Is This a ‘Negative World’ for Christians?

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To the Editor:

Re “He Coined a Term for the Way Many Christians Feel” (news article, March 11):

In Ruth Graham’s profile of the influential Christian author Aaron Renn, I recognized my own relationship with conservative Christianity in the model Mr. Renn proposes — a present-day “negative world,” in which being Christian no longer offers social privilege.

But Mr. Renn’s framework works only for white Christians. Black Christians could never be described as enjoying a “positive world” in the 1960s. Perhaps this explains the conservative, often Christian, crusade to erase the history and accomplishments of people of color from schools and libraries.

Mr. Renn suggests that the example of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. doesn’t disrupt his model because Dr. King’s persecution was about race, not Christianity. Absolutely wrong. Dr. King was persecuted by white Christians for his Christian values: equality, economic justice, peace, safety and access to the vote. Dr. King dreamed that everyone might love their neighbors as themselves.

I left this religion of love years ago, heartbroken. True faith should never be entwined with white supremacy, misogyny or animus toward any group or individual in need. Today’s “negative world” has been crafted by religious people unwilling to love their neighbors.

Surely, Jesus weeps.

C. Sullivan
Colorado Springs

To the Editor:

What a disappointment to read the long profile of Aaron Renn and see “traditional Christian moral views” defined almost entirely through the narrow lens of sexuality and gender. For those familiar with Scripture, it’s clear that Jesus focused on generosity, healing, loving one’s neighbor and welcoming the stranger, while the Ten Commandments are famously opposed to killing and lying.

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By cutting international aid, our current evangelical-endorsed administration is killing others in great numbers, and it tells lies as often as the president requires it. Ideologues of Mr. Renn’s persuasion might imagine less “hostility” being directed toward them if they would focus on these kinds of very public and devastating sins instead of demonizing people’s personal lives and fabricating theologies to justify the comforts of white patriarchy.