White Christianity has been the primary institution legitimizing white power

Evidence

White Christianity has been many things for America. But whatever else it has been—and the country is indebted to it for a good many things—it has also been the primary institution legitimizing and propagating white power and dominance. Is such a system, built and maintained not just to save souls but also to secure white supremacy, flawed beyond redemption? — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long, 210

Categorization

• SEED: The chapter-opener poses the redemption question the whole book answers — could seed an essay on whether complicit institutions can ever be reformed or must be destroyed.
• XREF: connects to: A single flagship church across from the capitol anchored white political power — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long: The Legacy of White…, 114; White churches morally legitimized and protected white supremacy through state power — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long: The Legacy of White…, 125; Catholic clergy publicly identified their own Church as a white racist institution in 1968 — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long: The Legacy of White…, 199 (+14 more)

Broader Connections

• Christian theology and institutions served as the central support for American white supremacy #corroborates (0.90) — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long, 32
• White churches historically functioned as agents upholding racist social structures #corroborates (0.85) — Nikole Hannah-Jones et al., The 1619 Project, 1055
• White American churches historically worshipped a Jesus who demanded racial hierarchy. #corroborates (0.80) — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long, 31
• White Christianity’s function was protecting white racial innocence #expands (0.78) — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long, 69
• Christian nationalism conflates whiteness with Christian American identity #expands (0.75) — Andrew L. Whitehead; Samuel L. Perry, Taking America Back for God, 14
• White theology’s main power was constricting whites’ moral vision rather than active opposition #qualifies (0.73) — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long, 218
• White Christian identity is conflated in conservative rhetoric with whiteness itself #expands (0.73) — Philip S. Gorski and Samuel L. Perry, The Flag and the Cross, 165
• White churches actively produced white supremacy rather than merely tolerating it #complicates (0.72) — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long, 102