Episode 87: Jim Crow and the Pulpit: How the Church Preached Racism as God's Order

In part two of this series, Rachael and Jaisa walk through the comprehensive legal system of Jim Crow, the culture of lynching as a celebrated Christian community event, and the documented role of white evangelical leaders in opposing civil rights. We talk about Jerry Falwell Senior's 1958 sermon declaring racial integration a communist plot against God's design. We talk about Billy Graham privately urging Martin Luther King Jr. to slow the movement. And we trace how that same political base shifted from explicit segregation to a new moral framework built around abortion and homosexuality, one that secured the conservative vote without ever having to say the quiet part out loud.

We're also talking about what's happening right now. ICE raids. Murdered activists. The white moderate who opposes injustice but opposes disruption more. And why silence has always been a form of consent.

This is not a comfortable episode. It's a necessary one.

In This Episode

• Jim Crow as a comprehensive legal system, not just a social custom

• Lynching postcards: how Christians documented and celebrated racial murder

• Jerry Falwell Senior's 1958 segregation sermon and the formation of the Moral Majority

• Billy Graham, the white moderate, and Martin Luther King Jr.'s Letter from Birmingham Jail

• The throughline from Jim Crow to today's political landscape

• Reincarnation, karma, and what a just God might actually require

If you enjoy this episode, be sure to check out:

Episode 71: Mayan Astrology Explained

Episode 58: The 1946 Mistake That Changed Christianity - How "Homosexual" Entered the Bible

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