On Saturday's AM Joy on MSNBC, during a discussion of Christian conservatives who have defended Alabama Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore from accusations of illegal sexual behavior with a 14-year-old, recurring liberal MSNBC guests Bishop William Barber and author Frank Schaeffer both engaged in hyperbolic rants against white Christian conservatives.
After Barber tried to link "white evangelicalism" to "white supremacy," and accused Christian conservatives of engaging in "policy pedophilia" by not doing enough to help poor children, Schaeffer likened white Christians to Adolf Hitler in the last few days of his life in his bunker, as Schaeffer ended up deriding himself as a "token old white fart" who gets to take part in the day's discussion at a racially diverse table.
At about 10:25 a.m. ET Barber claimed racism by religious conservatives as he ranted:
White evangelicalism is connected to white nationalism, is connected to white supremacy. It is the backbone of racism that has happened in this country. Now, you understand that white nationalism -- white supremacy that promotes racism. Racism is twisted, and so this notion of white evangelical values is twisted anyway because so-called white evangelicals -- I call them Republican religionists -- extreme Republican religionists.
Moments later, he made his "policy pedophilia" comment:
Well, a real spiritual battle would be addressing the fact that, in some counties in Alabama, 40 percent of the people are in poverty. There are 24 percent of children living in households that are in poverty. That's policy pedophilia when you're hurting children and not addressing that.
Later in the show, around 10:44 a.m. ET, Schaeffer made his own accusations of racism as he began:
American white evangelical Christianity that I grew up in is now part of a white supremacist movement that wants to hold onto power whether it's by gerrymandering, voter suppression, racism. white supremacy, or even violence. They know, for instance, that the gun lobby is making a fortune selling guns to people who shouldn't have them, and they will go along with this as long as it's part of their party platform that keeps them in power with the dollars that flow in to candidates and the rest.
After calling Christian conservatism "morally bankrupt," he talked up the demographic trends toward more racial diversity, and then made his Hitler comparison as he added:
But these last grim, bitter, clinging to power by white oligarchs -- these racists, these child molesters, these buffoons, these liars. It is a pitiful thing. We are in the equivalent -- and I'm not making a moral comparison -- but it's like the last days of Hitler's bunker -- bunch of white generals clustered around a table, looking at maps, grimly trying to hold on to a shrinking part of Berlin as the allies move in from all sides.
Below is a transcript of relevant portions of the Saturday, November 11, AM Joy on MSNBC:
10:25 a.m. ET
BISHOP WILLIAM BARBER, REPAIRERS OF THE BREACH: White evangelicalism is connected to white nationalism, is connected to white supremacy. It is the backbone of racism that has happened in this country. Now, you understand that white nationalism -- white supremacy that promotes racism. Racism is twisted, and so this notion of white evangelical values is twisted anyway because so-called white evangelicals -- I call them Republican religionists -- extreme Republican religionists.
(...)
Well, a real spiritual battle would be addressing the fact that, in some counties in Alabama, 40 percent of the people are in poverty. There are 24 percent of children living in households that are in poverty. That's policy pedophilia when you're hurting children and not addressing that. It's one of the lowest states in public education. You've got nearly 900,000 people got poverty -- 20 percent no health insurance. Those are the things that Christians should be dealing with if they were dealing with orthodox evangelicalism. This is heretical -- it's hypocritical.
10:44 a.m. ET
FRANK SCHAEFFER: American white evangelical Christianity that I grew up in is now part of a white supremacist movement that wants to hold onto power whether it's by gerrymandering, voter suppression, racism. white supremacy, or even violence. They know, for instance, that the gun lobby is making a fortune selling guns to people who shouldn't have them, and they will go along with this as long as it's part of their party platform that keeps them in power with the dollars that flow in to candidates and the rest.
We are talking about a morally bankrupt religious movement. We are talking about a country that -- thank God -- I think faces a hopeful future because -- as the speaker before on this show said -- the California trend of ethnic diversity, less racism, tolerance, accepting homosexuality as a normal human behavior, these things are on the ascendant. But these last grim, bitter, clinging to power by white oligarchs -- these racists, these child molesters, these buffoons, these liars. It is a pitiful thing. We are in the equivalent -- and I'm not making a moral comparison -- but it's like the last days of Hitler's bunker -- bunch of white generals clustered around a table, looking at maps, grimly trying to hold on to a shrinking part of Berlin as the allies move in from all sides.
That's our future. It's going to be a good future here in America. It is going to be one of creative redemption, and it's something that we can look forward to. But in the meantime, God Almighty, we are facing just the lowest, scummiest moment in American history I can remember as a 65-year-old man.
(...)
Their idea is that they are a remnant of persecuted true believers, and now you mix in a racial element after an eight-year black presidency that denies everything that their core racist beliefs hold on to. What Reverend Barber was talking about, this kind of slave-master theology. That has been denied in a documentary sense to them that has enraged them. And so I completely agree their view is not to build a healthy future. Look, the healthy future is sitting around that table with you.
There are black faces there, there are white faces there, there are Asian faces. You've got one token old white fart here who repents his own past right-wing stupidity. But, that said, I look at what's around your table, and I say, "If two lines were forming," I would be running in that direction. That's the healthy, hopeful, redemptive future, and you've got it sitting at that table with you.
