Hey everybody. This bonus is called Anti-Fascist Christianity, Black Jesus Part 2. Part 1 dropped on our main feed this past Saturday. I am Matthew Remski, and this is Conspiratuality, where we investigate the intersections of conspiracy theories and spiritual influence to uncover cults, pseudoscience,

and authoritarian extremism. You can follow myself, Derek and Julian, on Blue Sky. The pod is on

Instagram and threads under its own handle. And you can support our Patreon. If you're listening

to this, you're probably already doing that. Thank you so much. You can also catch me on

TikTok at Anti-Fascist Dad, and my new independent podcast is out now under the same name,

Anti-Fascist Dad. So this is the third of a number of two-part series I've been doing on

anti-fascist Christianity. It all goes into the

woodshed series where I collect a bunch of stories that I hope are useful and resourceful. And in

Saturday's episode, I began with the image of Bonhofer arriving in New York, carrying the European vision of white Jesus,

tied to empire and order, but leaving transformed by his encounter with Harlem churches

and the liberatory presence of Black Jesus rooted in solidarity with the oppressed.

And I connected Bonhofer's white Jesus to the spectacle

of Charlie Kirk's recent stadium memorial, and its focus on national triumphalism, and its use

of a theology that reassures the powerful that everything has already accomplished, which relieves them of the

burden of justice, even as systems of oppression continue outside the arena.

And I drew on Reggie Williams, Bonhoeffer's Black Jesus, on Cedric Robinson's black

Marxism and Janelle Hope and Bill Mullins, the Black

anti-fascist tradition, to argue that white Jesus was born from colonialism and racial capitalism,

while Black Jesus emerges from solidarity with suffering.

And for me, the contrast between the triumphalist mighty fortress hymns of the

Lutheran tradition and the trembling grief of Were You There really captured Bonhoeffer's turn

towards a faith that was grounded in vulnerability and anti-fascist hope.

...