The fascist creep is quickening. We have been forced to acknowledge it anew, and Trump’s departure seems likely not to slow it. Many and perhaps most of the people who took over the Capitol building last week place their allegiance in a culture more explicitly devoted to an unbroken legacy going back to the Reconstruction-era KKK and slavery than contemporary Republican politics. Though the overlap is obvious, the difference is functionally significant for anyone who wants to stop them from carrying out more violence. Sure, the thin blue line flags were raised among the crowd that assaulted...…The fascist creep is quickening. We have been forced to acknowledge it anew, and Trump’s departure seems likely not to slow it. Many and perhaps most of the people who took over the Capitol building last week place their allegiance in a culture more explicitly devoted to an unbroken legacy going back to the Reconstruction-era KKK and slavery than contemporary Republican politics. Though the overlap is obvious, the difference is functionally significant for anyone who wants to stop them from carrying out more violence. Sure, the thin blue line flags were raised among the crowd that assaulted...WW…

By Rufus Burnett, Jr., and Steven Battin John 21:18 Christian communities (i.e., the Church) may do well to meditate on this passage from John’s gospel as they seek to discern what practical and political actions the Church should commit itself to within a US social milieu defined by representational democracy, neoliberal capitalism, and white supremacy. Truly confronting what ails us and charting a path forward may entail doing what one does not want to do and going where one does not want go. As we aim for a United States without white supremacy, a nation-state of racial equity, we need...…By Rufus Burnett, Jr., and Steven Battin John 21:18 Christian communities (i.e., the Church) may do well to meditate on this passage from John’s gospel as they seek to discern what practical and political actions the Church should commit itself to within a US social milieu defined by representational democracy, neoliberal capitalism, and white supremacy. Truly confronting what ails us and charting a path forward may entail doing what one does not want to do and going where one does not want go. As we aim for a United States without white supremacy, a nation-state of racial equity, we need...WW…

– Dr. Shannen Dee Williams. It is not uncommon for us to hear astonishment, especially from white people, when they first hear that the Jesuits held people in slavery. Nor is it uncommon to hear assumptions like, “people enslaved to the Jesuits had it better than other enslaved people,” or a dismissal of the topic accompanied by a gross underestimation of the depth to which the Jesuits were involved in the institution of slavery. The distance that many white Catholics have from the realities of slavery and its persistent legacy is not happenstance; it is due to the erasure or warping of...…– Dr. Shannen Dee Williams. It is not uncommon for us to hear astonishment, especially from white people, when they first hear that the Jesuits held people in slavery. Nor is it uncommon to hear assumptions like, “people enslaved to the Jesuits had it better than other enslaved people,” or a dismissal of the topic accompanied by a gross underestimation of the depth to which the Jesuits were involved in the institution of slavery. The distance that many white Catholics have from the realities of slavery and its persistent legacy is not happenstance; it is due to the erasure or warping of...WW…

Too often, when we talk about racism in the United States, we frame it as a sin of the past or as personal ignorance or prejudice. In many educational settings, we see emerging emphasis on racism as a legacy from history, both systemic and structural. Lamentably, this is not always true in our church: the USCCB’s 2018 pastoral letter against racism, “Open Wide Our Hearts,” never addresses racism as social sin, even though it does point to the “social structures of injustice and violence that makes us all accomplices in racism.” Not enough of us recognize the ways that our physical...…Too often, when we talk about racism in the United States, we frame it as a sin of the past or as personal ignorance or prejudice. In many educational settings, we see emerging emphasis on racism as a legacy from history, both systemic and structural. Lamentably, this is not always true in our church: the USCCB’s 2018 pastoral letter against racism, “Open Wide Our Hearts,” never addresses racism as social sin, even though it does point to the “social structures of injustice and violence that makes us all accomplices in racism.” Not enough of us recognize the ways that our physical...WW…

This is because, among other reasons, we are not taught about conflict. One of the consistent comments in the evaluations for my undergraduate Religion and Conflict course is “why don’t we all get taught this, and earlier in our educations?” In the spirit of the question, and for the sake of our collective future, I offer some key insights from conflict and peace studies. In addition to this conflict theory, I leave you with two reminders. The arts are often more powerful than theory. Indirect modes of aesthetically-charged communication can convey meaning more effectively than prose. This...…This is because, among other reasons, we are not taught about conflict. One of the consistent comments in the evaluations for my undergraduate Religion and Conflict course is “why don’t we all get taught this, and earlier in our educations?” In the spirit of the question, and for the sake of our collective future, I offer some key insights from conflict and peace studies. In addition to this conflict theory, I leave you with two reminders. The arts are often more powerful than theory. Indirect modes of aesthetically-charged communication can convey meaning more effectively than prose. This...WW…