red apple fruit on four pyle books

Is White Supremacy a Bug or a Feature of Classical Christian Education?

January 14, 2023
bible gun Brazil

God and Guns Often Go Together In US History — This Course Examines Why

January 14, 2023
black news site

Kansas City Police Dismissed a Black News Site’s Reports of Missing Women. Then One Showed Up.

January 14, 2023
text

‘Thank You’ and a Look Back as We Look Forward to the New Year

December 31, 2022
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact
Thursday, March 23, 2023
  • Login
  • Register
Faithfully Magazine
  • About
    • Staff and Advisors
    • Write for Us
    • Advertise
    • Give Via PayPal
  • Exclusives
  • Q&As
  • Inspiration
  • Subscribe
  • Shop Faithfully
No Result
View All Result
Faithfully Magazine
No Result
View All Result
Home News With Nicola
Trending

News With Nicola: Black Church Politics and White Evangelical Hypocrisy

Black churches tend to focus on empowering their congregants and communities to vote, while White Evangelical churches we tend to hear about resort to filling their people with fear.

by Nicola A. Menzie
November 7, 2022
Reading Time: 8 mins read
white evangelical hypocrisy black church values news with nicola

(Source: Faithfully Magazine)

76
SHARES
ShareTweetPin It

In the Nov. 6 episode of “News With Nicola,” host Nicola A. Menzie takes a look at a news item related to Jamal Bryant, pastor of New Birth Missionary Church in Stonecrest, Georgia, and at the general issue of churches and pastors getting politically involved during election season.

This article serves as a transcript of the episode, which was produced as a 10-minute, in-depth video, which covers:

  • Black Church Criticism
  • White Church Hypocrisy
  • Understanding References to ‘Uncle Tom’
  • Briefly, What’s At Stake in the Midterms

This transcript article may include additional information not featured in the video podcast, including direct links to sources and additional quotes.

As Premium Content, this “News With Nicola” episode transcript and its extended companion video are accessible to Faithfully Magazine Partner subscribers only for the first three days of publication.

RELATED POSTS

News With Nicola: KevOnStage Loses Brother, Netflix Produces Christian Horror Film, and TD Jakes Hands Reins to Daughter

A.R. Bernard on Family Roots, Identity, and Balancing Faith and Culture

News With Nicola Ep. 4: Church’s COVID Outbreak, AME on Gay Marriage, Haitian Pastor Arrested (Plus: Jackie Hill Perry)


Stop what you’re doing and watch this complete takedown of @HerschelWalker by pastor @jamalhbryant. #WeDontNeedAWalker pic.twitter.com/TOGnFxliLe

— Quentin James (@QJames) October 30, 2022

By now, you’ve seen the viral video of Bryant slamming the Republican Party and its Georgia Senate nominee Herschel Walker.

What you may not have seen were the remarks Bryant made after the clip of his Oct. 30 Sunday sermon went viral.

Black Church Criticism

In an interview with The New York Times, Bryant questioned why critics always want to come for Black churches when their leaders do exactly what many White conservative Christian churches do all the time — that is, talk politics from the pulpit.

“White evangelicals have been very prominent as to who it is that they push and why. But when the Black church clears its throat, then we hear, ‘what is the demarcation between church and state?’” Bryant told the Times.

Bryant mentioned that because the Times itself brought up the question. — Was the Black pastor crossing the line and running afoul of the IRS rule barring churches and other nonprofits from campaigning for or against a politician?

Interesting question, right?

How many times have we seen White Evangelical pastors standing in the pulpit or on the stage of their church making it abundantly clear who they’re voting for? And, in some cases, calling Democrats “demonic” and even suggesting that to not vote for the candidate of their choice means you’re a fake Christian?

It was an honor to be welcomed into The Potter’s House by Bishop T.D. Jakes. Thank you for having me at this morning’s service in Dallas. pic.twitter.com/DlM8sz40tQ

— Beto O'Rourke (@BetoORourke) October 23, 2022

Let’s look at what happened when Texas Senate nominee Beto O’Rourke published on Twitter photos from his October visit to Bishop T.D. Jakes’s Potter’s House church:

“Both of you need Jesus. Sadly, you didn’t meet Him in that ‘church’ yesterday,” wrote a user identified as a “Christian” and “Proud Texas Conservative.”

“In fairness, TD Jakes is no preacher of the Gospel. Beto didn’t go to a church. He visited a false teacher. Both of them are frauds. They deserve each other,” wrote another user who self-identified as a “Servant of Jesus” and “Pastor.”

And the icing on the cake came from Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point Faith and its many related political organizations:

“Let it be known to all in Christianity that T.D. Jakes proudly hosts the most radical abortion candidate imaginable in a place of worship. Heretic and fool,” Kirk, 29, tweeted to his 1.7 million followers.

