“If white Christians claim to follow Jesus, it only makes sense that they follow what he claimed is the greatest commandment, upon which all the laws and prophets are based: ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, [and] you shall love your neighbor as yourself’ (Matt. 22:37-40 NRSV). Love for both God and neighbor become an outward expression of an inward conversion. If a tree is indeed known by its fruit, then the absence of love for neighbors of color, queer neighbors, non-Christian neighbors, and immigrant neighbors demonstrates very clearly that nationalist Christianity will always fail to repent, seek forgiveness, and obtain salvation. Salvation and liberation can never be achieved if love for God and neighbor are nonexistent. We should not rush to find harmony with our God and our neighbor without dealing with the sorrow and hopelessness of Holy Saturday. We must avoid the temptation to seek a premature peace because, as it did for the Northern Kingdom, it would lead to the obliteration of communities of color. The act of reconciliation, the opportunity for salvation, and the hope of liberation are cheapened when justice is sacrificed for the sake of serenity for the dominant culture. Nationalist Christianity’s continued refusal to dismantle the very structures built to uphold their unjustified power, profits, and privilege signifies a preference for accruing the unmerited dividends of supremacism. Justice is not a bargaining chip used in negotiating among political adversaries. Justice leads to spiritual healing. The phrase often repeated at protest rallies — ‘No Justice, No Peace’ — still rings true.
“Yes, the marginalized should seek reconciliation with their God and neighbor, a reconciliation rooted in justice. Ignoring this call dismisses the good news preached by Jesus. Regrettably, the salvation preached from pulpits in white Christian churches all too often ignores white Christians’ complicity with the social and political structures responsible for so much of the social division over race, ethnicity, gender, class, and sexual orientation. These sermons become empty words lacking any significance. For white Christians, the gospel mirrors the values of the dominant culture, advocating a Christianity that nauseates the saints. A clarion call for a badass Christianity rooted in the rejection of nationalist Christianity could prevent marginalized communities from devolving into the race war that appears to be so coveted by those losing their white affirmative action.”
