I can’t believe that it took me so long to get to this amazing little book. This is a breakdown and analysis of American evangelicalism and its roots and deep history in racism. The author was raised in evangelicalism and is a professor of religious studies so she comes to this topic from both her personal and professional lens. As a young woman she recognized the racism within the evangelical movement. This is explained through the history of the leaders and the movement itself. At one point white evangelical leaders recognized that there was a usefulness in courting Black evangelicals into the fold so they could combine as a massive voting block. Once these leaders began to aggressively pursue power in multiple facets of society, they needed more than whites for this cause. It became evident that the meaning behind this was for the Black church members to adopt the rituals and practices of the white churches without any reciprocal desire for the whites to learn about Black church worship.
Ultimately, this book is a brief, yet thorough examination of the core of evangelicalism, its good and bad, and its largest problem or bent to racism. It has always had elements of white supremacy and racism but this appears to have become its overwhelming appeal (consciously or unconsciously). The author did a great job of speaking to a general audience and also addressing those who are still within the Evangelical community to consider an examination of self and group consciousness to identify areas that need work.
I highly recommend this for all Christians in particular, and evangelicals specifically. The author is not being judgmental simply for judgement sake but to open a dialogue and try to find common ground and what can change.
#WhiteEvangelicalRacism #NetGalley #NorthCarolinauniversityPress #FerrisandFerris

Really interesting book to read. It was very well written. It gave me lots to think about. Fascinating outlook. Great to read a book so refreshing

This book examines the history of Christian evangelicalism in the United States and how it came to such a prominent place on the political stage. And focuses on how evangelicalism has racism baked into its foundation. From the beginning, white supremacy has used Christianity to excuse abhorrent actions from slavery and lynching, to Jim Crow laws and segregation, to the birther lies about President Obama.

While there is some focus on early history, most of this book, short as it is, focuses on the most recent 75 years, focusing on the Civil Rights movements and the popularity gained by Billy Graham and other evangelists like him.

I come away from this book with a deeper understanding of my own religious upbringing and internalized prejudices. The reference page at the end provides further texts for me to seek out to read.

A sobering look at one of the most influential groups in the US. Masterfully done it succinctly takes the reader on a trip through history leaving them with a lot to think about after the final page is read.

This review was also published on The Englewood Review of Books:

“Trump isn’t the reason why evangelicals turned to racism. They were racist all along” (141).

In White Evangelical Racism: The Politics of Morality in America, Dr. Anthea Butler offers a succinct and compelling analysis of evangelicalism’s racist roots. While some have argued that evangelical racism began in the Trump era, and have loudly cried, “Not all evangelicals!” Butler gives ample evidence that racism has always been a cornerstone of evangelicalism.

“Racism is a feature, not a bug, of American evangelicalism,” states Butler in her introduction (2). She continues, “From using the Bible to support slavery to opposing the civil rights movement, integration, and interracial marriage, evangelicals have long employed a presumed moral authority to hide their prejudices” (8).

Evangelicals, Butler argues, have conflated Christianity and whiteness, which has allowed them to ignore racism (9). The belief that Christianity (i.e., whiteness) is the one and only correct path, ordained by God, has caused evangelicals to embrace structures and policies that are inherently racist, with the fervent belief that the “other” must assimilate and conform, shedding their non-Christian (i.e., non-white) identity in order to be in God’s favor.

Butler recognizes that these aren’t easy truths for evangelicals to hear. “This book aims to tell the story evangelicals won’t,” she says (12). She does just that, and begins by laying bare “The Racist Foundations of Evangelicalism in the Nineteenth Century” (chapter 1):

“The nineteenth-century racial practices of white supremacy and violence would affect how twentieth-century evangelical leadership engaged African Americans and their forthcoming quest for civil rights, justice, and full citizenship. Most of all, they would allow white evangelical leaders to justify their decision to keep the reins of religious, social, and political power in white men’s hands” (32).

