21AR26-44

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AR 26:44 - Racism, Ibram X. Kendi and Barack Obama

In this issue:

ORIGINS - "the decline of Darwinism in pop science publications that we are seeing today"

RACISM - "Antiracists fundamentally reject Savior theology"

SPONG, JOHN SHELBY - RIP? The bishop who proclaimed "churches that didn't embrace modernity were doomed"

Apologia Report 26:44 (1,549)
November 17, 2021

ORIGINS
There appear to be deep rumblings coming from middle earth. "The Passé Scientist" by Denyse O'Leary (Salvo, 56 - 2021) discusses how "Darwin's Loyalists Keep Dwindling in Number." She reports that, "not only is new atheism collapsing, but, if we go by recent developments at New Scientist, so is Darwinism. ...

"Last year, we learned that new atheism had begun to feel like 'a movement certain of its own victory burning out spectacularly over the course of a few short years, followed by mysterious yet near-total contempt from the very people it thought it had convinced.' ...

"According to a long article by multiple authors, New Scientist - the tabloid of popular science publications - apparently divorced Darwinism last September (2020). The authors did not mince words; their article is titled, 'Evolution is evolving: 13 ways we must rethink the theory of nature.' ...

"In December 2019, some writers at New Scientist had already begun questioning the idea of species, an idea that is central to a belief system that takes its name from Darwin's Big Book, On the Origin of the Species. 'We're beginning to question the idea of species - including our own,' wrote feature editor Kate Douglas. ...

"The Economist recently informed us that hybrid animals have 'upturned' evolutionary theory, which - for them - is really heretical thinking: 'This story would once have been considered deeply implausible,' an October 2020 article acknowledged. 'Evolution's orthodox narrative does not suggest that hybridisation is how new animal species emerge.'"

What's behind these developments? O'Leary discusses three possibilities:

1) "Racism has always been an underdiscussed but inescapable feature of Darwinism. ... Maybe it's time for people to start listening."

2) "Life forms don't just pop into being out of nothing and then somehow become more complex and develop minds, for example, only through competition for survival, without any mind behind the universe at all. Believing that such a thing is true is not the same thing as demonstrating it."

3) More recently, "there are naturalist alternatives to Darwinism. There are, for example, horizontal gene transfer, hybridization, epigenetics, and other processes. ...

Some combination of these suggestions - and doubtless other factors - probably accounts for the decline of Darwinism in pop science publications that we are seeing today. In any case, it is welcome." <www.bit.ly/3EQJ3Qk> (Links to sources mentioned above are included.)

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RACISM
Did you know? "'Jesus Was A Radical Revolutionary': Ibram X. Kendi" by Ben Johnson (DailyWire, Oct 5 '21) -- Yep. "Jesus Christ was 'a radical revolutionary' dedicated to the destruction of 'the American empire,' and every church should be 'a home of revolutionaries,' Ibram X. Kendi, the best-selling author <www.bit.ly/3kbmLki> of How to be an Antiracist, said in a recent interview.

"Kendi [one of the foremost popularizers of the ideas associated with Critical Race Theory] said he believes in black liberation theology, as opposed to "white evangelical theology," which allegedly teaches that black people are "a backward, uncivilized, sort of, savage race, and Jesus came … to save black people" and "so-called 'white trash' from themselves." ...

"In many ways, you know, white evangelical theology projects Jesus as not only white — but not only a white Savior, but a white Savior of people of color and even, you know — because we, apparently, according to this theology, were a backward, uncivilized, sort of, savage race. ...

"Kendi has expressed the same theological beliefs more cogently in the past." Johnson reviews this.

Further, "'Antiracists fundamentally reject Savior theology,' Kendi admitted. In its place, they teach liberation theology, which 'breeds … a common humanity against the structures of power that oppress us all.' ...

"'One can scour the New Testament and find nary a word from Jesus that calls for empowering politicians or bureaucrats to allocate resources, pick winners and losers, tell entrepreneurs how to run their businesses, impose minimum wages or maximum prices, compel workers to join unions, or even to raise taxes,' wrote Lawrence W. Reed <www.bit.ly/3wslf2j> of the Foundation for Economic Education. 'Christianity is not about passing the buck to the government when it comes to relieving the plight of the poor. Caring for them, which means helping them overcome it, not paying them to stay poor or making them dependent upon the state, has been an essential fact in the life of a true Christian for 2,000 years. Christian charity, being voluntary and heartfelt, is utterly distinct from the compulsory, impersonal mandates of the state.'

"Reed made the first edition of his book Render Under Caesar: Was Jesus A Socialist? available for download free. (He substantially expanded and updated the book [1] in 2020.) ...

"In the July interview, Kendi also expressed no disagreement when Kweli associated him with Critical Race Theory. Kendi has sometimes distanced himself from when the term when it became more controversial, and the Left made a concerted effort to say that CRT is taught only in law schools." <www.bit.ly/3q8gmuh>

And for more on black liberation theology from our past issues, see <www.bit.ly/3wiOvZa> -- where you'll find a significant connection to Barack Obama.

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SPONG, JOHN SHELBY
Upon learning that liberal gadfly Spong died on September 12, we were certain that a good concise review of his legacy would appear. Written for GetReligion (Oct 3 '21), "Death of a Post-Theist Shepherd" by Terry Mattingly, fits the bill.

Newark Bishop John Shelby Spong "did everything he could to become the news-media face of liberal Christianity.

"By the time of his death at the age of 90, on Sept. 12 at his home in Richmond, Va., Spong had seen many of his once-heretical beliefs - especially on sex and marriage - normalized in most Episcopal pulpits and institutions. However, his doctrinal approach was too blunt for many in the mainline establishment, where a quieter 'spiritual but not religious' approach has become the norm.

"Spong called himself a 'doubting believer' and said he had no problem reciting traditional rites and creeds because, in his own mind, he had already redefined the words and images to fit his own doctrines. He also knew when to be cautious, such as during Denver visit in the late 1980s - an era in which the Diocese of Colorado remained a center for evangelical and charismatic Episcopalians. ...

"Spong argued that churches that didn't embrace modernity were doomed. Nevertheless, during his era, Episcopal Church membership fell from 3.4 million in the 1960s to 1.6 million in 2019, according to official statistics. During Spong's tenure as bishop (1976-2000), Newark diocese membership declined from 62,732 to 36,674. That number was down to 23,045 in 2019.

"Bishop Spong was not troubled.

"'When Jesus said, 'Come unto me all ye,' he did not add, 'so long as you are not divorced or gay or a woman bishop or a doubter,' he wrote. 'This church of ours may never be the church of the masses, it will never satisfy the emotional needs of the religiously insecure.'" <www.bit.ly/3bIII5M>

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SOURCES: Monographs

1 - Was Jesus a Socialist?: Why This Question Is Being Asked Again, and Why the Answer Is Almost Always Wrong, by Lawrence W. Reed (ISI, 2020, paperback, 160 pages) <www.bit.ly/3q8joP6>

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