* or white, Christian, religious nationalism
1. What are false moral narratives?
2. How do they function systemically, and interfunctionally with these other evils?
3. How do we identify and combat them?
A Couple of Examples
(28) God blessed them and God said to them, “Be fertile and increase, fill the earth and master it; and rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and all the living things that creep on earth.”
(20) Noah, the tiller of the soil, was the first to plant a vineyard. (21) He drank of the wine and became drunk, and he uncovered himself within his tent. (22) Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father’s nakedness and told his two brothers outside. (23) But Shem and Japheth took a cloth, placed it against both their backs and, walking backward, they covered their father’s nakedness; their faces were turned the other way, so that they did not see their father’s nakedness. (24) When Noah woke up from his wine and learned what his youngest son had done to him, (25) he said,
“Cursed be Canaan;
The lowest of slaves
Shall he be to his brothers.” (26) And he said,
“Blessed be יהוה,
The God of Shem;
Let Canaan be a slave to them.
(27) May God enlarge Japheth,
And let him dwell in the tents of Shem;
And let Canaan be a slave to them.”
(11) For there will never cease to be needy ones in your land, which is why I command you: open your hand to the poor and needy kin in your land.
The poor you will always have with you.
Range of Falsehoods
"Fake news" which may be a. propaganda; b. disinformation; c. conspiracy theory; d. clickbait. — Tim Dickinson (@7im) December 5, 2016
May include content that is fabricated, manipulated, excerpted, mistranslated, misleading.
How to combat fake news:
- summer.harvard.edu/blog/4-tips-for-spotting-a-fake-news-story/
- guides.lib.umich.edu/fakenews
https://publicvoiceny.com/false-narratives/
Consider why they work
Heuristics (availability; representativeness; affect; anchoring)
https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-a-heuristic-2795235
Biases (confirmation; fluency)
Then, how do we counter false moral narratives when they use our religious texts?
- Check the content
- Expand the context - textual and historical
- Evaluate connections
- Consider the use
- Change the narrator to change the narrative
Recognize that our texts are complicated.
- "Who Are the Poor? Why Are We Poor? 4 Theories of Impoverishment" https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NR08zk4jM4qlXoPuSxB2uwH3qjyr4DnzpNj0-ic77k4/edit?usp=sharing
- We Cry Justice: Reading the Bible with the Poor People's Campaign
Poor People's Campaign Join members of fellow Brooklyn faith communities and the Campaign at the Mass Mobilization on June 18th. RSVP for the March: www.poorpeoplescampaign.org/june18/?source=RAC and secure a seat on our bus: rally.co/ppc-bk-brownstone.