In chapter 2, “Saving the Nation,” Butler explains how Billy Graham and his contemporaries “exemplified a kind of religion that combined Christianity, patriotism, and politics into a potent mix of respectability that was predicated on fear of the other” (33). The “others” Graham feared were communists, Catholics, and immigrants. Butler shows, however, that the definition of “other” morphs and adapts to keep whiteness at the epicenter of power. The label “communist” provides an apt example. “For evangelicals,” explains Butler, “communism was not simply a social movement but an atheist movement that, with almost religious fervor, sought to destroy Christianity” (40). Black activists, including Martin Luther King, Jr., were called communists in the 1950s and ’60s. But true to racism’s ability to expand and shift, today it is the Black Lives Matter movement that is labeled communist while King’s memory has been whitewashed, with evangelicals’ selective quoting of his work serving to bolster their guise that racism is a thing of the past, instead of an ever-present thread woven through the heart of their religion.

I was particularly struck by chapter 3, “Whitewashing Racism and the Rise of the Religious Right.” Butler’s analysis of how evangelical leadership, particularly Jerry Falwell with his Moral Majority movement, shifted from an anti-political, separation of church and state stance to the embrace of tactics that actively sought power and prestige in the political arena was illuminating. Her ability to clearly and concisely explain this history was extremely helpful to my understanding of the rise of evangelicalism within conservative politics.

Butler says that when evangelicals felt their power waning with the passage of civil rights legislation in the 1960s, they realized it

“would take more than simply ignoring race for [them] to continue to hold political power and sway. It would take a whole new approach to hold power, putting a coat of fresh paint on the old racist structures of evangelical life and belief” (55).

Falwell’s strategic team-up between the Moral Majority and the Republican Party embedded evangelicalism in government in an unprecedented way. Butler writes,

“Race hatred played the fundamental role in, first, pushing evangelicals toward a ‘color-blind’ gospel, which would provide cover for their racially motivated organizing against the federal government, and second, their push to block implementation of the hard-won gains of the civil rights movement. This color-blind gospel is how evangelicals used biblical scripture to affirm that everyone, no matter what race, is equal and that race does not matter. The reality of the term ‘color-blind,’ however, was more about making Black and other ethnic evangelicals conform to whiteness and accept white leadership as the norm both religiously and socially” (58).

Butler further explains that,

“Using morality and color-blind conservatism as a shield, evangelicals made new political alliances and created organizations, such as the Moral Majority, that would promote their favored issues while continuing to embrace racist practices and strategies to consolidate economic and political power” (59).

Though it is commonly believed that abortion was the issue that compelled evangelicals to dive into the political fray in the 1970s, Butler gives irrefutable evidence that it was, in fact, racism — specifically, fear of interracial marriage — that was “the catalyst for full-throated evangelical engagement in the political realm” (66).

Evangelicals experienced some success with their early engagement in politics, including pressuring the IRS to back off its percentage integration requirements for Christian schools. Such victories emboldened evangelicals to tackle other issues, including abortion and homosexuality, which culminated in “the culture wars” of the 1990s. Butler outlines how, alongside the culture wars came the racial reconciliation movements “between white evangelicals and African Americans [which] took several forms and met with varying degrees of success” (86). Before this decade, racism had been considered an individual sin, not a corporate sin, explains Butler. “Not until the 1990s did evangelicals begin to consider the possibility of a broader social culture of racism” (87). However, despite this shift in understanding, “Prayers, it seemed, would permeate most of the… major efforts at racial reconciliation in the 1990s” (91). Racial reconciliation efforts, while numerous, saw “short-lived and cosmetic at best” results (95). Butler’s point is that,

“even while white evangelicals may have begun to change their social attitudes and habits in order to accommodate African Americans in churches and schools, in the political realm white evangelicals supported candidates and positions that were unremittingly conservative and designed to keep African Americans and other ethnic groups out of positions of power” (94-95).

