White Christian leaders perform lament that denies reparative demands

Evidence

Mohler’s approach represents what I’ve dubbed “the white Christian shuffle,” a subtle two-steps-forward-one-step-back pattern of lamenting past sins in great detail, even admitting that they have had pernicious effects, but then ultimately denying that their legacy requires reparative or costly actions in the present. It’s a sophisticated rhetorical strategy that emphasizes lament and apology, expects absolution and reconciliation, but gives scant attention to questions of justice, repair, or accountability. — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long, 166

Categorization

• DEFINE: Jones coins the concept of ‘the white Christian shuffle’ — a pattern worth naming and reusing.
• XREF: Connects to the complacency-vs-complicity historiographic debate and to earlier claims that white churches actively constructed supremacy. — connects to: Racist theology deflects blame to culture when its doctrines are exposed. — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long: The Legacy of White…, 70; Meaningful reckoning requires whites to confront their own violent history. — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long: The Legacy of White…, 451