Using your faith to excuse bigotry and abuse IS A CHOICE!

About 1/2 of the pro-slavery tracts in the US during the 18th and 19th centuries were written by white evangelical Christian ministers using passages like Ephesians 6 and Colossians 3 as justification.
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At the same time Black abolitionists like Sojourner Truth and Frederick Douglas were emboldened by their faith to fight against the enslavement of their people.
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During Loving V. Virginia trials in 1965 Judge Bazille in VA affirmed the validity of anti-‘miscegenation’ laws stating “almighty God created races... he placed them on separate continents... the fact that he separated the races shows he did not intent for the races to mix”.
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The Nave’s topical Bible, a Bible published in 1897 popular throughout the 20th century, stated ‘miscegenation’ was forbidden by God. Billy Graham endorsed the book.
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At the same time many fighting against anti-miscegenation laws stated the Bible saw all humans as equals and there was no basis for the belief that inter-racial marriage and sexual relationships should be ilegal.
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Segregation during the 20th century was preached as God ordained in churches across North America. In 1968 there were 771 white students enrolled in public schools in Holmes county, MS. The following year after desegregation that number went down to 28, in 1970 there were 0.
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White students were going to private Christian schools. At the same time, many Black Christian preachers and leaders were the organizers and leaders behind the civil rights movements.
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Today it is white evangelical Christians the ones most opposed to same sex-marriage, LGBTQ+ and women’s rights, racial equality, anti-xenophobia policies, protection of immigrants, ≠ programs to protect the poor and disenfranchised to ensure access to basic human rights.
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And at the same time other Christians are adamantly opposing them and condemning their theology and adjacency with white supremacy.
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Christianity is not a monolith. Pretending it has been a force of good and erasing the horrific role it has played in the discrimination of...
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entire people groups, is dishonest, shameful and unacceptable. Pretending it’s all been bad, is erasure, in itself discriminatory, and very inappropriate.
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If anything holding the nuances and complexities of how Christianity has been viewed and used by different people makes one thing evident: using it to excuse bigotry and abuse IS A CHOICE!
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If your religion and faith expression have consistently aligned with white supremacy and oppression, and others with the same religion but a different expression have adamantly opposed bigotry, perhaps it’s time to admit the issue is the theology you are choosing to align w/.
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In some years white evangelicals will be on the side of inclusion and equity for those they currently oppose, and if they don’t deal with the toxic theology that emboldened their bigotry, they’ll simply find a new people group to demonize.

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/05/religious-right-real-origins-107133

https://www.e-ir.info/2018/11/01/what-role-did-christian-teachings-play-in-the-american-civil-rights-movement/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nave%27s_Topical_Bible

Google “Christian identity” or “identity Christianity”