Why Black Lives Matter (Cascade, 2020) is a collection of thoughtful essays edited by Anthony Bradley, who explains why they do: “Because African Americans are made in the Image of God.” The last two essays, “The Black Church and Orthodoxy” by Anthony Carter and “The Prosperity Gospel” by Ken Jones, show how black churches are at a theological crossroads. 

Joe Biden began his presidency with talk of “unity.” If by that he meant join us in tribalistic politics and aborting babies, of course we just say no. But if it means recognizing that all of us with contrasting worldviews live in the same country and hope to be at peace with each other, and that Christians should be faithful to Christ while seeking the welfare of the country where God has placed us (Jeremiah 29), we should go for that.

Feb. 12 was the birthdate of two extraordinary men: Abraham Lincoln, who helped America recognize the humanity of slaves, and Charles Darwin, who enslaved us to a dehumanizing theory.

Isabel Wilkerson’s Caste (Random House, 2020) includes lots of ugly specific detail. A slave receiving 400 lashes. Slave workdays of 14-15 hours. Later, lynchings and postcards with photos of lynchings. Blacks not allowed into public pools even on separate days or hours because whites “would not go into water that had touched black skin.” Carnivals where customers hurled baseballs or other projectiles at blacks. The intentional hiring of less competent teachers to work at blacks-only schools.

In one sense, the Sack of the Capitol on Jan. 6 was the farce that launched 1,000 snips. 

Snip: “From years of covering white nationalists and the alt-right, I already knew that the right contained violent and anti-democratic elements,” Buzzfeed reporter Rosie Gray wrote. “What Jan. 6 showed was how deeply even the nice church ladies and retired grandpas who have nothing to do with those groups have descended into an alternate universe.” 

On Jan. 9 Mark Canty, an Air Force veteran and owner of Eatz in Bristol, Va., taped off five of his tables, leaving six for customers. Two were occupied at lunchtime as Canty pulled six racks of ribs and four half-chickens out of his smoker. 

I’m not a Laurence Tribe fan, but the Harvard Law professor seemed downright vicious when he tweeted, “White Supremacists oppose abortion. … Never underestimate the way those issues and agendas are linked.”