MyJewishLearning published yesterday an article written by a Black Hebrew Israelite (BHI for short) - for those who are not familiar with them, they are an evangelical Christian movement that promotes antisemitic ideas.
The author claims to suffer with racism from within the Jewish community, but the article reads in a very weird way. So I decided to check (and I’ve seen that a few others on Facebook did as well), and found her page on a BHI website: Celeste Jackson; and her mom, Mother Anna “Levy”. Their “synagogue” is a BHI church in Saint Albans, NY.
There is racism in the community, and pieces like these (be it by Celeste Jackson or Nylah Burton, et al) make it harder to address that because they provoke a growth of scepticism toward those who actually face racism in the Jewish community. The reference others have often is non-Jews faking being Jewish for the sake of identity politics (Nylah), or whatever BHIs are doing (Celeste). Which makes easier for detractors to claim that when Jews facing such issues come forward with complaints, they are lying, just look at these *points to the LARPers*.
It is doubtful if Tali (the Ethiopian Jewish friend) is aware that Celeste is a BHI. Both in Israel and abroad, Ethiopian Jews do not buy into BHI claims, and there is at least one video available on YouTube of such confrontations.
Please be careful with what you share, since Jewish publications clearly have missed the mark big time and keep ignoring Jews who come forward with complaints. I wrote an email to MJL (about racism, my experiences within the community, the effects - on Jews actually facing racism - of publishing an article by this con artist), and would encourage anyone interested in writing to them write as well, the email is [email protected]
Wait, this is the first I’ve heard of Nylah not actually being Jewish.
It’s a thing I’ve seen a couple of times but that fact that it always comes up when people don’t want to listen to Nylah Burton makes me suspicious of its authenticity
OK, just did some reading - she’s patrilineal with a Christian mother, and she feels no need to convert to the Conservative or Orthodox movements.
I understand this is a touchy subject and halachically speaking she’s not actually Jewish by these communities’ standards, but that’s a far cry from being a total outsider to the Jewish community, sent to undermine us with false accusations.
She’s not patrilineal. Both of her parents are non-Jews, and she comes from a fundamentalist Christian background - there is a claim that maybe one of her great-grandparents was Jewish (dad’s side) but even that is a maybe. Once this was all uncovered (which you’d have known if you have contact with Jewish groups on Facebook, where plenty of this is available), she started claiming that she feels Jewish, she won’t convert, etc. She also requested for money for Jewish events (from gullible people like the ones claiming that somehow I am wrong for saying that a non-Jew is a non-Jew), which she never held and just seems to have put in her pocket.
What people like her is just cheapening what it means to be a visibly non-white Jew (black, mixed race, among others) and to face racism in the Jewish community. And that I will not accept. I have gone through too much scrutiny due to my looks/colour and racism from other Jews to ever be okay with someone coopting my struggles for her personal gain. If you prefer to ignore black and brown Jews telling you that, that’s your problem and you are part of the problem.
MyJewishLearning published yesterday an article written by a Black Hebrew Israelite (BHI for short) - for those who are not familiar with them, they are an evangelical Christian movement that promotes antisemitic ideas.
The author claims to suffer with racism from within the Jewish community, but the article reads in a very weird way. So I decided to check (and I’ve seen that a few others on Facebook did as well), and found her page on a BHI website: Celeste Jackson; and her mom, Mother Anna “Levy”. Their “synagogue” is a BHI church in Saint Albans, NY.
There is racism in the community, and pieces like these (be it by Celeste Jackson or Nylah Burton, et al) make it harder to address that because they provoke a growth of scepticism toward those who actually face racism in the Jewish community. The reference others have often is non-Jews faking being Jewish for the sake of identity politics (Nylah), or whatever BHIs are doing (Celeste). Which makes easier for detractors to claim that when Jews facing such issues come forward with complaints, they are lying, just look at these *points to the LARPers*.
It is doubtful if Tali (the Ethiopian Jewish friend) is aware that Celeste is a BHI. Both in Israel and abroad, Ethiopian Jews do not buy into BHI claims, and there is at least one video available on YouTube of such confrontations.
Please be careful with what you share, since Jewish publications clearly have missed the mark big time and keep ignoring Jews who come forward with complaints. I wrote an email to MJL (about racism, my experiences within the community, the effects - on Jews actually facing racism - of publishing an article by this con artist), and would encourage anyone interested in writing to them write as well, the email is [email protected]
Consumption isn’t a shortcut to character and morality goes well beyond fandom. That’s modern culture in a nutshell.
Consumption isn’t activism and we should be glad - because if consumption was activism, then your entire positive contribution to the world would be cancelled out by exactly one person having a different hobby.
