White theology’s main power was constricting whites’ moral vision rather than active opposition

Evidence

Because of the existing conditions of inequality, late twentieth-century white Christian theology didn’t necessarily need to actively work against African American civil rights (although it did this too). Rather, its most powerful tool was its ability to constrict radically the scope of whites’ moral vision. Martin Luther King Jr. singled out this dynamic in his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” when he looked in vain for white Christian support for the civil rights movement in Birmingham, Alabama. He lamented that white Christians “have remained silent behind the anesthetizing security of stained glass windows.” As I discuss in this chapter, white Christian theology has developed to play this role powerfully: to render black claims to justice invisible while protecting white economic and social interests, all the while assuring them of their own moral purity. — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long, 218

Categorization

• XREF: The ‘anesthetizing security’ mechanism parallels the insulating communities of readers’ bases-and-camptowns and A World of Strangers material. — connects to: White churches morally legitimized and protected white supremacy through state power — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long: The Legacy of White…, 125; Theological appeals to total human sinfulness can justify preserving white supremacist honors — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long: The Legacy of White…, 182; White Christianity has been the primary institution legitimizing white power — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long: The Legacy of White…, 210 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• White Christianity’s function was protecting white racial innocence #expands (0.85) — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long, 69
• Religious blessing of slavery severed white Christians’ natural moral restraint #contradicts (0.75) — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long, 251
• White racial ideology supports basic rights but opposes change that burdens whites #expands (0.75) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 3436