Erica Whitaker, associate director of BSK’s Institute for Black Church Studies, wrote an article for Baptist News Global entitled, “Beyond birthright and body type: How to be Christian in America.” She writes,
“The American flag has been used like the image of the alabaster Jesus, a term coined by cultural critic James Baldwin. Jesus wasn’t born American, Christian or with pale pigmentation. White Jesus and the American flag started showing up in places of worship after the American Revolution. In the decades to come, after America got her freedom, freedom in America became restricted to only those classified as white men who strangely looked a whole lot like the image of white American Jesus. The definition of who was a citizen and had the right to vote would not be amended for more than a hundred years. Ironically, the moment liberty was given for some, liberty was taken from many.”
Click here to read the article in full.