The fourth and final chapter, “How Firm a Foundation,” delves into how “structural racism in evangelicalism clearly and visibly exploded” in the twenty-first century (98), first in the wake of 9/11, then with the overt racism toward President Barack Obama followed by the euphoric support of President Donald Trump. Butler powerfully sums this up in the following paragraph:

“Up to this time, evangelicals had cloaked themselves in morality, respectability, and power. Their politics seemed, to the average onlooker, and perhaps to most of themselves, to be rooted in biblical admonitions and piety. The racism that underlay their religious movement could be waved away through belief, theology, and denial. Not so since the year 2000” (98-99).

“The journey to Trump,” writes Butler, “is a story of how whiteness and racism combined to make evangelicals a potent voting bloc awash in racism and racial animus” (99).

It is this story that Butler has so skillfully told in White Evangelical Racism, and it is a story every American Christian, and certainly every white evangelical, needs to reckon with. As Butler says, “If you are an evangelical reading this book, then I would ask you to look around and see what your witness has wrought” (146). This is an uncomfortable, painful challenge, but Butler’s invitation to look, to see, and most importantly to change, is one that we must accept.

I just finished White Evangelical Racism, by @AntheaButler
.
Damn.

3 quick thoughts from a book that gave plenty to think on...

1. Describing the rise of Billy Graham without the hagiography is jarring. Hearing details of the "attempts" at integration and how he shook off MLK is jaw-dropping.

2. Butler briefly tells of her exit from evangelicalism and I see how I could be guilty of exactly the same behaviors* in white-centered progressive mainline space.

*Assuming that someone does not belong to the community, treating them as a stranger

3. She discusses the lead-up to the 2004 Presidential election, which is the first election that I paid attention to. I remember the events she describes and now have a better lens for understanding them.

This book was phenomenal! It made me very uncomfortable, which is good for a topic such as racism! It covered all the important subjects and it did not hold back in fear of making people uncomfortable.

White Evangelical Racism gives an accounting of how today’s Evangelical influences in political and social structure began back in the days of slavery. And how white Evangelical formed this base, that still split our climate today. Written, so reader will attain plenty of knowledgeable information pertaining to this subject.
I thank Netgalley for providing me with an advanced copy of this book with no obligation to write a review. My written opinions in this review are my own.

I'm so excited for this book! The ARC I got is too difficult to read (I get that ARCs aren't the final version, but there was so little white space, it wasn't possible for my brain to handle), so I'll be grabbing a copy from my library to complete my review. Starring it at 5 because this is so up my alley I'm sure I'll be a fan.

White Evangelical Racism by Anthea Butler

9781469661179

176 Pages
Publisher: University of North Carolina Press, Ferris and Ferris Books
Release Date: March 22, 2021

Nonfiction (Adult), History, Racism, Religion, Politics

The author stresses that the term “White” in the title refers to the fact that evangelical moved from theological to political. The movement has changed much since the 1970s when it embraced the Republican party. There are Black evangelicals like Tom Skinner and others, but they do not align with the majority of the evangelicals.

One of the originators of the evangelical movement was Billy Graham in the 1950s. Things are certainly different now in 2021 where many evangelicals court Trump and the far right. Those that support Trump, believe racism is not a moral disqualification in the president of the United States as stated by Michael Gerson in 2018.

The author gives an example of a mixed-race couple looking to rent a hall for a wedding reception in Mississippi. They were told by the event hall owner that it was against their Christian race or belief. This did not happen in the 1950s or 1960s; this happened in 2019. She touches on the topics of racism, birtherism, islamophobia, and discrimination to the LGBTQIA community. She also goes into detail about the Tea Party, Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, Franklin Graham and how they set the stage for the 2016 election. Donald Trump began pushing birtherism and Islamophobia in 2011 along with evangelical media outlets until Obama released his long form birth certificate.

