When I hear Bishop Swan say that progressive Christianity has failed to confront whiteness, power, and empire, I nod. He’s right. But I also recognize this isn’t just a Christian problem—it’s a human one. Institutions, whatever their name, tend to protect their own comfort. They shy away from calling out the powers that feed them. And when they do speak, they often whisper instead of shout.
So yeah, I think he’s naming something real. And I think it’s worth saying out loud: silence is its own kind of complicity. If you don’t name whiteness as a system, if you don’t challenge empire when it crushes people, then you’re holding the door open for the next round of abuse. That’s not neutrality. That’s permission.
When he talks about sacrifice, about giving things up, my mind goes to comfort—my comfort. Not comfort like soft pillows, but comfort like the luxury of avoiding hard conversations. It’s the temptation to play it safe, to stay quiet around family, or to tell myself that someone else will step up. The sacrifice, at least for me, is choosing friction over ease. It’s letting go of the illusion that I can be both decent and disengaged at the same time.
What kind of sacrifices? Time, for one. Energy. The willingness to let people I love be disappointed in me because I won’t cosign their silence. And sometimes money, because fighting injustice isn’t free and organizations that are actually in the trenches need resources. The real sacrifice, though, is the myth of neutrality. There’s no sideline left.
Now, on the idea of liberation—Bishop Swan frames it in biblical language. I can’t do that, because that’s not where I stand. But I can say this: liberation is a human project. Every tradition worth keeping has some thread of it. For me, it comes down to the belief that people deserve dignity, full stop. Systems that deny that—whether political, economic, or religious—have to be challenged.
Concrete ways? They’re not glamorous. I can speak up in local spaces where cruelty tries to dress itself up as policy. I can push back when I hear people reduce neighbors to stereotypes. I can get involved in civic work, because school boards and town halls are where a lot of the damage—or healing—happens. And I can try to mentor kids, or influence the next generation, to see empathy as rebellion in a world that profits off division.
When Swan talks about courage, I don’t picture some Hollywood moment. I picture the daily grind of refusing to let apathy win. Bravery in my everyday life looks like saying the thing that needs to be said even when I’d rather stay quiet. It looks like showing up at the meeting when I’d rather go home. It looks like using whatever privilege I carry to shield someone who doesn’t have it, instead of pretending it doesn’t exist.
None of this is neat. None of it is easy. And honestly, some days I’d rather step back, shut it out, and pretend my small corner is enough. But I can’t. Not if I want to look in the mirror and believe I did something with the years I was given.
So yes, I think Bishop Swan is right. Progressive Christianity hasn’t carried this fight with enough fire. But as a humanist, I’ll say it this way: if justice matters, then the burden belongs to all of us. The work of dismantling empire and confronting whiteness doesn’t need one tradition’s blessing. It needs ordinary people willing to live braver, louder, less comfortable lives.
Sir, I believe you are CORRECT in your assessment. Thank you for sharing. "Courage" is the cut-off point on the "Map of Consciousness." Courage is what it takes...always has and always will.
Over the years the right has called us radical, bleeding hearts and other shaming adjectives to the point where I stopped claiming my Christianity to anyone. Even my own family.
Yes! White progressives try too hard to "play nice in the sandbox" by calling competing ideologies "equal" when they certainly are not: one is wrong, unChristlike, hateful; the other is God/Jesus-honoring and humanity-loving!
Yes! White progressives try too hard to "play nice in the sandbox" by calling competing ideologies "equal" when they certainly are not: one is wrong, unChristlike, hateful; the other is God/Jesus-honoring and humanity-loving!
Having darker (mostly Hispanic) relatives who, although born here, get yelled at about "going home" by strangers--or people saying, as one man said to a young woman, "I'm going to call ICE on you!" makes me very aware of my own privilege. The shocks of my teenage years included knowing that a Chinese couple could not purchase a home in our neighborhood (I had a crush on their son) and that the local swimming pool was privatized to avoid admitting black children. And my own parents would not allow me to invite a black boy to a family picnic.
I am just now getting around to hearing this discussion. I have been asking people around me about what happened to everyone who was enraged after the murder of George Floyd? So good to hear you guys talk about that specific thing.
Yes! White progressives try too hard to "play nice in the sandbox" by calling competing ideologies "equal" when they certainly are not: one is wrong, unChristlike, hateful; the other is God/Jesus-honoring and humanity-loving!
