Robert P. Jones's White Too Long Published Today: A Must-Read Book about American Christianity and White Supremacy

No matter how distracted and enervated I may be at present as we cope with some health issues, I can't let today pass by without noting that a very important book is appearing in print today. This is Robert P. Jones's White Too Long: The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity. 

Apologies for Being Out of Commission

A note of apology for my absence from this blog of late: we're dealing with some health challenges, and I find my time, energy, focus are limited as a result.

One of many predictable consequences of growing old, I'm afraid.

"Where is the Sense of Decency? What Does It Profit a Great Nation to Conquer the World, Only to Lose Its Soul?" — The Legacy of John Lewis

This interview with Congressman John Lewis -- in front of a live audience in Kentucky in October 2013 -- was one of the most memorable and moving experiences of my professional life.

It feels just impossible to lose him at a time when we need him so much.https://t.co/QO2kEwLVvz

— Rachel Maddow MSNBC (@maddow) July 18, 2020

News Commentary in Time of Plague: 43 Pages of Obituaries in Houston Today (and the Role Many US Christians Are Playing in the Pandemic)

OUR LOCAL PAPER: The Houston Chronicle
obituary section was 43 pages today.

Let that sink in.

— Rogelio Garcia Lawyer (@LawyerRogelio) July 13, 2020

(P.S. As Newsweek reports, this is a standalone section of obituaries for the year up to now. Read the Newsweek report, and you'll see a lot of commenters on social media are stating that it's likely a high percentage of those deaths are Covid deaths.)

David Clohessy of SNAP Speaking Outside Southern Baptist Convention, Birmingham, Alabama, June 2019: How to Effect Real Change with Churches and Abuse

I'd like to share with readers a presentation that David Clohessy of Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP) made in June 2019 when the Southern Baptist Convention held its annual meeting in Birmingham, Alabama. I'm grateful to David for permitting me to share it here, and to Carol Yeager of SNAP in North Carolina for sharing this video with me. 

"Public Health Train Wreck in Slow Motion" in US: Where's the Leadership? Where Are the Pro-Life White Christians Who Set This in Motion?

Teresa Hanafin in today's "Fast Forward" from Boston Globe: 

[A]s Dr. David Blumenthal, president of The Commonwealth Fund, put it, the coronavirus pandemic in the United States is like watching a "public health train wreck in slow motion." And the Choo-Choo-in-Chief is at the controls, either completely befuddled or completely callous. Take your pick.

PRRI's Robert P. Jones in Juneteenth Interview: Trump Presidency a "Moment of Reckoning for White Christians"

8 in 10 white evangelicals, 6 in 10 white Catholics & Mormons, 50%+ of all US white Christians, set this nightmare into motion, claiming they voted "pro-life."

We must not forget. Racism + US white Christianity are central to this nightmare. Pretending re: this will not help.

— 𝕎𝕚𝕝𝕝𝕚𝕒𝕞 𝔻. 𝕃𝕚𝕟𝕕𝕤𝕖𝕪 🌈 (@wdlindsy) February 15, 2019

Today, for Juneteenth, CNN's religion editor Dan Burke has done an interview with Robert P. Jones, founder of Public Religion Research Institute, about his forthcoming book White Too Long: The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity. The CNN interview is entitled "This is a moment of reckoning on race for white Christians."