Evangelical Christians and Race Evangelical Christian cultural toolkit. Emerson and Smith, (2000) unwrapped the cultural (Swindler, 1986) by which White evangelicals interpret and “toolkit” experience the world around them. makes White evangelicals unique, according “What to Emerson and Smith (2000), is not that they are more racist or supremacist, but rather that they adhere stringently and consistently to individualist, anti-structuralist ideals and (Tranby & Harmann, 2008, p. 342). According to Emerson and Smith (2000), discourse” there are usually three characteristic sets of assumptions related to race and about individualized society that evangelical Christians tend to adhere to: accountable free will individualism, relationalism, and anti-structuralism. The authors defined accountable, free will individualism as a belief that suggests individuals independent of “exist structures and institutions, have free will, and are individually accountable for their (p. 76). A strong belief in relationalism suggests that there is importance and actions” relevance in developing a personal relationship with God. As Tranby and Harmann (2008) observed, emphasis transposes itself onto and strengthens the importance of “this interpersonal relationships in the evangelical (p. 343). Finally, worldview” is a perspective of belief that suggests social structural influences on social injustices do not exist. Individuals with anti-structuralist beliefs feel that focusing on groups or structures is counter to a belief in individualism, as such, they choose to avoid or to deny such explanations. This cultural according to Emerson and Smith (2000), works in keeping “toolkit,” most evangelical to it, blind to issues of race, and institutional Christians’ adherence racism. They view racism not as a product of systemic abuse, but an act of individual
Evangelical Christians and Race Evangelical Christian cultural toolkit. Emerson and Smith, (2000) unwrapped the cultural “toolkit” (Swindler, 1986) by which White evangelicals interpret and experience the world around them. “What makes White evangelicals unique, according to Emerson and Smith (2000), is not that they are more racist or supremacist, but rather that they adhere stringently and consistently to individualist, anti-structuralist ideals and discourse” (Tranby & Harmann, 2008, p. 342). According to Emerson and Smith (2000), there are usually three characteristic sets of assumptions related to race and about individualized society that evangelical Christians tend to adhere to: accountable free will individualism, relationalism, and anti-structuralism. The authors defined accountable, free will individualism as a belief that suggests individuals “exist independent of structures and institutions, have free will, and are individually accountable for their actions” (p. 76). A strong belief in relationalism suggests that there is importance and relevance in developing a personal relationship with God. As Tranby and Harmann (2008) observed, “this emphasis transposes itself onto and strengthens the importance of interpersonal relationships in the evangelical worldview” (p. 343). Finally, is a perspective of belief that suggests social structural influences on social injustices do not exist. Individuals with anti-structuralist beliefs feel that focusing on groups or structures is counter to a belief in individualism, as such, they choose to avoid or to deny such explanations. This cultural “toolkit,” according to Emerson and Smith (2000), works in keeping most evangelical Christians’ adherence to it, blind to issues of race, and institutional racism. They view racism not as a product of systemic abuse, but an act of individual
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