Would-be Cops and Race in America

I don't usually spend a great deal of time following the sensational tabloid type news stories but this George Zimmerman case has been different. Why? Because I've noticed that in particular the Christian community has been active in following it and the blogosphere has also been quite busy with regard to this case.

I'm struck by the number of people that can't seem to grasp the fact that whether or not Martin was a bad kid or had marijuana is his system has nothing to do with the facts of the case. I hear so many people making a character judgment and seem to miss that what you think about the person shouldn't come into play. The jury is supposed to be impartial. That's why they spend a great deal of time trying to put together a jury that everyone can agree will be free from bias.

Christians have confused the US Constitution with the Law of God and to many of them the 'right' to bear arms is virtually divine. Now whether or not this is a good 'right' or not is something that can be debated, but I'm confused when I keep encountering Christians who substitute 'turn the other cheek' for strike back and intimidate. I am familiar with the arguments but I'm more struck by the attitude and repulsed when I hear after church discussion (fellowship?) center around guns. I say this as a person who owns a few of them, but also as a person who doesn't carry them when out and about and who wouldn't bother to purchase them if I didn't already have them.

As a Christian, I have no desire to shoot anyone under any circumstances. I would rather flee my house or surrender my belongings than shoot someone. When did it become Christian to strike back? And even worse, glory in it?

Personally from what I can gather it was Trayvon Martin who was trying to stand his ground and defend himself from someone threatening him. People can argue about that all day. In the end though you can't dispute it wouldn't have happened if the Dudley Do-Right would-be Cop hadn't come after him.

And I don't think it can be disputed that if Martin was a white kid and he was shot by a minority...this case would be far different.

It's also interesting that a news story has broken concerning a black woman who fired warning shots to get her legally restrained abusive husband to back off received 20 years in jail and they won't allow her to appeal to the stand your ground law. Why not?

I'm surprised Conservatives are willing to embrace vigilantism and increasingly para-military style groups (on the Mexican border for instance). Historically these types of situations lead to a breakdown in the authority of the legitimate government. I guess they're happy enough when Obama is the president, but if the pendulum swings back into their camp, will they feel the same? How would they feel about Marxist militias operating in the National Forests? I've seen the Right-wing variety in the forest where I live.

For the past decade or so Evangelicals have re-written history and now 'claim' the Civil Rights movement as their own. They now 'claim' that Martin Luther King Jr. and other leaders were Christians and thus of the same stripe, viz. on their side. They've chosen to ignore that the Southern Baptist Church was the backbone of the Segregationist movement and that Evangelical leaders denounced Civil Rights in the 1960's and 70's. As I've written before, I'm amazed they've been able to pull this off. I remember very clearly back in the 1980's that Martin Luther King Jr. was still reckoned a bad guy, a Marxist, a philanderer, a friend of Sanger and Planned Parenthood. In no way was the Civil Rights movement perceived to be Christian.

Dominionism has become the new Evangelical default even if many are unfamiliar with the nomenclature or the theology behind it. In this context it translates into a celebration of Westernism and every 'good' must be claimed as somehow resulting from Christian influence. History has always been politicized but as Christians (Truth-seekers) we should be above that. Dominionism has baptized the politicization of everything. Power itself has become the Gospel.

Do these folks who claim Martin Luther King Jr. as one of their own think that he would stand with them on this Zimmerman case? Do they think he would nod his head and say, "Yes that's right, Trayvon Martin got what was coming to him?"

This case provides a good example of what's happening in the American Church. It exposes the rotten heart, the white sepulchre that is American Evangelicalism.

Great strides have been made in the realm of race relations but the problems still exist. There's a lot of 'soft' racism (if I can call it that) at work in the white community. It's subtle. There's a bit of guilt and evasiveness. I don't know of too many who are violent racists but these same folks think that unless someone is wearing a white hood or brandishing a swastika then it's not racism. It's not that simple.

Thank God we've moved away from the days of lynching's and church bombs, but the tensions still exist and an event like this brings them out into the open.

I ask all these Christians would they feel the same way if a black neighbourhood watchman had shot a white kid? I just don't believe they would be flocking to the defense of the shooter. I don't believe FOX news would be covering and that Christian media and blogs would be advocating for the black shooter.