I ranted for the last several weeks about the need and justification for women preachers. Then this happened:
Y’all! This woman was one of my favorite preachers. Her annual conference is penciled on my calendar months in advance. I own several of her books.
But this right here? I can’t support this kind of foolishness.
I imagine her majority white audience is loving this narrative, that we put our Christianity first, that everything be seen through that lens. In a perfect world, we would all see each other through spiritual eyes. We could identify ourselves and others based on our spiritual disciplines. But we don’t Live in a perfect world.
We live in a world that still denigrates black bodies. We still assign value to people, not based on their behavior, but on how they look. And there is a certain segment of society who will not ever listen to anything this preacher says because she is both black and a woman.
And while normally this woman speaks the unadulterated truth, she is WAY OFF base here.
Mrs. Shirer, the daughter of the world-renowned pastor, Dr. Tony Evans, is black. Her parents are black, and she’s the wife of a black man and the mother of three black boys. Whether she identifies as black or not, the world identifies her that way.
I’m all for calling people whatever they want to be called. But I’m calling this, shenanigans. Your blackness may not matter too much to you, my dear Priscilla, but it does matter to little black girls of every nation, who never thought someone who looked like them would ever have the privilege of receiving and imparting God’s word. It matters to other black theologians who cannot get publishing deals or invites to sit on the dais at international Christian conferences.
I don’t know, maybe faith should supersede politics. At the very least, faith ought to inform your politics and this statement seems poorly informed.
I know that this woman knows her Bible. I feel like maybe she ought to study a few other books, too.
Mama Radford
TheWRITEaddiction.com 