Hello hello,
I’m not sure about you, but this was a long week. I feel overwhelmed by the wildfires, coronavirus, racial injustice, work, remote kindergarten, a baby … and in the same breath, I feel immensely grateful for my safety, my health, my privilege, and my family. It’s a total rollercoaster of emotions, and if you can relate, my only advice is to practice self-compassion. Speak to yourself the way you’d speak to your best friend (we’re so much kinder to others than we are to ourselves!)
Wilhelm Verwoerd was on The Confessional podcast last month. His grandfather was the Prime Minister of South Africa from 1958 – 1966 and held the position of Minister of Native Affairs before that. As you can imagine, Minister of Native Affairs was responsible for the implementing the laws that negatively affected the lives of black South Africans… no bueno. Wilhelm explains how the guise of Christianity was used to justify the oppressive laws enacted in the country. Nadia Bolz-Weber, a Lutheran pastor, summarizes this practice beautifully:
“When you can get God to cosign on your bullshit, you don’t have to see it as bullshit, you see it as “righteousness”. It’s the best camouflage in the world. If you can go this is not about my self interest, this is not about my pride and my ego and my own selfish evil desires, this is God’s will. If you can pull that off I mean… The slave owners in America were quoting scripture to justify their enslavement of other human beings. It’s extremely effective”.
Religion can add a lot of positivity to the world. Unfortunately, it can also be used in the worst possible ways. Wilhelm eventually sees the errs in his family’s beliefs and has dedicated his life to anti-racism work in his home country. Check out the episode here:
ICYMI: The Oscars are setting inclusion criteria. Another great example of putting purpose to privilege!
Thanks for sharing this article Greg
#blacklivesmatter #purposetoprivilege