Texas Lt. Gov. Patrick says America must 'turn to God' to heal wounds of racism

[timothyu]

Therefore to relate you must understand their point of view.

Walk a mile in their shoes?

 

[TLK Valentine]

From the article:

Texas Lt. Gov. Patrick says America must 'turn to God' to heal wounds of racism: 'We need a culture change'

I have no idea what kind of a person Dan Patrick is, and I won’t speak against him personally. But the message that our racial problems are the result of the Left pulling America away from God is a truly breath-taking falsehood. Racism is certainly not the fault of Christians, but it was certainly Christian thinkers in the early 19th Century who (mis)used the Bible to provide a moral support for the “peculiar institution.” And while it was also Democrats who provided the political backbone for the subsequent Jim Crow laws in the South, it was also Democrats who began the political process of dismantling legal segregation, when President Truman in 1948 issued an executive order desegregating the Armed Forces. It was Republican President Eisenhower who enforced the Brown v. Board of Education decision, sending in the 101st Airborne Division to escort nine black children into Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1957, but then it was liberal Democrats—mostly from the Northeast, but also including President Lyndon Johnson of Texas—who pushed through the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This led directly to the explosive growth of Christian schools in the South, where many white parents chose to pay for segregated private education rather than send their children to free public integrated schools.

The whole set of attitudes that brought us to this political crisis over George Floyd is not a symptom of any godlessness on the Left; it is the legacy of conservative Southern Christianity (which should have taught against racism, but did not). For the Lieutenant Governor of Texas to suggest otherwise shows either an ignorance of real history, or an actual intent to pander and deceive.

2 National Guardsmen injured by lightning strike during George Floyd protests in D.C.

It would seem God has spoken... and He says Black Lives Matter.

 

[Aryeh Jay]

He'd have no reason to come otherwise.

Well if almost 100 million dead and two atomic bombs wasn’t burning down the house enough for Him to come back, it will be a while…

 

[TLK Valentine]

He'd have no reason to come otherwise.

He'll come when He wants to -- He needs no other reason than that.

 

[Evan Jellicoe]

He'd have no reason to come otherwise.

That is not how "eschatology" (the study of the end times) works. You seem to have picked up a misunderstanding somewhere.

 

[Aryeh Jay]

If more Christians would focus on “Love Your Neighbor as Yourself” instead of eschatology, the world might be a better place…

 

[jayem]

I know the opinion of a godless naturalist is off-topic in this thread. But here’s my take on it anyway:

Racism—along with all varieties of prejudice—are consequences of tribalism. Homo sapiens evolved from social primates living in smallish tribes or family groups. To a degree, our brains are hard-wired to be wary and suspicious of those belonging to other tribes that are different from ourselves. And could be hostile. We can suppress this by learning and acculturation, but it’s an instinct we all have buried way down in the limbic system. If you’re religious, you could say God made us this way. And if so, then maybe God can remove it if it’s his will to do so. But I’d say evolution made us this way. And until we learn how to safely reprogram our brains, we have to evolve out of it.

 

[timothyu]

You seem to have picked up a misunderstanding somewhere.

If man is following the will of God rather than their own, then what would be the purpose of bring that to an end?

 

[Evan Jellicoe]

If man is following the will of God rather than their own, then what would be the purpose of bring that to an end?

I'm not quite clear what you are asking. Could you rephrase it to clarify it?

 

[ximmix]

Not sure it's a good idea for a Christian to talk about racism from a historical perspective. It would open up a great big can of worms...

 

[Desk trauma]

Not sure it's a good idea for a Christian to talk about racism from a historical perspective. It would open up a great big can of worms...

Nonsense. No true Christian washes all that clean.

 

[ximmix]

Nonsense. No true Christian washes all that clean.

Ah yes, forgot about the TRUE (tm) Christians, sorry...

 

[timothyu]

It would open up a great big can of worms...

You mean if they had preached Jesus' Gospel instead of man's adaptation, by loving all as self they would have had to set slaves free? How inconvenient.

 

[Evan Jellicoe]

If man is following the will of God rather than their own, then what would be the purpose of bring that to an end?

Can you clarify this question, please? I'm not sure what point you are trying to make.

 

[ximmix]

You mean if they had preached Jesus' Gospel instead of man's adaptation, by loving all as self they would have had to set slaves free? How inconvenient.

Not exactly what I meant, but yes.

 

[CRAZY_CAT_WOMAN]

To speak of racism from biblical point only integrates fear and mistrust to the unbeliever.

I know plenty of Mexican and Black Christians that fear Cops, with good reason. It has more to do with how Cops treated them in the past. And even now. I just see the bible, as how the politics worked in the bible days. What didn't look right wasn't accepted.

 

[Broken Fence]

I know plenty of Mexican and Black Christians that fear Cops, with good reason. It has more to do with how Cops treated them in the past. And even now. I just see the bible, as how the politics worked in the bible days. What didn't look right wasn't accepted.

Agreed, the racial profiling as been addressed over and over. Wonder if the system is ready to listen. Indifference has never been a good answer to any question.

 

[timothyu]

Perhaps if all people stopped labelling themselves as descriptively different?

 

[Broken Fence]

Perhaps if all people stopped labelling themselves as descriptively different?

Descriptively different is an observation by another or self explanation.

Indifference is not showing concern or understanding of another's plight. Linked closely to apathy.

 

[timothyu]

Descriptively different is an observation by another or self explanation.

Why not simply 'I am human' ?