“Heretic and fool.” This, from a Donald Trump sycophant, election denier, and documented liar. Kirk, who says he’s a Christian, is someone who routinely uses a church stage as a platform from which to spew lies, division, and poisonous propaganda. This is the same Charlie Kirk who said Christian rapper Lecrae should be banned from performing in churches because he performed at an event hosted by a Democratic candidate.

White Church Hypocrisy

It’s not illegal, according to the IRS, for churches and other places of worship to welcome a politician’s visit.

But according to some White conservative Christians, Black churches are just not allowed to do this…especially when it’s a candidate that they don’t like.

Herschel Walker, who has been convincingly accused by at least one of two women that he pressured them into, and provided money for abortions, has been welcomed into several White Evangelical and presumably pro-life churches since the start of his campaign. He was even embraced at a closed-door prayer event at First Baptist Atlanta, a prominent megachurch that used to be led by the Rev. Charles Stanley, the day after it was reported that he hounded the mother of his unborn child to get an abortion (which she chose not to do).

As noted by Brian Kaylor, a Baptist minister and president of Word & Way:

In January, Walker spoke at Free Chapel in Gainesville, the congregation led by former Trump evangelical advisor Jentezen Franklin. …

And in March, he spoke at Sugar Hill Baptist Church, where he made controversial comments questioning evolution.

In each sanctuary, the pastors interviewed Walker on stage and offered their support for his candidacy in ways that appear to violate IRS rules prohibiting 501(c)3 tax-exempt nonprofits from engaging in partisan campaign activity.

These are churches led by White men who openly favor Republican candidates. Such churches have been doing this for years — and were even encouraged by former President Trump to flout the IRS rule against churches endorsing candidates.

According to a report published by ProPublica and the Texas Tribune, Black and White churches have been pushing the limits of this IRS rule for decades.

But consider these distinctions highlighted in the report:

While some Black churches have crossed the line into political endorsements, the long legacy of political activism in these churches stands in sharp contrast to white evangelical churches, where some pastors argue devout Christians must take control of government positions, said Robert Wuthnow, the former director of the Princeton University Center for the Study of Religion.

Wuthnow said long-standing voter outreach efforts inside Black churches, such as Souls to the Polls, which encourages voting on Sundays after church services, largely stay within the boundaries of the law.

“The Black church has been so keenly aware of its marginalized position,” Wuthnow said. “The Black church, historically, was the one place where Black people could mobilize, could organize, could feel that they had some power at the local level. The white evangelical church has power. It’s in office. It’s always had power.”

The article also notes that in the nearly 70 years of the Johnson Amendment’s existence, only two churches have ever lost their tax-exempt status for violating the law.

Why an Uncle Tom?

But back to Bryant’s sermon, in which he blasted Walker as a puppet of the White Republican establishment.

“They figured they would delude us by picking somebody who they thought would, in fact, represent us better with a football than with a degree in philosophy,” Bryant said in the video. “They thought we were so slow, that we were so stupid, that we would elect the lowest caricature of a stereotypical broken Black man as opposed to someone who is educated and erudite and focused.”

Bryant, implicitly giving pastor and senator Raphael Warnock a boost, all but called Walker an Uncle Tom. The term, inspired by the Harriet Beecher Stowe novel, reflects the opinion of some African Americans who see Walker as impeding Black social progress on behalf of MAGA interests. This is an unfortunate characterization that has followed Walker since his high school football days.

He’s seen as a Black man serving the predominantly White Republican Party’s agenda. An agenda that seeks to suppress things like Black voting rights and women’s reproductive decisions. And an agenda that embraces the violent, xenophobic, and white supremacist ideology of Christian nationalism.

Even The Associated Press reported how the Georgia Senate race between Walker and Warnock — who both appeal to their Christian faith — seems very much about Black church values versus White Evangelical interests.

According to the AP:

“Warnock, 53, preaches a kind of social justice Christianity that echoes King, the slain civil rights leader who also led Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. The senator embraces the Black church’s roots in chattel slavery and Jim Crow segregation. From the pulpit, he acknowledges institutional racism and calls for collective government action that addresses inequities and other social ills….”

“Walker talks, too, of society’s shortcomings, but the 60-year-old points to the expansion of LGBTQ rights, renewed focus on racism and ‘weak’ politicians, who, he says, ‘don’t love this country.’ He has called for a national ban on abortions….”

“It’s a culturally conservative pitch tied to individual morals rather than collective responsibility and effectively holds that the United States is a Christian country. That aligns Walker with the mostly white evangelical movement that has shaped the modern Republican Party.”

What’s At Stake

The midterm elections are on November 8 and about one-third of the 100 U.S. Senate seats are up for grabs. Each party desperately wants control of the Senate. Right now, Democrats have it (mostly thanks to Vice President Kamala Harris). But all Republicans reportedly need is at least one victory to take control.

Georgia, where Walker and Warnock are vying for voters, is among the swing states like Pennsylvania and Nevada that could help determine the Senate majority. So it’s no surprise that some pastors are hitting the pulpit with guns blazing.