She concludes with her definition of what evangelicalism has become. This book is not for everyone. However, if you believe in equal rights for all, Black Lives Matter, and children should not be in cages at the border, you will understand and appreciate reading this book.

I’m not one who needs to be convinced that the evangelical church is full of racist hypocrites; I’ve spent countless Sundays sitting right next to them.
That being said, this book was a disappointment. The author couldn’t seem to decide if she was writing a factual account or an editorial. She also wrote, often, about the feelings and motivations of people and institutions, stated as fact, without citing proof to back up her claims. I thought about jotting down some examples of this as I read, but then decided that I didn’t care enough. I just kept thinking that she would be skewered for this in an English 101 class. Lastly, and perhaps most sadly, she had nothing new to offer on the subject.
Thanks to #netgalley and #universityofnorthcarolinapress for this ARC of #whiteevangelicalracism in exchange for an honest review.

A well researched and interesting look into how evangelical Christianity has been used to perpetuate racist ideals in the United States. Butler does a great job of explaining how theological beliefs have been twisted to raise whiteness in tandem to godliness, while perpetuating racism as a near tenet of religion. Equally, she goes far in illustrating how these ideal have gotten codified in mind and law. This is an eye opening and necessary commentary on race and religion.

With "White Evangelical Racism: The Politics of Morality in America", Dr. Anthea Butler gives us an important piece of work on the origins and continued persistence of White Evangelicalism in American right-wing politics, as well as the foundation of racism that continues to influence the White Evangelical church in America. Through a survey of the White Evangelical's rise to political power through the Republican establishment, Dr. Butler shows just how insipid the movement has been and how White Christian racism continues to be a force in the Republican party. If you think that White Nationalism started with Trump and the MAGA crowd, you need to read this book!

Although I had a cursory knowledge of the subject matter going into the reading of this book, I did not understand how fully intertwined White Evangelicalism is in politics. Knowing that lobbies exist to restrict women's, civil, and human rights is just the tip of the iceberg to fully understanding the motivations and ways in which the right has infiltrated the republican party and played it to their advantage. Dr. Butler clearly maps out the path that has been taken by White Evangelical leaders to embed in the existing structures and mold them to their will.

This well researched and presented tome is important reading. If you think you understand the politics of America, but you have never considered how the structures are built upon centuries of racism, you need to read Dr. Butler's work. She also builds upon a wealth of knowledge previously published, shown in her endnotes of selected readings. I am extremely grateful to Dr. Butler for compiling this work for the general public as it will add to the canon of important reads on the topic of race, society, religion, and American political theory.

GREAT read for anyone trying to understand a little more about racism in America and how evangelicism, racism, and patricarchal themes have shaped our history and current..

Summary: An exploration of White Evangelicals and Racism, primarily focusing on recent history.

Anthea Butler is a professor of religion and history at the University of Pennsylvania. This is a book that I keep seeing advanced readers recommend. (White Evangelical Racism does not come out until March 22). In many ways, it feels like a good follow-up to Jemar Tisby's Color of Compromise because while both have some overlap, Color of Compromise primarily focuses on the complicity in racism by the church before the civil rights era with some content after that point. In contrast, White Evangelical Racism primarily focuses on Evangelicalism from the Moral Majority rise and after. Reading them together is complimentary.

One of the complaints that Butler is clearly trying to avoid is the 'but not all White people' complaint. Repeatedly Butler affirms that she is talking about those White Evangelicals that she is talking about, not all of them. But she has strong words throughout the book because there is a willingness for many to be complicit.

"...when evangelical writers claim to they not understand the overwhelming natur of evangelical support ofor rightwing and sometimes downright scurrilous Republican canidates and pliticos, they fail to reckon with evagnelical history." (p9)
Like many other historians, Butler suggests that the story of Evangelicalism in the US can't be told without discussing racism and that many evangelical historians do not want to tell that more complicated story. (p 12) With the recent analysis of President Biden's inauguration speech, there has been a discussion about the difference in the rhetoric of Christian Nationalism and what some see as potential positives of a type of civil religion.

