White churches morally legitimized and protected white supremacy through state power

Evidence

This collusion by the media, politicians, and religious leaders produced a nearly impenetrable cultural bulwark. Both white evangelical and mainline Protestant churches served as cultural hubs and moral legitimizers of white supremacy, while the power of the state protected their segregated sanctuaries. — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long, 125

Categorization

• 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; A church-politics power web endured across the South for over a century — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long: The Legacy of White…, 113; Mississippi Baptist clergy publicly defended racial segregation in explicitly white supremacist terms — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long: The Legacy of White…, 122 (+17 more)

Broader Connections

• White Christian churches constructed the American project protecting white supremacy #corroborates (0.90) — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long, 30
• National pro-civil-rights white church bodies concealed congregational white supremacy #corroborates (0.85) — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long, 185
• White churches historically functioned as agents upholding racist social structures #corroborates (0.85) — Nikole Hannah-Jones et al., The 1619 Project, 1055
• White Christianity has been the primary institution legitimizing white power #corroborates (0.85) — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long, 210
• White Christianity’s function was protecting white racial innocence #qualifies (0.80) — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long, 69
• White churches actively produced white supremacy rather than merely tolerating it #expands (0.80) — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long, 102
• White theology’s main power was constricting whites’ moral vision rather than active opposition #qualifies (0.80) — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long, 218
• Theology of white Protestant superiority undergirded a century of lynchings #exemplifies (0.75) — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long, 29
• Racist theological ideas sanctioned and made American slavery acceptable to Christian churches #exemplifies (0.75) — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning, 20
• White supremacy operates as an idea undergirding Western social structure #expands (0.72) — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning, 1151
• Theological appeals to total human sinfulness can justify preserving white supremacist honors #expands (0.70) — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long, 182