The Religion of White Supremacy?

By Michael Brown Published on November 10, 2019

According to Bishop Talbert Swan, “Calling a Black POTUS married 25 yrs to 1 wife with 2 children, no mistresses, affairs or scandals, ‘the antichrist’ but a white POTUS married thrice, 5 kids by 3 women, mistresses, affairs & scandals, ‘God‘s anointed,’ proves your religion is white supremacy, not christianity.”

Is this a fair accusation? Bishop Swan certainly raises an important question, and in a limited number of cases, I believe he’s right.

That’s because there were certainly white supremacists who vilified President Obama simply because he was black. These same people now glorify President Trump simply because he is a patriotic white man. And, no doubt, some of them claim to be Christians.

Personal morals are not the issue. Marital fidelity is not the issue. Color is the issue.

Conversely, there are certainly black supremacists who glorified President Obama and now vilify President Trump, simply based on color. And, no doubt, some of them claim to be Christians.

No surprise there. The sword cuts both ways.

But as to the sweeping accusation made by Bishop Swan, it seriously misses the point as to why many white Christians opposed Obama but support Trump.

Bishop Swan Misses the Point with Ridiculous Accusations

To be sure, Bishop Swan is not shy about expressing his personal viewpoint, tweeting, “White evangelicals don’t speak in tongues praying that God stops white supremacists from mass murdering people or that racist white cops stop killing unarmed Black people. But they’re speaking in tongues about keeping an unrepentant, lying, white supremacist, rapist in office.”

This, of course, is a ridiculous accusation.

To call this the religion of white supremacy rather than Christianity is to make a bigoted and biased remark.

There are millions of white evangelicals who pray against violence in America and who are grieved over mass shootings, regardless of who the victims are. As for the Bishop’s description of the president, I’ll leave that between him, the president, and God.

But, returning to his accusation concerning the “religion of white supremacy,” the bishop’s tweet misses the point entirely.

Speaking for myself, I wanted to vote for Senator Obama, but I could not. I wanted to vote for our first black president. I wanted to be part of making positive history. I wanted to cast my vote for him, cheering him on, along with his wife and daughters.

But I could not do so because of my Christian convictions.

As a follower of Jesus, I strongly opposed Obama’s extreme, pro-abortion stance. And make no mistake about it, his stance was extreme.

Not Supporting Obama Had Nothing to Do With Race

As noted in a 2012 article on Politico by Rich Lowry, “In the Illinois legislature, he opposed the ‘Born-Alive Infants Protection Act’ three times. The bill recognized babies born after attempted abortions as persons and required doctors to give them care. Obama’s stalwart opposition to the bill came up during the 2008 campaign, and his team responded with a farrago of obfuscation and distortions.”

And so, while he was being hailed as “The One” or “The Chosen One,” I grieved. But not because of his skin color. Rather, it was because of the slaughter of the innocents, a disproportionate number of which are black.

I also believed that he supported same-sex “marriage,” regardless of some of his public statements, which proved to be the case. This was another reason that, as a follower of Jesus, I could not vote for him.

Conversely, had a conservative black candidate run for his president, I would have voted for him in a heartbeat before voting for a white liberal. In a heartbeat. And I’m sure that I speak for a multitude of other, conservative evangelicals as well.

God Using Trump

As for Donald Trump, it has been a challenge for many of us to vote for him for some of the reasons listed by Bishop Swan. That’s why we opposed him during the primaries. He was not our man.

But the whole idea of him being “anointed” to be president came from passages in the book of Isaiah. There, the prophet said that God would use Cyrus, a pagan, idol-worshiping king who did not know the Lord, to accomplish His purposes.

This, for us, was a useful comparison: Even though Donald Trump had been a philandering, narcissistic, New York real estate tycoon and reality TV star who didn’t know the Lord, God would use him to accomplish His purposes.

Those purposes include appointing conservative justices to the courts, standing up for the unborn, fighting for religious liberties, opposing LGBTQ extremism, and being a true friend of Israel.

In this regard, we have not been disappointed, although we continue to wrestle with other aspects of his behavior. But we support him because of the Christian positions he has taken, not because of his skin color.

To call this the religion of white supremacy rather than Christianity is to make a bigoted and biased remark.

 

Dr. Michael Brown (www.askdrbrown.org) is the host of the nationally syndicated Line of Fire radio program. His latest book is Jezebel’s War With America: The Plot to Destroy Our Country and What We Can Do to Turn the Tide. Connect with him on FacebookTwitter or YouTube.

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