the Empathy List #70: Intersectionality & the Lie of Christian Unity

What the Evangelical Church Never Taught Me, Part 8

Hey friend, Liz here.

You didn’t hear from me last week because I was updating the look of this newsletter—new logo, new headshot, etc.—and I only have so many free minutes in a week. (And I’m not a designer, so I’m hella slow!) If you have a minute, would you REPLY and tell me what you think?

In other news… I’m thinking about the lie of Christian unity this week.

By which I mean, the idea that Christ is most honored when we share a hive mind, all of us worker bees on the same mission: to defend Christ to the ends of the earth, cutting down any dissenters as we go. (Sigh.)

As you can tell, I feel great disillusionment when I consider the way that Christians have habitually flattened culture, personality, and bodies in pursuit of such a vision. This uniformity, in fact, does not remotely resemble what’s described in the Bible when it comes to our utopic ending.

Because “Christian unity” can often be evangelicalism’s code for white, male, cis, and middle class. (Surprise!)

Are you female? In…