Urban Faith Update: Kaepernick, Kavanaugh, and Christians
Video Courtesy of VICE News
I’m not a particularly big sports fan unless my kids are in the game, but back in the day I really did want to be like Mike. Fast forward a few decades and one of our writers, Jelani Greenidge, had me absolutely convinced that LeBron James and his big heart for education made him the true GOAT of any sport. But now I’m seeing God’s hand in an athlete of a different brand — Colin Kaepernick. A man of faith who reportedly believes “God guides me through every day and helps me take the right steps and has helped me to get to where I’m at,” Kaepernick and his new Nike deal as the new face of the ‘Just Do It’ campaign shows a shrewdness that feels like God’s hand at work. Okay, some may say I’m overreaching a tad with this Nike/God connection, but I truly believe Kaepernick has ascended from being a fighting symbol of social justice who maybe would have earned a paragraph in a history book for drawing the ire of King Trump to someone you’ll be telling your grandkids about.
Brett Kavanaugh
The phenomenon that is Brett Kavanaugh is why some black worshipers are leaving white evangelical churches. Sure, some of us may be on board with him as a new Supreme Court Justice because he’s pro-life and down with religious freedom issues. But the truth is, as John Richards, Jr., Managing Director of the Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College. points out, he’s a troubling pick for Black Christians. The NAACP breaks down a host of reasons for Blacks to hit the pause button on their support for Kavanaugh, but a big concern for me is the potential repeal of the Affordable Care Act. Did you know that the African American uninsured rate dropped by more than a third under the Affordable Care Act? Kavanaugh has also got a mixed record when it comes to Affirmative Acton — although given the latest lawsuit at Harvard, that may be a moot point soon anyway. This opinion piece by Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove feels like an outlier position when it comes to the majority of white evangelicals, but definitely worth a read.
Other Watercooler News
- Rev. Jasper Williams Jr. stands by his eulogy at Aretha’s homegoing. Aretha’s family had something else to say.
- Two black pastors wanted help with a flat tire. A sheriff’s deputy asked if they had guns or drugs.
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Installing first woman to pastor black Baptist church in Iowa
- Theresa May slammed for African family planning pledge