I've been spending a lot of time on Kinist websites like Spirit/Water/Blood and Kinism.org, as well as neo-Confederate sites like that of the League of the South, a favorite group of Doug Wilson's co-laborer in slavery apologetics, Steven Wilkins. I've bookmarked some Internet sites that are so filthy from racism, hate, and bigotry that they threaten at times to tax my unwavering support for the First Amendment; the filthiest among them expound religious beliefs that solidify my belief in original sin and the evil unleashed at the Fall. It's not pornography; I'm not Ed Meese. But there's some really vile stuff out there written by people who call themselves Christians, find support among the like-minded in the pews, and seem to believe they're saved by race, not by grace.
I don't enjoy going through this trash. On the other hand, if I had a septic tank bubbling and threatening to blow, I'd find it necessary to check on it often. Because I believe it's imperative for the Christian to analyze, expose, and confront evil done in the name of Christ -- evil that too often finds itself encouraged, if not expressed, locally -- I find that maintaining my blog -- my voice -- requires that I keep up to date on the beliefs and activities of evil men and women who claim the name of Christ. Silence is assent; the Reconstructionist/Kinist/Neo-Confederate/hyper-Libertarian mix these people call covenant, Reformed Christianity has a foothold here in Moscow, and while Wilson and his cohorts condemn Kinists as "moonbats" and "vainglorious," the racist, pro-South, anti-government, patriarchal thread of Christiandom has been woven into too much of Christ Church's fabric of faith and practice. It presents a false Gospel and a message of exclusion, it's made frequent forays into my town, and it needs to be confronted by me and other Spirit-enlivened Trinitarians. It's an exercise in endurance and self control -- a baptism of filth, no less necessary for the horror it stirs in me.
Kinists believe that the Lord created "the nations" as distinct people-groups and that their separation and "purity" must be maintained, particularly that of the dominant Anglo culture in the United States. This insistence on the Anglo-Celtic peoples' (alleged) identity echoes and finds comfort in the neo-Confederate assertion that white Southerners are a distinct, beleaguered, and ultimately God-favored people whose purity and preservation is paramount -- indeed, whose dominance is a proper fruit of the Gospel. The racial, ethnic, gender, class and societal unity Christ calls his Church to seems entirely foreign to people who churn out exhaustive apologetics that vilify and mock Jews and Blacks while defending and proclaiming the "purity" of their own race -- a race that doesn't exist and is rendered irrelevant anyway when it comes to both access to the Cross and participation in the Church and the already/not yet Kingdom of God.
The Kinist obsession with Blood -- racial and ethnic purity -- is utterly opposed to the Christian significance of the saving Blood of Christ. His is the blood that saves; the only "blood-commonality" that matters is the union of men and women whose sins are atoned for by the shedding of his blood on the Cross. These people -- anyone who claims white superiority in the name of Jesus -- are whores, evildoers, and Christ-haters. And in the case of Spirit/Water/Blood.com, borrowing a verse from 1 John in the New Testament further condemns them (1 John 5:7-8, "For there are three that testify: the Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement.").
I wish I could shout it from the highest mountain; I'll shout it 'til the day I die in my writing: There is no agreement by the Holy Spirit, through the waters of Christian baptism, and in the Blood of Jesus Christ, that ethnic separation and superiority can exist within Christ's Church. It cannot, and those who try to accommodate such hate find themselves condemned not by a righteously angry, profoundly grieved woman in North Idaho, but by the very Word and Spirit of God. When racist filth is poured out, it splatters and stains and spreads, creeping into "respectable" organizations and ministries that try to cover it up with the rank fragrance of manufactured historical and theological validity. May it never be. There is no Christ-honoring tradition or theology that countenances racism, and the "good" theology of the Christian racist is fruit of a poisonous tree, entirely deadly for those who pick it and utterly condemnable for those who propagate it.
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2 comments:
Keely, I have not encountered any Kinists who "believe they're saved by race, not by grace." Neither have I encountered any who would affirm the contrary, that some people are damned on account of their race.
Would you please spell out exactly what you mean by "evil done in the name of Christ -- evil that too often finds itself encouraged, if not expressed, locally" and "the Reconstructionist/Kinist/Neo-Confederate/hyper-Libertarian mix these people call covenant, Reformed Christianity"?
