Event: Opposing White Christian Nationalism and the Midterm Elections

A conversation with Dr. Anthea Butler and Rev. Dr. Obery Hendricks, moderated by The Bishop Edward Donalson, III

November 6, 4-6PM | Rainier Arts Center and Online via YouTube

On November 6, V&M will host a dialogue between Rev. Dr. Obery Hendricks, author, Christians Against Christianity: How Right-Wing Evangelicals Are Destroying Our Nation and Our Faith and Dr. Anthea Butler, author, White Evangelical Racism: The Politics of Morality in America. The topic is White Christian Nationalism and the Midterm Elections. The dialogue will be moderated by Rev. Dr. Edward Donalson, III, author, #BlackLivesMatter: Toward an Intersectional Theology.

The event will be livestreamed on the Valley and Mountain YouTube page.

As congressional hearings on the January 6th attack on the United States Capitol come to a close and the rise the Neo-Nazi organizations in our nation, the mid-term election are proving to be as contentious as ever. Equally, candidates around the country are trafficking white Christian nationalism. With each passing election, fringe political ideas become more and more mainstream. Simultaneously, white supremacist ideas at work in Christian practices must be contended with.

Valley and Mountain Fellowship’s Center for Faith, Art, and Justice in partnership with the Innovation Vitality Team of Pacific Northwest Conference of the United Methodist Church has invited scholars, clergy, and activists working at the intersection of race and faith to share their wisdom to our broader communities.

Speaker Bios:

Dr. Anthea Butler is the Geraldine R. Segal Professor of American Social Thought and Chair of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. A historian of African American and American religion, Professor Butler’s research and writing spans African American religion and history, race, politics, Evangelicalism, gender and sexuality, media, and popular culture. Dr. Butler is the author of two monographs: White Evangelical Racism: The Politics of Morality in America (Ferris/UNC Press, 2021) and Women in the Church of God in Christ: Making a Sanctified World (UNC Press, 2007).

In White Evangelical, Butler reveals how evangelical racism, propelled by the benefits of whiteness, has since the nation's founding played a provocative role in severely fracturing the electorate. Racism In addition to numerous journal articles and book chapters, her most recent contribution “Church” is included in The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story (Random House, 2021). She was the recipient of a Luce/ACLS Fellowship in Religion, Journalism, and International Affairs in 2018 and a Presidential Fellowship at Yale Divinity School in 2019. She is co-director for The Crossroads Project, and currently serves as the President of the American Society of Church History.

Rev. Dr. Obery Hendricks is a Visiting Professor of Religion at Columbia University. He is the former president of Payne Theological Seminary. He is the most widely read and perhaps the most influential African American biblical scholar writing today. His recent book, Christians Against Christianity: How Right-Wing Evangelicals Are Destroying Our Nation and Our Faith (Beacon Press, 2021). In this timely work, challenges right-wing evangelicals on the terrain of their own religious claims, exposing the falsehoods, contradictions, and misuses of the Bible that are embedded in their rabid homophobia, their poorly veiled racism and demonizing of immigrants and Muslims, and their ungodly alliance with big business against the interests of American workers.He is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at The Democracy Collaborative in Washington, DC; has been an Affiliated Scholar at the Center for American Progress; was a Senior Fellow at The Opportunity Agenda social justice communications think tank; is on the Advisory Board of the Institute of Christian Socialism; and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI. The Dictionary of Biblical Interpretation has called his work “the boldest post-colonial writing ever seen in Western biblical studies.”

Hendricks’ award-winning book, The Politics of Jesus: Rediscovering the True Revolutionary Nature of Jesus’ Teachings and How They Have Been Corrupted (Doubleday, 2006), was declared “essential reading for Americans” by the Washington Post

Bishop Edward Donalson III is the Assistant Clinical Professor and Director of Doctoral Ministry, Seattle University, School of Theology and Ministry. He is the author of #BlackLivesMatter: Toward an Intersectional Theology. This work focuses on the implicit theological aspects of the #BlackLivesMatter movement. It examines, in conversation with theologians, the movement's early published tenets in order to determine their implicit God claims.

Bishop Donalson currently serves as Senior Pastor of Kingdom Family Worship Center Int’l and is the Presiding Prelate of Freedom Assemblies Worldwide. President and Founder of Logos Life Network and Leadership Institute, and Co-founder of Koah International Enterprise. He is the current President of the United Ecumenical College of Bishops. Dr. Donalson is also the Bishop of Operations for the P.U.R.E. Ministries International Fellowship Churches and serves both on the King County Juvenile Justice Steering Committee and The City of Kent Community Police Race Relations Taskforce.

This dialogue is the first in a series entitled "Set us free from fear: Faith, White Supremacy, and Politics"

November 6, 2022: White Christian Nationalism and the Midterm Elections with Dr. Anthea Butler, Rev. Dr. Obery Hendricks, Rev. Dr. Edward Donalson
January 22, 2022: White Supremacy and Islamophobia with Linda Sarsour
April 2, 2022: The Prophetic Tradition in the face of Neofascism with Cornel West
November 27, 2022: Opposing White Supremacy Organizing in Rural Areas with the Highlander Center
Click HERE for More Info & RSVP

Volunteers Needed November 6

To support the Event, "Opposing White Christian Nationalism and the Mid -Term Elections"

Cleanup after Celebration and reset the space (Sunday Nov 6, ~12:30-1/1:30). Help us tidy up and reset the space for the evening event. Move furniture to the stage, replace the paper towels, etc.
4 GREETERS (2 outdoor; 2 indoor), 3:30-4PM. THIS IS THE MOST PRESSING NEEDOutdoor: Greet people, operate the lift as needed, show people how to use the ramped entrance, distribute masks
Indoor: greet people, hand out programs and masks, keep an eye on the donation boxes

Helping out with the upstairs child-centered space (no formal childcare is being offered; we'll just have a playzone that could use some helpers)

Contact [email protected] if you can support