This reminds me a lot of a concept I’ve seen a lot in American Christianity, especially evangelical/fundamentalist Protestantism, which is the idea that the only criteria for being “saved” is expressing belief in Jesus and God. You don’t need to do good things, you don’t need to show compassion and kindness to others, you don’t need to help the less fortunate—you just need to believe in Jesus and essentially (from an outsider perspective) perform your faith according to social expectations.
Given how culturally Protestant* (and specifically evangelical) the US is, and how American many fandom spaces can be, I have to wonder how much of this “consumes the right media = good person, consumes the wrong media = bad person” idea is just this same ugly concept repackaged and rebranded with leftist terms. I don’t think people who do this are intentionally recycling the Christian rhetoric they were raised with—I think they may not even be aware that that’s where their thinking comes from, because when the culture you’re raised with is still the dominant culture of where you live it’s hard to fully shake it off. But the point is that I absolutely think cultural Christianity has a big impact on a lot of social justice discourses even when the people discussing have actively distanced themselves from the religion.
White Evangelical Christians are on the front-lines of America’s ‘pro-life’ movement. But not so long ago this group was disinterested in abortion and largely apolitical. They’re a crucial faction of Donald Trump’s base, motivating him to further restrict abortion rights across the country. So how did it all change?
In 2010 I wrote the first two chapters. One month in 2013 I wrote the core of the book and started revisions. In 2016 I closed the loops and wrote the final three chapters. . No way is this as interesting to you as it is to me. I get that. Hey, I’m not even asking you to read the damn thing. If you buy the eBook it’s only three dollars, you waste more money than that throwing food away. Nice…
A series of random thoughts to get me through my March blogging Marathon to help me displace my thoughts so I can focus on writing a story.
All my blog post for this whole month are only 1000 words or a few more than that.
People who think they have to like everything are unlikable. Nobody likes everything. Klangelical Christians and PC Police have that same affectation. At least we can…
Don’t come at me about the Bible and homosexuality if you’re using it to justify your homophobia. I will demolishyou.
Also, for some cultures including early Christianity, sodomite could very well have ment someone gravely inhospitable, as the sin of Sodom was inhospitality and not anal sex.
I wanted to talk about that too but I was running out of tweets I could put on a singular thread thank you so much for this addition!
I’m reblogging this partially because it’s frickin awesome, and partially for future reference, cus yeah the evangelical community is really scary to be in as part of the LGBTQA community
Whoa this is one of the BEST things I’ve ever seen!! And I learned a lot from it which I can tell my LGBTQ+ friends so that they can also destroy someone with this knowledge! Thank you so much for making a stand!
This was some hella good stuff here. I knew there was corruption with Bible verses and such but wow this was supremely informative!
the website Gay Christian 101 also has some fantastic in-depth discussion of these topics
“But setting aside the instances of individual conversions, what seems to be happening at scale isn’t so much the growth of white Evangelicalism as a religious movement, but rather the near-culmination of the decades-long transformation of white Evangelicalism from a mainly religious movement into a Republican political cause.”
The post I just reblogged got me thinking about how many concepts that Christians (especially white evangelicals) apply to marginalized groups were actually intended for the rich.
Weird how that works.
Case in point:
Modesty
How it’s taught today:Young girls and AFAB children must dress in a way that prevents men from lusting after them.
What it actually means:Christians shouldn’t call attention to their social standing, especially at church.
1 Timothy 2:9 describes immodest women as wearing elaborate hairstyles, gold, pearls, and other expensive items. They’re distracting other worshipers not because of their sex appeal, but because they’re flaunting their wealth.
Interestingly, the King James Version uses the phrase “modest apparel,” while many modern translations like the Amplified Bible, NIV, and NASB simply use “modesty.” You can compare translations of 1 Timothy 2:9 here.
Lukewarm Christianity
How it’s taught today:Christians who don’t fervently serve the church in some capacity (such as blue collar workers, single parents, and other people who don’t have the time) are a disappointment to Jesus.
What it actually means:Christians shouldn’t put their trust in material wealth because it will leave them spiritually bankrupt.
In Revelation 3:14-22, Jesus chastised the church at Laodicea for having so much money that they didn’t realize they were spiritually “wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.” He then urges them to be “zealous” (which Thayer’s Greek Lexicon translates as “to be full of zeal for good”) and quit chasing after material wealth.
Leaving Everything to Follow Jesus
How it’s taught today:“Sinners” and other nonconformists (such as LGBTQIA+ folks, sex workers, and working women) should give up the lifestyles the church doesn’t approve of to serve God in a more acceptable way.
What it actually means:Christians shouldn’t seek security in their possessions and social status.
Here’s how the Amplified Bible translates Matthew 19:21-24:
Jesus answered him, “If you wish to be perfect [that is, have the spiritual maturity that accompanies godly character with no moral or ethical deficiencies], go and sell what you have and give [the money] to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me [becoming My disciple, believing and trusting in Me and walking the same path of life that I walk].”
