A cynical take on the Church's anti-racism campaign

  • Thread starter Thread starter StudentMI
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
S

StudentMI

Guest

Am I the only one who has a suspicion that this is an attempt by the Church to be relevant and ‘with it’ in today’s world? I say that because in the Archdiocese of Detroit we will soon be experiencing mergers of parishes as attendance and revenue falls. The plan to ‘unleash the Gospel’ was a joke that no one cared about. What better way to stay in the news and maybe get some young people back in the Church than jump on the bandwagon of anti-racism and black lives matter?

That’s my take away from all this.
 
Last edited:
I’m all for a colorblind society where no one is discriminated based on the color of their skin, but to say “All Lives Matters” (which of course is true) completely misses the point of the protests. What “Black Lives Matter” means is actually “Black Lives Matter Too” (but that 'Black Lives Matter Too" isn’t as catchy as a phrase).

The point of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement is that blacks have been ignored long enough by the powers that be (and society as a whole) and they’re demanding that real progress is made to stamp out racism and the mistreatment of blacks by law enforcement and the society at large. And they have a point. It’s more than 50 years after the civil-rights movement and still in the 21st Century blacks in America are still being systematically mistreated by law enforcement and elsewhere simply because the color of their skin.

It’s need to stop. Now.
 
PeterT said:
How is that relevant to what blacks still have to deal with in the 21st Century here in America?
Click to expand...
I should have also mentioned the war on poverty.

So what does success look like? What will be different when we eliminate racism?

Could you also address the higher crime rate in black communities?
 
Last edited:
StudentMI said:
What better way to stay in the news and maybe get some young people back in the Church than jump on the bandwagon of anti-racism and black lives matter?
Click to expand...
It doesn’t strike me as much of a bandwagon so much as it’s a social justice issue. I’d be more surprised if the Church did or said nothing about the current events regarding the protests.
 
StudentMI said:
40.png
PeterT:
How is that relevant to what blacks still have to deal with in the 21st Century here in America?
Click to expand...
I should have also mentioned the war on poverty.

So what does success look like? What will be different when we eliminate racism?

Could you also address the higher crime rate in black communities?
Click to expand...
Success will look like when we no longer have incidents like the murder of George Floyd by law enforcement, when blacks don’t have to worry about being manhandled unnecessarily by police, when blacks like Ahmaud Arbery can go jogging without the fear our being murdered by racists. That’s how success will look like.
 
Hey, if it works to evangelize some young people, when attendance seems to be falling at the local churches, then how is it bad? . . .

. . . Feel free to write to your bishop and propose other evangelization initiatives, or go out and practice them yourself.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
StudentMI said:
What better way to stay in the news and maybe get some young people back in the Church than jump on the bandwagon of anti-racism and black lives matter?
Click to expand...
So, they shouldn’t do the right thing because someone might call it “jumping on the bandwagon?”
Does that apply to all of us, or just clergy?
 
puer.dei said:
So, they shouldn’t do the right thing because someone might call it “jumping on the bandwagon?”
Does that apply to all of us, or just clergy?
Click to expand...
No, didn’t say that. Just saying it struck me as opportunistic. Do you live in the Archdiocese by chance?
 
The Church certainly does seize opportunities to address current major events in society, like coronavirus and George Floyd, because they are on people’s minds.
People would be pretty disheartened if they turned to the Church trying to make sense of very disturbing events and found the Church ignoring said events.
 
puer.dei said:
No, I don’t. That doesn’t mean I can’t applaud any and all opposition to racism, including theirs
Click to expand...
It also means you weren’t subjected to years of Synod 16 and unleash the Gospel advertisements as attendance fell.
 
StudentMI said:
Am I the only one who has a suspicion that this is an attempt by the Church to be relevant and ‘with it’ in today’s world?
Click to expand...
I doubt it. I think it’s more likely that there are a ton of SJW priests who want to get involved.

I’m not really into it all because it’s turning into a mess of virtue signaling and emotion. I don’t enjoy being told that I am subconsciously racist. I also don’t think that redefining racism to include everyone who is alive is productive. So I’ll be sitting out on this particular sanctimonious trend.
 
I get what they’re trying to do, but I think they are going about it the wrong way. I try my best not to criticise bishops, even when I think they do something silly. I have to bite my tongue A LOT.
 
Maybe, but such is the case for a lot of organizations. Capitalizing on the black cause for their own purposes, while still being racist and doing nothing to help in the long run. Except in this instance at least the Church is the prime vehicle for salvation, so the cause is noble
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top