Butler lays out a case that the use of civil religious language in opposition to communism is related to the type of civil religious language used to oppose the civil rights movement. Quoting Billy Graham in his 1949 LA revival when Graham connected Christianity, the love of American and nationalism, and anti-communism. "...you will never find a true born again Christian who is a communist or fellow traveler. You get a man born again, and he will turn from communism." (p42)  The result is that when the civil rights movement was labeled as communist, instead of white Christians seeing Graham's rhetorical example as proof that fellow Christians should not be overly labeled as communists, many white Christians saw the label of communist as proof that the civil rights movement could not be Christian. (A move that is similarly being used today concerning Critical Race Theory.)

Butler notes that Graham simultaneously thought that the Evangelical church was behind on racial issues (in a speech to NAE in 1952) and that Graham was not in favor of much of the civil rights movement's methods even as he theoretically approved of the rough concept of integration. "[Graham] recognized the problem of racial injustice and evoked the pain caused by unjust social norms, but he was unwilling to break ranks with the white status quo." (p 44). This extended to the point where Graham refused a direct request by MLK to not appear on stage with a segregationist advocate in 1957 and spoke against the March on Washington and King's speech in 1963. Graham never went as far as Billy Hargis who argued that desegregation violated biblical principles or the John Birch Society. Still, one of the issues that Bulter is noting is that it is rare for any white Evangelical to disfellowship another white Evangelical over racism. So while some white Evangelicals were supportive of the civil rights movement, and some like Graham were supportive of the goals. Still, not the means, and some actively opposed the civil rights movement (like Jerry Fallwell Sr), all were still within a group that still broadly self-identified as Evangelical.

There is a group that objects to the very notion of white Evangelicals. Evangelical has a theological definition, and if you meet the theological definition, then you are an evangelical, regardless of racial background. The problem with this approach is apparent in the fact that many theologically affirm the ideas that make one evangelical theologically, but most racial minorities do self-identifying as evangelical. But many that are white and do not theologically agree with the theological definition of evangelical do self identify as evangelical. Many, but not all, self-identified Evangelicals who are racial minorities have in some level 'emulated whiteness.' (p60)  Bill Pannell said in his 1968 book, My Friend, The Enemy:

"I have no trouble believing you want me in your church to sing on Sunday. I have very little faith that you want min your living room for serious discussion. Yet here is where the breakthrough may take place." (p62)
There is a longer discussion about how that adoption of white norms, or how Black and other minorities were brought into white evangelical spaces under terms acceptable to maintaining racial hierarchies. For instance, Billy Graham's use of Black singers or athletes at his crusades or Ben Kinchlow acting as Pat Robertson's sidekick on the 700 Club gave cover against racism charges. Still, it did not subvert concepts of white superiority. As there has been some recognition that racial reconciliation efforts are necessary, those efforts often do not extend toward organizations or church leadership. And they do not extend changes in political activities outside of the church.

Overall I think that White Evangelical Racism is a helpful addition to the general literature, even as it is one of the shorter books in this area. But I wanted more discussion about why some white evangelicals were more engaged over racial issues than others and why some evangelicals are actively opposed to recognizing racial realities. I think at least part of this explanation is Christian Nationalism. But that is not a clear enough idea at this point for this to be the only answer.

I think that Butler over-identifies Evangelicalism as the problem instead of directly implicating white superiority or Christian Nationalism within Christianity more broadly. Because of that, I think there is a bit of misidentification of the problem. I do not debate with Butler's main point that white Evangelicals have largely been either actively complicit in racism or at least tolerant in identifying with those that are complicit with racism. But while white Evangelicals are more likely to be Christian Nationalists or adjacent to Christian Nationalism or poll higher than average as xenophobic or racist or sexist, they are not the only white Christians to have issues here. White Catholics and mainline protestants and to some extent Eastern Orthodox also have similar tendencies in this direction, albeit lesser than white Evangelicals.