But when the young man heard this, he left grieving and distressed, for he owned much property and had many possessions [which he treasured more than his relationship with God].
Jesus said to His disciples, “I assure you and most solemnly say to you, it is difficult for a rich man [who clings to possessions and status as security] to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man [who places his faith in wealth and status] to enter the kingdom of God.”
I’m sure these are just a few of many examples of Christians nowadays pulling verses out of context to avoid accountability and further dehumanize marginalized groups of people.
HILLSBORO, Ohio — Polls conducted since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus pandemic find that Democrats take the virus more seriously than Republicans, and are more willing to support restrictive government edicts in response to the outbreak. Most of those pontificating from the left conclude that Republicans get bad information from President Trump, Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh, to name a few, and therefore aren’t as worried as they should be.
Blaming so-called right-wing media for the strikingly different attitudes between the GOP and Democrats is in this case too simplistic. The Republican Party has long been home to conservatives and libertarians, who have a natural resistance to any governmental expansion of reach and authority over citizens. For many, if not most, Republicans, “give me liberty or give me death” is not outdated rhetoric.
Most Republicans are appalled at how casually governors — in their view — trampled the Constitution at the behest of state and federal health departments. As one small business owner in Tennessee said of the lockdowns, “If constitutional rights can be taken away whenever there is a crisis, then they are not rights at all — they are permissions.”
And yet, there is something more to the partisan divide than the age-old contrast between conservative and liberal politics. But our reluctance to discuss religion beyond its basic political impact often results in skirting honest evaluations. Let’s try anyway.
It’s noted so often that evangelical Christians are a cornerstone of modern GOP support that the point is in danger of losing its impact. But it’s helpful to be reminded what, exactly, makes an evangelical, because to understand it helps to understand so many Republican positions. The National Association of Evangelicals has identified four statements that it says define evangelicals, the last of which is most pertinent for this discussion: “Only those who trust in Jesus Christ alone as their Savior receive God’s free gift of eternal salvation.” This literal belief in eternal salvation — eternal life — helps explain the different reactions to life-threatening events like a coronavirus outbreak.
Every few years, the Pew Research Center conducts a comprehensive Religious Landscape Study, the last full one in 2014. According to the study, Christians, who comprise more than 70 percent of all Americans, are almost evenly divided by party — 43 percent Republicans or leaning Republican, 40 percent Democrats or leaning Democratic.
Americans describing themselves as evangelical Christians totaled 25.4 percent, the largest of all Christian subsections. Fifty-six percent of evangelicals self-identified as Republican, just 28 percent as Democrats. Unaffiliated — atheists, agnostics and “nothing in particular” — totaled 22.8 percent of all Americans. According to Pew, 69 percent of atheists and 64 percent of agnostics identify as Democrats, with just 15 percent of atheists and 21 percent of agnostics claiming the GOP.
What was somewhat surprising is how the beliefs of evangelicals compare to Catholics, another group that might be considered biblical literalists. According to Pew, 84 percent of evangelicals believe the Bible is the word of God, compared with 62 percent of Catholics. Fifty-five percent of evangelicals agree that the Bible should be interpreted literally — twice the percentage of Catholics.
Among those who hold literal biblical interpretations is the certainty that waiting at the end of this terrestrial journey is eternal life in Heaven.
Evangelicals take it to heart when James reminds them, “What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes,” or when Paul writes, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us,” or when Jesus asks, rhetorically, “Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?”
The coronavirus? Christian fundamentalism is often fatalistic. As far as many evangelicals are concerned, life passes quickly, suffering is temporary and worrying solves nothing. That’s not a view that comports well with long stretches of earthly time spent waiting out business closures or stay-at-home orders. It should be no surprise that a person’s deepest beliefs about the world influence how they measure the risks they’re willing to take.
Former six-term Ohio Rep. Bob McEwen ® is a longtime evangelical leader who serves as an advisory member of James Dobson’s Family Talk board of directors. McEwen told me this week that evangelicals aren’t rattled by covid-19, either the disease or the government’s response to the pandemic, because the Bible instructs them not to let earthly fears overwhelm them. “They steal your life, your liberty and your freedom by using fear,” said McEwen. “Man, on his own without God, will always be fearful,” he added. “But the Bible says, ‘Fear not.’”
Evangelicals aren’t just twiddling their thumbs until Heaven beckons, of course. Most of them aggressively pursue careers, enjoy television shows, cheer their favorite sports teams, and take pride in the achievements of family and friends. They do good things in their communities, and sometimes they do bad things, just like everyone else.
They’re in no hurry to exit this world. But when ruminating over why there are millions of people who don’t seem to panic over a global pandemic or other life-threatening event, critics should remember that, right or wrong, it often involves a belief in something even bigger than people named Trump, Hannity or Limbaugh.
