The Religion of Whiteness

Betrayal Trauma occurs when people or institutions on which a person depends significantly violate that person’s trust or well-being. The degree to which a negative event represents a betrayal by a trusted, needed other will influence the way in which that event is processed and remembered.

“Race in America is a form of religious faith, and we will never be able to understand or address it with the necessary knowledge, energy or commitment until we comprehend its true architecture.”

it is Durkheim’s key argument: the object of worship is the group itself. Since the group is real, Durkheim argued, the worship of it is real.

Fifth, ROWers believe in White Christian Nationalism. White Christian Nationalism is a political ideology and a cultural framework that idealizes and advocates a fusion of symbols of Christianity with American civic life, including nativism, white supremacy, divine sanction for authoritarian control and militarism, and allegiance to a national—read

sacred symbols include most centrally representations of a white, blue-eyed Jesus, the merging of the American flag and the cross, and, increasingly, firearms.8 For some clans of the tribe, the Confederate flag is also a sacred symbol.

The three political lies: 1.From Hobbes, government is not about the common good or providing basic needs. It is about preserving property. 2.From Hobbes and Locke, economics is a moral-free math. Humanity’s equality need not translate to economic equity. 3.From Smith, justice is retributive—it is about punishing rule-breakers—not about making righ

ROW is a commitment to whiteness, which is to be venerated, worshipped, and defended. As noted early in the chapter, whiteness can be defined as the imagined right of those who are racially white to be at the top of the racial hierarchy.

these phrases raise more negative emotion for white practicing Christians than for other groups. White practicing Christians express, on average per person, a half a negative emotion more than other groups.4

From these three political lies these philosophers developed three religious lies to create a fully fertile land for the ROW: 1.From Hobbes, Christians can be in right relationship with God without being in right relationship with the broken and abused of society. 2.From Locke, the only business of the church is salvation. Anything else is a sidesh