White Nationalists Down the Street

This week, we hear from David Schoen, dschoen@ucc.org  a Minister for Church Legacy & Closure, UCC Church Building & Loan Fund.   The attack upon our National Capital on January 6 brought to the forefront of our nation’s attention the threat of violent paramilitary and white nationalist groups to our democracy. The impact of these groups…

Useless to Revolt?: The Gospel According to the Wu-Tang Clan

David Kaden is the Senior Minister of First Congregational Church of Ithaca, NY, and holds a PhD in the academic study of religion from the University of Toronto. He has taught at Cornell University, University of Toronto, St. Olaf College, and the New York School of Ministry. His first book was Matthew, Paul, and the Anthropology of…

Congregations and Pastors Want to Talk about Race and Racism, Religious Discrimination, and Hate-Crimes on Campus. (Just Kidding. They Don’t. But American College Students Do.)

There is an old joke about a dog food company that was failing.  The CEO called her top executives together and railed at them. “Why is our product such a loser?” she snapped.  “We have the best people, the best kitchens, and the best marketing and advertising campaign. We deliver our product to the best…

Remembering Savigny-le-Vieux and Thirty Children Who Were Saved: Some Lessons for the Church About Patriotism and Moral Courage

On a recent Sunday, after leading worship at Groton Community Church (UCC), I sat in on a caregiving committee meeting at one of the most progressive UCC churches in our Association. Before long, the meeting devolved into a discussion about displaying the American flag in the church sanctuary during worship services. Sigh. Later that afternoon,…

Why Is It So Difficult to Engage in a Sacred (or Even a Civil) Conversation on Race? Racism, Class, and the Psychological Wage of Whiteness

In 1935, W. E. B. Du Bois coined the expression, “the psychological wage of whiteness” to refer to “the sense of entitlement” felt by rural and working-class Whites in nineteenth- and twentieth-century America. As University of Utah political scientist Ella Myers characterized Du Bois’s argument, “whiteness serve[d] as a ‘public and psychological wage,’ delivering to…