When I hear Bishop Swan say that progressive Christianity has failed to confront whiteness, power, and empire, I nod. He’s right. But I also recognize this isn’t just a Christian problem—it’s a human one. Institutions, whatever their name, tend to protect their own comfort. They shy away from calling out the powers that feed them. And when they do speak, they often whisper instead of shout.
So yeah, I think he’s naming something real. And I think it’s worth saying out loud: silence is its own kind of complicity. If you don’t name whiteness as a system, if you don’t challenge empire when it crushes people, then you’re holding the door open for the next round of abuse. That’s not neutrality. That’s permission.
When he talks about sacrifice, about giving things up, my mind goes to comfort—my comfort. Not comfort like soft pillows, but comfort like the luxury of avoiding hard conversations. It’s the temptation to play it safe, to stay quiet around family, or to tell myself that someone else will step up. The sacrifice, at least for me, is choosing friction over ease. It’s letting go of the illusion that I can be both decent and disengaged at the same time.
What kind of sacrifices? Time, for one. Energy. The willingness to let people I love be disappointed in me because I won’t cosign their silence. And sometimes money, because fighting injustice isn’t free and organizations that are actually in the trenches need resources. The real sacrifice, though, is the myth of neutrality. There’s no sideline left.
Now, on the idea of liberation—Bishop Swan frames it in biblical language. I can’t do that, because that’s not where I stand. But I can say this: liberation is a human project. Every tradition worth keeping has some thread of it. For me, it comes down to the belief that people deserve dignity, full stop. Systems that deny that—whether political, economic, or religious—have to be challenged.
Concrete ways? They’re not glamorous. I can speak up in local spaces where cruelty tries to dress itself up as policy. I can push back when I hear people reduce neighbors to stereotypes. I can get involved in civic work, because school boards and town halls are where a lot of the damage—or healing—happens. And I can try to mentor kids, or influence the next generation, to see empathy as rebellion in a world that profits off division.
When Swan talks about courage, I don’t picture some Hollywood moment. I picture the daily grind of refusing to let apathy win. Bravery in my everyday life looks like saying the thing that needs to be said even when I’d rather stay quiet. It looks like showing up at the meeting when I’d rather go home. It looks like using whatever privilege I carry to shield someone who doesn’t have it, instead of pretending it doesn’t exist.
None of this is neat. None of it is easy. And honestly, some days I’d rather step back, shut it out, and pretend my small corner is enough. But I can’t. Not if I want to look in the mirror and believe I did something with the years I was given.
So yes, I think Bishop Swan is right. Progressive Christianity hasn’t carried this fight with enough fire. But as a humanist, I’ll say it this way: if justice matters, then the burden belongs to all of us. The work of dismantling empire and confronting whiteness doesn’t need one tradition’s blessing. It needs ordinary people willing to live braver, louder, less comfortable lives.
Sir, I believe you are CORRECT in your assessment. Thank you for sharing. "Courage" is the cut-off point on the "Map of Consciousness." Courage is what it takes...always has and always will.
Wonderful conversation!
Over the years the right has called us radical, bleeding hearts and other shaming adjectives to the point where I stopped claiming my Christianity to anyone. Even my own family.
Yes! White progressives try too hard to "play nice in the sandbox" by calling competing ideologies "equal" when they certainly are not: one is wrong, unChristlike, hateful; the other is God/Jesus-honoring and humanity-loving!
Yes! White progressives try too hard to "play nice in the sandbox" by calling competing ideologies "equal" when they certainly are not: one is wrong, unChristlike, hateful; the other is God/Jesus-honoring and humanity-loving!
Having darker (mostly Hispanic) relatives who, although born here, get yelled at about "going home" by strangers--or people saying, as one man said to a young woman, "I'm going to call ICE on you!" makes me very aware of my own privilege. The shocks of my teenage years included knowing that a Chinese couple could not purchase a home in our neighborhood (I had a crush on their son) and that the local swimming pool was privatized to avoid admitting black children. And my own parents would not allow me to invite a black boy to a family picnic.
I am just now getting around to hearing this discussion. I have been asking people around me about what happened to everyone who was enraged after the murder of George Floyd? So good to hear you guys talk about that specific thing.
Yes! White progressives try too hard to "play nice in the sandbox" by calling competing ideologies "equal" when they certainly are not: one is wrong, unChristlike, hateful; the other is God/Jesus-honoring and humanity-loving!
https://youtu.be/V_1z3VSkSlU?feature=shared
I thought this was a poignant look at dealing with the Love of Self, so to speak, that has taken root on the right as Trump has led the charge.