As stated before, I try to avoid bringing it up in here because I’d a headache to repeatedly discuss it but I don’t believe in white privilege. I believe that’s solely a politically charged coined phrase. I also don’t believe that we have a police brutality problem in America by any means. I think case of it happen like the recent one.
But out of close to 1,000,000 full time and part time cops in a nation of 350,000,000 people where in 2019 roughly 1,000 people were killed by cops and 230 of them were black I just can’t see those numbers at less than 0.1% and believe it’s anything more than a outlier of cops who made evil choices.
So when it comes to the worldview that people of color are treated as less in this modern generation I personally have no reason to believe it so I can’t answer from that perspective.
It’s like with BLM. It’s hard for me to get behind them when their protests seem to always be full of riots and hate speech and they scream genocide over 230 deaths across all of USA by cops but dont ever seem to protest rap concerts that promote gangs and drugs which contributed to a large portion of the 500 homicides in Chicago alone. More black men were murdered in Chicago by gang violence than by cops across the all of America.
I believe bad cops need to be punished. I believe random cases of racism happens to everyone and every race. But lots of then discussions surrounded these things step into politically charged paradigms that I don’t agree with.
Well I believe there are lots of forms of privilege both here and other places. Being male has historically been an enormous advantage here but has gradually been whittled down some, but not eliminated. Being Christian is also a door opener where being atheist can be a door closer in this country, or perhaps the opposite depending on who is doing the interviewing. Coming from an educated family is another form of privilege, as is coming from a family with generational wealth. When your uncle can call his friend who owns the company you’d like to work for coming out of college and put in a good word for you, that is privilege. When you’ve grown up hearing about what it takes to be successful in college and/or never had to worry what something like that might cost, that is privilege. But these are not conspiracies, it is just the way people are: they prefer to be around people like themselves. So when hiring or greeting a potential son or daughter in-law people will prefer to stay in their comfort zone.
But I acknowledge this the same way I acknowledge other facts of our existence. It doesn’t drive me to march on Washington or hold up traffic. I’m a realist and definitely not a social justice warrior. I’ve never joined any organized protest but not because I don’t agree with their sentiments. I’ve just never felt it was a strong or useful position from which to advocate for change. Frankly I don’t really understand politics very well.
What I ask myself after these incidents is “Would this have happened if it was a rich white guy driving a BMW?”. Would this rich white guy get shot for reaching to his back pocket for his wallet? Probably not. Would a rich white guy get the cops called on him for parking along the street in a neighborhood? Probably not.
A lot of it is economic. For example, someone caught stealing a $200 stereo is immediately thrown in jail, and may stay in jail until trial if they can’t afford the bail. Rich guys stole hundreds of billions of dollars from Americans in the 2008 financial crisis, and not a single one of them was even indicted. It is exceedingly rare for white collar crimes to result in jail time. Most of the time they are able to spend their way out of it.
I guess a logical next question involves his three accomplices. What if anything should happen to them? It isn’t clear that the knee alone did Mr. Floyd in and all of them failed to respond to his pleas to let him breath.
I note this thread has become something other than the heading it is operating under. No complaints on my part but I wonder if even fits within the forum’s mission any longer. Is it still relevant?
Good point as the OP. Let’s get back to the subject. Do you think it appropriate for a church to defy public health rules if they are not intended to restrict expression of faith and are administered fairly?
I suppose my question would better be stated, “Is it consistent with Christian principles for a church to defy legitimate public health measures? Is that action ethical?”
Neither do I, but I lean towards the view that defying a legitimate public health measure as a church is anti-Christian as it puts pride and self wants ahead of the interests of others. Essentially, it is being the Levite walking past the man in the ditch who had been robbed and beaten in the parable of the Good Samaritan.
Then, to take that position to court worsened the offense.
That is the answer I wanted to be true. It must be tough to seek fellowship with so many people in far flung places. But then again the same can be said of extended family I suppose except for the matter of common creed.
I’m in the UK where churches are, I think rightly, still shut.
2 points: One, surely if we look for secular parallels a sports stadium is a better one than a shop or garden centre? Places where people gather and stay, rather than where they pass through and can be regulated how many come in, and how many are in at a time?
Secondly, as Christians, and citizens, we have responsibilities to each other as well as rights? My right to meet with my sisters and brothers must be balanced with all our responsibilities not to pass on a potentially lethal virus to each other. Many (though I appreciate not all) can meet and share safely on platforms like Zoom and WhatsApp - which is what my church is doing.
And that is not to sideline those many who cannot work on-line and have families to provide for. For them, I PRAY for sympathetic employers, safe working conditions, creative solutions - and a speedy solution to this painful situation.
Welcome to the forum! I agree, comparing a church to a retail store is disingenuous, and as I understand it other mass gathering were treated the same way as churches, so no discrimination.