Who can forget when the former Fox News host Megyn Kelly declared in 2013 that Jesus, like Santa Claus, “was a White man, too,” and “that’s a verifiable fact,” a remark she later said was meant in jest.

First, while the classic Nordic Jesus remains a popular image today in some churches, a movement to replace the White Jesus has long taken root in America. In many Christian circles — progressive mainline churches, churches of color shaped by “liberation theology,” and among Biblical scholars — conspicuous displays of the White Jesus are considered outdated, and to some, offensive. In a rapidly diversifying multicultural America, more Christians want to see a Jesus that looks like them.

But in some parts of the country, the White Jesus never left. The spread of White Christian nationalism has flooded social media feeds with images of the traditional White Jesus, sometimes adorned with a red MAGA hat. Former President Trump is selling a “God Bless the USA Bible” with passages from the Constitution and Bill of Rights — a linking of patriotism with Christianity that reinforces a White image of Jesus that is central to Christian nationalism.

Blum says the image of a White Jesus has been used to justify slavery, lynching, laws against interracial marriage and hostility toward immigrants deemed not White enough. When Congress passed a law in the early 20th century to restrict immigration from Asia, Southern and Eastern Europe, White politicians evoked the White Jesus, he says.

“One of the arguments was, ‘Well, Jesus was White,’ ‘’ Blum says. “So the theme was, we want America to be profoundly Christian or at least Jesus based, so we should only allow White people in this country.”

The MAGA movement uses the image of a White Jesus to weaponize political battles, he says, pointing to signs at the January 6 insurrection displaying a White Jesus, sometimes wearing a red MAGA hat. To Blum, some Christian conservatives see a White MAGA Jesus as “an anti-woke symbol.”

  • @Slotos@feddit.nl
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    28 months ago

    White skinned, blonde, blue eyed phenotype occurs in Middle East for ages.

    The idea that Jesus couldn’t be white because he was from Palestine is just an extension of a common US racist worldview that makes “muslim” a race and views Middle East as a valid non-white target. It’s nearly as stupid as the idea that Jesus’ skin color matters.

    • @Breezy@lemmy.world
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      58 months ago

      Holy shit you just brought to my attention that Jesus was in fact born in the Palestinian area. I knew that but it didnt click till now. That means Jewish people, who killed Jesus, are now trying to destroy and take over what wouldve been his homeland. How can any Christian who believes in Jesus side with Israel as they’re trying to take over and kill everyone. Im not religious but fuck man thats twisted how the whole world got brainwashed to allow such a thing to happen.

      • @Breezy@lemmy.world
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        48 months ago

        Wow ive gotten at least a couple down votes. I saw this at 3 and now it’s back down to 1.

        Theres no debate anymore, the people who killed jesus are now trying to destroy his homeland and take it over. Thats a fact.

        • @yetAnotherUser@feddit.de
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          -18 months ago

          the people who killed Jesus

          This is clear-cut Christian antisemitism, the justification for more than a millenia of discrimination and ultimately culminating in the Holocaust. You are implying present day Jews have the collective responsibility of killing Jesus.

          Also, you are equating Judaism with Israel, which is done by both zionists and antisemites.

          are trying to destroy his homeland and take it over

          Palestine the country is not Palestine the region. Israel has control over large parts of Palestine, the region. Palestine, the country, does not. Jesus lived in Palestine, the region. Jesus did not live in Palestine, the country or modern-day Israel, the country. His “homelands” have not existed for nearly two millenia since they have been taken over countless of times, be it the British, the Ottomans, the Crusaders and everyone before that.

          • @mightyfoolish@lemmy.world
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            8 months ago

            This is silly. Why is there such a a high burden of proof for Palestinians but not for Europeans? For example, the people of “France” used to speak a Celtic language. The people of “Poland” used to speak a Germanic language. Yet, no one tells the French they are not real or need to go back to the Latin homeland of Rome. The French are the people who’s ancestors lived in France. Regardless of what it used to be called. No one talks about the French never existing before a certain date.

            The region’s name may have changed but the people belong to the region. You can see people who lived the same lifestyle with an extremely similar language live in Palestine and Syria since 2300 BC (that’s pretty close to the beginning of written history). Assyrian description tell us that the Amorites were Arabs in everything but identity. Even the old testament says the people of the region descend from Amorite fathers.

            Jesus, Israelites, Judahites, Itereans, Edomites, Phoenicians, Qederites, Amorites, Anatolians (Hittites) are Palestinian. The name of the country is just a distraction from the freedom Palestinians deserve.

            • @yetAnotherUser@feddit.de
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              28 months ago

              I don’t quite understand the point you’re trying to make. I responded to a comment stating:

              “The JEWS™ are destroying Jesus’s homelands just like they killed him, why is any Christian supporting the Jews™???”

              Additionally, the comment conflates Palestine (region) with Palestine (country). Israel is currently destroying and invading Palestine (country). Israel has controlled large parts of Palestine (region) for many decades and has ethnically cleansed those parts of many non-Jewish Palestinians (region) who have mostly fled into neighboring countries, including Palestine (country).

              What I’m trying to say is: It’s a contradiction to argue Israel is destroying Jesus’s homelands because Israel has controlled large parts of Palestine (region) for 80 years. They would’ve either destroyed his homelands already or they wouldn’t have. If it’s the former, Israel cannot destroy “Jesus’s homelands” anymore. If it’s the latter, you’re implying that the current borders of Palestine (country) is “Jesus’s homelands” - which is false, as Palestine (country) only controls a portion of Palestine (region).

              • @mightyfoolish@lemmy.world
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                18 months ago

                Jesus was born in Bethlehem which is part of occupied West Bank. He was supposedly raised in Nazareth, which is Palestinian/Arab; who are always going to suffer some form of discrimination.

      • @relevants@feddit.de
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        28 months ago

        Just wait until you hear what’s going on in Jerusalem, a city with sacred meaning to all abrahamic religions. The hypocrisy knows no bounds.