But why question Black churches when they exercise the right to do exactly what White church leaders have been privileged and felt entitled to do for decades? And when you take the time to really look, Black churches tend to focus on empowering their congregants and communities to vote, while the White Evangelical churches we tend to hear about resort to filling their people with fear.

Watch this episode of “News With Nicola” – Black Church Politics, White Evangelical Hypocrisy


Find “News With Nicola” on: Soundcloud | Spotify | Apple | Google | Amazon | iHeartRadio | Stitcher

Subscribe to Faithfully Magazine’s YouTube channel for related content and exclusive videos.


Help Keep Christian Media Diverse

In addition to partnering with advertisers, maintaining a subscription program, and exploring paid live events, we rely on the generosity of readers who see value in our work and in our mission. We invite you to join us, and keep walking with us, in our mission. Every amount, big or small, empowers us to stay the course. Here are a few ways you can join us:
  • Give via PayPal
  • Place an Ad
We are grateful for your support. Thank you!

Share This Post

Share via

Share This Post

  • Digg
  • Tumblr
  • Flipboard
  • SMS
More
  • Report
76
SHARES
ShareTweetPin It
Tags: News With NicolaPodcast
Nicola A. Menzie

Nicola A. Menzie

Nicola A. Menzie a religion reporter whose bylines have appeared on the websites of the Religion News Service, The Christian Post, CBS News and Vibe magazine. Nicola is the Managing Editor at faithfullymagazine.com. You can find her on Twitter @namenzie. Email: nicola.menzie (at) faithfullymagazine.com.

Related Posts

News With Nicola on KevOnStage TD Jakes Netflix

News With Nicola: KevOnStage Loses Brother, Netflix Produces Christian Horror Film, and TD Jakes Hands Reins to Daughter

by FM Editors
October 3, 2022
0

...

Rev. A.R. Bernard of Christian Cultural Center.

A.R. Bernard on Family Roots, Identity, and Balancing Faith and Culture

by FM Editors
March 1, 2022
0

...

Haitian President Assassinated

News With Nicola Ep. 4: Church’s COVID Outbreak, AME on Gay Marriage, Haitian Pastor Arrested (Plus: Jackie Hill Perry)

by Nicola A. Menzie
July 15, 2021
0

...

Indigenous American Tom Torlino Carlisle Indian Residential Boarding School

News With Nicola Ep. 3: Indian Boarding Schools, Hillsong Church, and Rioting Pastors (Plus: Dr. Anthea Butler)

by Nicola A. Menzie
June 29, 2021
0

...

  • Trending
  • Comments
  • Latest
stream movies laptop

Free Christian Movies: How and Where to Watch Free Christian Movies Online

March 15, 2021
Jesus and John the Baptist

Are Jesus and John the Baptist Cousins or Related in Anyway?

June 2, 2019
paige and christopher hilken family

Paige Hilken, Wife of North Coast Church Pastor Christopher Hilken, Dies by Suicide

August 2, 2021
White Christian Dean and Faculty Pose as Gangsters in Controversial Photo

White Christian Dean and Faculty Pose as Gangsters in Controversial Photo

16
study on evangelical churches finds some apply race tests on people of color seeking to belong

White Evangelical Churches Use ‘Race Tests’ on People of Color, Study Claims

3
depression

Why African Christians Should Rethink Depression

3
Civil Rights March 1963

The Women Who Stood With Martin Luther King Jr. and Sustained a Movement for Social Change

March 16, 2023
creed III

‘Creed 3’ Is a Great Movie That Centers Family, Friendship and Forgiveness

March 3, 2023
Roz Ryan, Andrea Lewis, and Pooch Hall are seen in this still from A Nashville Legacy

‘A Nashville Legacy’ Is a Feel-Good Hallmark Mahogany Movie Celebrating Black Music History

February 22, 2023

Get the Newsletter

Loading

Listen to Exclusive Q&As on Faithfully Podcast

Faithfully Podcast · Faithfully Podcast Select
Advertisement
Advertisement
Mosaic Coffee
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact
Do Good. Obey God. Stay Woke.

Copyright © 2023 Faithfully Media, LLC. This website participates in affiliate programs.

No Result
View All Result
  • About
    • Staff and Advisors
    • Write for Us
    • Advertise
    • Give Via PayPal
  • Exclusives
  • Q&As
  • Inspiration
  • Subscribe
  • Shop Faithfully

Copyright © 2023 Faithfully Media, LLC. This website participates in affiliate programs.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Create New Account!

Fill the forms below to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
Share via

Share This Post

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Reddit
  • Email
  • WhatsApp
  • Copy Link
  • Tumblr
  • Digg
  • Flipboard
  • SMS

Add New Playlist

Add to Collection

  • Public collection title

  • Private collection title

No Collections

Here you'll find all collections you've created before.

Send this to a friend