I felt like this was a useful book to read in that it connected some dots I hadn't thought to connect, and pointed out many dog whistles that I hadn't been fully aware of. I think her basic idea will affect the lens through which I see the world. In places I thought she wasn't very thorough in making her arguments, or she talked about related issues (like anti-communism and racism) as if they were just two words for the same thing. Also, and relatedly, the book was weirdly short for a concept that has both a lot of history and contemporary relevance.

I did not finish this book. I thought it would be more of a broad overview of how evangelical beliefs have influenced & dominated American politics, but found it to be too narrowly focused on evangelical racism. It was also more academic than I wanted, but I could see it being very useful for someone studying this topic in an academic setting.

This was a fascinating read that does well at explaining the appeal that some feel for the overtly racist politicians who get elected time and time again. Not an easy read, by any means, as I found myself getting angry and upset. But, I do think it's always good to try and understand why things happen, particularly when they impact hundreds of millions of people. Thank you for the chance to read it early!

A less than celebratory exploration of white Evangelicalism, primarily covering the past seventy-five years.

The author was raised and nurtured in the Evangelical context. Some time is spent arriving at the postwar era, but the focus is on how (white) Evangelicalism stood in terms of race from the postwar era until today. The author brings out all the skeletons from the closet: Graham's waffling on race and his belief that white and black children would only associate after the return of Jesus; the condemnation of the Civil Rights Movement as godless Communism and a distraction from spiritual witness; the willingness to use those same methods to develop the "Moral Majority," and the development of that organization first on account of the threat of segregation academies losing their tax-exempt status, not abortion; the willingness to look as if they were about to become inclusive, but then the turn toward dressed up racism in white grievance politics and hegemony with Bush II, the reaction to Obama, and reaching its apotheosis with Trump.

The judgment is sharp and bracing; if the work were presented as if it were *the* history of Evangelicalism, it would surely be a warped and unbalanced distortion. Yet the author herself, in conclusion, recognizes the good that many Evangelicals have done, and recognizes this is not the only dimension to the story of Evangelicalism in America. Yet it surely represents *a* dimension of what conservative Christendom in America has been and now is. It's the story left untold, that which was passed over in silence, or attempted to be swept under the carpet. But now it's out in full force and sadly proving to be a powerful motivator for affiliation.

A very ugly and distressing truth indeed, but a necessary counterweight to the celebratory works of history often made of the Evangelicals and their influence on American politics.

**--galley received as part of early review program

This.book.is.straight.🔥🔥🔥

Butler wastes NO TIME easing her readers into the American Church’s racist roots. She starts with fire and writes with it throughout, illustrating the ways in the Church has and continues to use it’s, “presumed moral authority to hide their prejudices.” There is a clear timeline for when conservative morals became political, thus marrying the Christian Church to the Republican Party.

If anyone out there has read, The Color of Compromise by Jemar Tisby, this is a similar sort of historical account of the Church, but serves as a bit more of a short punch to the gut (which I appreciated).

I’ve been a Christian for 25 years. I didn’t grow up that way, but did go to a wicked conservative church for a long time. I have seen so much of what Anthea Butler writes of in White Evangelical Racism firsthand as a white, middle-class, church-going evangelical white woman. As someone who follows Jesus, I think knowing the Church’s role in black history is integral for racial reconciliation. Ignoring our influence in systemic racism, because, “God will work it all out in the end,” is NOT an appropriate response.

Act justly.
Love mercy.
Walk humbly.

Butler is a @uofpenn professor of Religion and Africana studies, a 2019-2020 Presidential fellow of Yale Divinity school and serves as President Elect of the American Society for Church history.

Thank you @netgalley for this e-ARC
Pub day is March 22, 2021

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