Was Jesus a man of color? Why this question matters more than ever | CNN
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The debate over the color of Jesus’ skin is one of the oldest running arguments in religion. But this Easter, the question is a serious one — for several reasons.

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Who can forget when the former Fox News host Megyn Kelly declared in 2013 that Jesus, like Santa Claus, “was a White man, too,” and “that’s a verifiable fact,” a remark she later said was meant in jest.

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First, while the classic Nordic Jesus remains a popular image today in some churches, a movement to replace the White Jesus has long taken root in America. In many Christian circles — progressive mainline churches, churches of color shaped by “liberation theology,” and among Biblical scholars — conspicuous displays of the White Jesus are considered outdated, and to some, offensive. In a rapidly diversifying multicultural America, more Christians want to see a Jesus that looks like them.

But in some parts of the country, the White Jesus never left. The spread of White Christian nationalism has flooded social media feeds with images of the traditional White Jesus, sometimes adorned with a red MAGA hat. Former President Trump is selling a “God Bless the USA Bible” with passages from the Constitution and Bill of Rights — a linking of patriotism with Christianity that reinforces a White image of Jesus that is central to Christian nationalism.

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Blum says the image of a White Jesus has been used to justify slavery, lynching, laws against interracial marriage and hostility toward immigrants deemed not White enough. When Congress passed a law in the early 20th century to restrict immigration from Asia, Southern and Eastern Europe, White politicians evoked the White Jesus, he says.

“One of the arguments was, ‘Well, Jesus was White,’ ‘’ Blum says. “So the theme was, we want America to be profoundly Christian or at least Jesus based, so we should only allow White people in this country.”

The MAGA movement uses the image of a White Jesus to weaponize political battles, he says, pointing to signs at the January 6 insurrection displaying a White Jesus, sometimes wearing a red MAGA hat. To Blum, some Christian conservatives see a White MAGA Jesus as “an anti-woke symbol.”

  • corroded@lemmy.world
    134·
    9 months ago

    I seriously doubt that “Jesus” from the Christian bible actually existed. Most likely a man with the same name existed and eventually morphed into a folk hero of sorts. That being said, the individual whom the Jesus myth is based on was absolutely from the Middle East. Even Christians won’t argue this. He had to have been some shade of “not white.”

    • RatBin@lemmy.world
      121·
      9 months ago

      A man by his name existed. But remember we’re talking about middle east, some 2000 years ago.

      But wait a second, there is also this:

      https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Madonna Among christians, the cult of dark skinned Mary statues existed long before conservative american christians were a thing. I have seen a couple of these statue and you can see them immediately. Important, notable, detailed and often precious. They sit in their niche, silent.

      Another suggestion is that dark-skinned representations of pre-Christian deities were re-envisioned as the Madonna and child.[3]

      I think the whiteness is often associated with purity, but in many cases that isn’t the whiteness of the skin colour (see the aformentioned examples). Even in the mediterranean are as a whole skin tones can be varied, often confusing the american representation of what is black and white.

      • dirthawker0@lemmy.world
        3·
        9 months ago

        In Monterey CA, there are angel decorations that go up every year at Christmas. The designs were originally painted in the 50s and the artist made them brown skinned, inspired by Native American artists’ depictions of angels.