Roots of Racism Run Deep in American Christianity

Reports from across the publishing industry tell us that books exploring the roots of racism, especially by Black authors, are booming in 2020. The customers for those books include thousands of congregational leaders, clergy and active lay people, who are building up their own shelves of books for personal reflection and group discussion on this life-and-death range of issues. Now, a book by a White pastor is arriving from evangelical publisher Zondervan, called: White Lies—Nine Ways to Expose and Resist the Racial Systems That Divide Us.

This new book is a tour de force examination of how the lies of racism are deeply entwined within predominantly White Christianity itself.

Please, read our Cover Story this week, which includes an interview with Daniel Hill and information about getting both his book and a free set of discussion resources.

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Three Books to Unite and Heal Communities

A RARE OPPORTUNITY TO JOIN THE NATIONAL CONVERSATION 

A month from now, thousands of congregations nationwide will be kicking off virtual fall seasons of programming, complete with small groups and classes. Half a year into the pandemic, congregations now are well-equipped to offer online-streaming groups, many of which like to discuss inspiring new books as they gather. This week, we are highlighting three authors who willing to help you lead and inspire those groups.

As a publishing house, we are issuing a rare public invitation to contact us directly to order early, pre-publication copies you can read and discuss. If you do order books from us and participate in one of these streaming options with our authors—then, we also hope that you and your friends will become part of the emerging national discussion on these timely themes.

PLUS, please consider: Most clergy nationwide are part of small groups that meet online to discuss everything from upcoming sermons to creative planning. All three of these authors are willing to zoom with such planning groups as expert resources as you meet to plan for the fall and winter.

Please read—and then share this cover story with friends via email, social media and word of mouth.

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Holidays & Festivals

Paryushan Parva

A JAIN FOCUS ON PRAYER AND VIRTUE—Though known by various names and observed on a range of dates in some Jain communities, this festival unite Jains through key virtues, including forgiveness, humility, contentedness, truth and control over senses. Holidays & Festivals columnist Stephanie Fenton has the story—including a 2020 update on “virtual” observances during the pandemic.

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Labor Day 

HAVE YOU SEEN THE HEADLINES? Stephanie Fenton has been following the news about closings, cancellations—and some creative adaptations like a “drive in fireworks” show. Her best suggestion is that Americans use this once-in-a-lifetime Labor Day to look more deeply into the roots of this observance.

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Care to see all of our Holidays & Festivals columns? It’s easy to find our annual calendar of global observances. Just remember the address InterfaithHolidays.com

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An Aesop’s Fable on Unity

ABRAHAM LINCOLN’S QUIET FIRE As a boy, Lincoln would memorize many of Aesop’s fables. Among his favorites was The Old Man and His Sons in which a wise old man asks his sons to break a bundle of sticks. As Lincoln scholar Duncan Newcomer writes this week, that simple old tale illustrates a powerful spiritual truth that allowed Lincoln to hold together many opposites—and allow them to strengthen his resolve.

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FAITH & FILM 

ED McNULTY, for decades, has published reviews, magazine articles and books exploring connections between faith and film. Most of his work is freely published. Ed supports his work by selling the Visual Parables Journal, a monthly magazine packed with discussion guides to films. This resource is used coast-to-coast by individuals who love the movies and by educators, clergy and small-group leaders.

Among Ed’s free reviews and columns are these films available for streaming now. 

1. IRON JAWED ANGELS—Ed writes, “Although there are many good films dealing with the Civil Rights movement, there are relatively few about the struggle for women’s rights. Thus we should be glad that HBO saw fit to produce this film for Women’s History Month in March of 2004. … This is a film that should be seen by every American who treasures the progress that genuine democracy has made in this country.” (5 out of 5 stars)
2. SUFFRAGETTE—”This film, set in England a few years before the First World War, could be considered a prequel to the 2004 movie Iron Jawed Angels. Alice Paul and Lucy Burns both gained experience in the women’s rights movement in England. This newer film mixes real characters with fictional ones.” (4.5 stars)
3. FRANCESCO—”Italian director Michele Soavi serves up a very imaginative version of the life of Christendom’s most beloved saint, Francis of Assisi.” (4.5 Stars)
4. A TIME FOR BURNING—”This documentary, shot in 1965, largely at the Augustana Lutheran Church in Omaha, Nebraska, is of interest to those concerned about the church and racism. Commissioned by a national office of the Lutheran Church in America and directed by Barbara Connell and Bill Jersey, the film focuses upon the Rev. William Youngdahl, Augustana’s pastor. It is a good example of the feebleness of the White church in dealing intelligently and forcibly with racism in America.” (5 out of 5 stars)
5. JOHN LEWIS: GET IN THE WAY—Ed writes, “Director/writer Kathleen Dowdey does a fine job encapsulating John Lewis’s long life in its short running time of less than an hour.” (5 stars)
6. CLEMENCY—Ed writes, “Director/writer Chinonye Chukwu has given us a prison film unlike most anything you have seen, in that her focus is not on a condemned prisoner, but on the person in charge of the execution of prisoners, the warden.” (5 out of 5 stars)
7. RANGOON—”Director Vishal Bhardwaj’s Hindi film is set during WW 2, mostly in a Mumbai movie studio and at the Burmese border where British-led Indian troops are fighting the Japanese invaders.” (4 stars)
8. HAMILTON—Ed gives 5 out of 5 stars to the film version of the award-winning Hamilton play.
9. GREYHOUND—Ed gives 4.5 stars to Tom Hanks in Greyhound. Ed writes, “Hanks turns in an excellent performance as the rookie commander who feels the pressure of his baptism by fire.”
10. THE RESISTANCE BANKER—“Dutch director Joram Lürsenfor shows us one more way in which an occupied people resisted Nazi tyranny. I love the way in which through the years such filmmakers manage to present a fresh view of WW 2 and of Nazi persecution.” (4.5 stars)

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