Segregationist theology divorced the cross from any demand for racial justice

Evidence

Underlying this interplay of religious, civic, and political activity was the core claim of Hudgins’s theological worldview: that the cross of Christ had nothing to do with the social and political upheavals outside the walls of the church. Noted church historian Charles Marsh, who dubbed Hudgins the “theologian of the closed society,” summarized Hudgins’s theology this way: “Had he stated the matter more explicitly, he might have said that the cross has nothing to do with the civil rights of black Mississippians. On the other hand, the cross ought [sic] inspire decent white people towards the preservation of the purity of the social body. And it certainly did.” — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long, 123

Categorization

• DEFINE: Crisply defines the theological trick at the heart of the ‘theologian of the closed society’.
• DEEPTHINKING: The double move of separating the cross from social justice while still using it to bless white purity is a dense, paradigm-grade observation about how religion legitimizes domination.
• XREF: connects to: Mississippi governor Ross Barnett fused segregationist politics with Baptist Christian theology — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long: The Legacy of White…, 118; Mississippi segregationists’ racism was sincerely rooted in their Baptist theology, not hypocrisy — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long: The Legacy of White…, 117; Theological equality of souls was reconciled with racial developmental hierarchy. — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race: Reflections on…, 1508

Broader Connections

• Theological equality of souls was reconciled with racial developmental hierarchy. #complicates (0.73) — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race, 1508