The Prophetic Message Of Addressing Harmful Ignorance

This week, the name Imane Khelif became an international phenomenon on social media for all of the wrong reasons. In reading a little about her story before this week, I cannot imagine what these last few days have been like for her.

As a father, church leader, and theologian, I can say that I feel sorry for her and I am ashamed to be associated with people who call themselves Christ followers after they have jumped on every paranoid bandwagon during this Olympic season.

Not all of us who have a Conservative way of thinking live life in such a way that our politics control how we approach the Bible and life. Those of us who have a more Progressive way of viewing the world do not necessarily disagree with what the Text says. We actually have more respect for the Text than many of these keyboard pseudo-scholars that have self appointed themselves to the virtual counsel of cardinals and archbishops of the internet.

Many of these Christians that have chosen the traditions of their forefathers over seeking to understand the context of the Text are no different than those people in the Luke 4 Text that got upset with Jesus and ran him out of the synagogue. While some of us are quick to condemn those who we do not understand, we should be careful not to fall into the same camp as the wicked that the Text accused of shedding the blood of the prophets. 

The prophetic message from the Text confronts those who did not practice the justice of God. The continuation of the prophetic message is one that confronts the injustice of current situations in society. The uncomfortable part of the prophetic message is that it will challenge the ideological positions of those who have chosen to bow to evil spirits that encourage the oppression of others by spreading lies as part of their arsenal.

Imane Khelif was NOT born a boy. She is NOT a transgender woman. She IS a cisgender woman. As a matter of fact, her father did not approve of her love for boxing because he felt like it was not a sport for girls. We have to remember that Khelif is from Algeria which is a North African country where she could be imprisoned for up to 3 years for the false charges bestowed upon her by the armchair prosecutors of the internet. Ms. Khelif is not the only woman in this world that is physically taller and stronger than other women in her sport. Angela Carini said that she “has never been hit with such a powerful punch.” Although Carini was physically and emotionally hurt because her chances at gold ended in that moment, I believe that her white tears, her comments, her actions and the political and religious ticking time bombs that many Christians have become added to the defamation of Ms. Khelif’s humanity.

I believe the events surrounding Ms. Khelif are a classic case of what Dr. Carol Anderson calls, “White Rage.” Even though Ms. Carini said that she didn’t want this type of backlash, her response pandered to the emotions of those who are looking for a reason to viscerally look down upon a talented woman with melanated skin. At that level of competition, one has to be prepared for facing anything that may come from the best athletes in the world.

Many of us have fallen into this abyss of misinformation calling everything WOKE or DEI when we don’t understand the original meaning of either terms. For years, the Black Community has encouraged each other to stay vigilant, stay aware of our surroundings and what is going on in society. Stay Woke. I’ve led lunch and learns that dealt with DEI. It is simply Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Even though it is not explicitly listed, the Book of Acts teaches how the Spirit of God brings people of different backgrounds and circumstances together into a diverse and inclusive Kingdom or as my Womanist sisters say, “Kindom” because we are supposed to practice the equitable acts of taking care of “the least of these” to make sure they have what they need. It is not about “working hard and giving to those who don’t deserve it.” It is about making sure that we “lay by in store” to make sure everyone has a chance to have access to the necessities of life that the Creator has given to every one of us. These terms were co-opted by well educated malicious and wealthy entities and used as weapons to “other” any and everyone who does not subscribe to a politically conservative viewpoint. In many cases, these terms are used in a derogatory manner so that it replaces the N-word when referring to the Black Community, women (including Caucasian women), other people of color, and people from the LGBTQIA community. These entities take advantage of the fact that many of their followers do not know how to or will not research anything as long as these entities deliver on the few issues that are important to their followers. This is why I teach the African Philosophy of Unbuntu. This is a concept that means that “I am because we are. And we are because I am.” Therefore, we cannot afford to just think about how things affect us.

Those who have chosen the route of misinformation are ill-informed due to getting their information from non-credible sources that seek to use them as pawns to disseminate lies and attack the character of others faster than piranhas attacking their prey. Have we forgotten the basics of citing reputable sources? Or have we bought into the soundbites of “Fake News” to describe anything that we disagree with?

The American Church has to get past this notion of getting its queues from political pundits and closed minded talking heads on talk radio, social media, and podcasts that are just concerned about followers. We are supposed to be ambassadors for the Creator not the Elephant or the Jackass. While our pulpits are condemning what we call sin, when are we going to start challenging each other to self reflect? We need to be rebuking these spirits that keep us from having the common courtesy of speaking to others to let them know that we acknowledge their humanity when they are in our presence. I cannot count the times that Christians have looked me square in my eyes, hear me speak to them, and then look away and walk past me like I was an apparition. If these individuals will do that to a fellow brother in Christ, I cannot imagine their mindset when it comes to our friends from other religions. Instead of us focusing on who we think are wrong religiously, morally, and politically, we should be focused on showing Jesus to EVERYONE we come into contact with whether in person or virtually. This is why some Christians are told they are racist, homophobic, transphobic, Islamaphobic, sexist, classist, ignorant, etc. While we think we are projecting Jesus, we are actually showing how self-righteous we really are. This is showing others how we are practicing religious elitism of those with whom we disagree or do not like. We will malpractice evangelism for the sake of being right. Then, we will sit back and criticize those who have been mentally and emotionally harmed by our hate filled rhetoric.

Ms. Imane Khelif may not ever see this blog post, but I want those who do read this to know that this theologian sees her humanity. Hopefully, I said something in this blog that will convict someone to rethink how they look at people they consider to be “the other.”