It seems to me you are seriously conflating things that go together about as naturally as two magnetic poles of the same polarity. It's highly ironic that Doug Wilson simultaneously catches hell from Kinists and from you.
You claim "the racist, pro-South, anti-government, patriarchal thread of Christendom has been woven into too much of Christ Church's fabric of faith and practice . . . presents a false Gospel and a message of exclusion . . . and it needs to be confronted by . . . Spirit-enlivened Trinitarians."
You neither define racism nor show how Wilson is racist, or show how it is inimical to the gospel message. I'm not saying racism (whatever it is) is biblical; I’m saying you are making many unsupported assertions and applying labels without defining them. Has Wilson ever taught being "saved by race, not by grace"? Wilson's being "pro-South" is not an endorsement of everything the South did or stood for. You should probably ask Voddie Baucham about Wilson's racism and pro-South sentiments. "Anti-government"? No Christian is anti-government insofar as we believe in the Holy Spirit helping us submit to God's commandments. All Christians believe in government. But you mean of course that he is anti civil magistrate, which is still ridiculous. He prays for civil magistrates constantly and he calls on them to depart from evil to receive God’s blessings.
As for being "patriarchal," that's just another way of saying he's in favor of strong traditional families that are essential to societal vitality. So . . . being against omni-oppressive civil government is bad, but being against traditional family government is good? Hmm . . .
Tell me how any of this is a "false gospel." And please, no straw men. There are plenty of ways of being very wrong without necessarily negating the gospel. Even if Wilson was guilty of serious error in all the areas you mentioned, that would not constitute presenting a false gospel.
The real hoot is that Wilson's is said to be a message of exclusion. Well, if you're so inclusive, perhaps you could find room for Doug Wilson. But no, he needs to be confronted by "Spirit-enlivened" people -- is he spiritually dead?
Again, where you set out what you understand to be Kinist distinctives, you fail to establish a link with Wilson.
Do Kinists really teach that God particularly demands the purity of the dominant Anglo culture in the United States? If white Southerners are "ultimately God-favored," God sure has a strange way of showing His favor. And why should Southerners' "dominance" be "a proper fruit of the Gospel" when the Southerners never wanted anything except to be left alone to mind their own business?
Again, continuing through your post, where did any Kinist (let alone Doug Wilson) ever claim "white superiority in the name of Jesus"? Where does Doug Wilson espouse "ethnic separation and superiority"? Where did a Kinist ever argue that "superiority" has got something to do with the price of eggs?
In the context of your post, I can only assume you mean pastor Wilson, Christ Church and affiliated ministries when you speak of "'respectable' organizations and ministries that try to cover [racist filth] with the rank fragrance of manufactured historical and theological validity." You really do need to either put up or shut up, Keely. Either show us, or slither and slather that slander of a minister of the gospel right back under the rock from whence your so-called "righteous" anger emerged.
Nass, you surely recall that I said upfront that Wilson condemns Kinists (me, I'd go for something stronger than "vainglorious," but it's clear he doesn't like them), and I'm sure you don't really take literally the (false) axiom of "saved by race, not by grace," which I used as hyperbole to introduce the grotesque racism of the Kinist crowd. You've asked me to confirm, verify, prove, or otherwise demonstrate why I believe that the filth of Kinism -- and it is filthy -- has filtered into some of Reformed/Reconstructionist theology, both here and elsewhere. I will, then, devote as much time as I can to the subject, demonstrating that there is a coziness with, if not undiscerning acceptance of, ideas and people whose message is an insult to the Gospel -- and that Wilson is guilty of some of that. For the record, I don't believe that Wilson is a racist; I've made this point a zillion times. I believe he is something even worse: A man who practices and preaches an insouciance toward racial sensitivity and acts of bigotry that is wholly at odds with the preaching and living out of the Gospel. To be blunt: He lacks consideration of how his words (actions, affiliations, etc.) affect those outside of the Church who then wrongly assume that careless bigotry is a hallmark of Spirit-filled living. To be more blunt: His gleeful way of offering up unnecessary offense and shameful skylarking sullies the Gospel. Publishing an apologetic for snottiness, "The Serrated Edge," doesn't legitimize it. So, there's the thesis, Nass, and there's more, much more, to come.
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