For example, it would not produce a clear line between religion and nonreligion but would instead articulate gradations between different forms of life (or between versions of one form of life at different times) that are less or more prototypically religious. For example, offices of local Bosnian Serb mayors in the RS were often decorated with religious icons, although few officials practiced religion in any meaningful sense. A few rare books are “sleepers” that don’t betray their true value to the uninformed — these are the books you might find at a yard sale for $1, then sell for tens of thousands of dollars. Those of us who are white need to realize that this challenge and calling isn’t for other people. White Christians, in particular, need to understand that it is their responsibility to dismantle white supremacy. As Christians, we are taught by the gospel of John that Jesus, the Word of God, was with God and was God at the moment of humanity’s creation. For white Christians, our racist society presents a fundamental issue of obedience to God, or not, in our acceptance of all of these systemic structural realities.

Structural racism is so deeply embedded in American society that it presents itself as an implicit promise made to white people in this country that, no matter their circumstance, they will always at least be treated better than people of color. But their most memorable scene involves the fight over the color of Aurora’s dress. When President Trump said that we want more immigrants from Norway, not from “s-hole countries,” how are people of color supposed to feel hearing that other than that it reflects the president and many white Americans’ belief – and more than belief, the all-too-prevalent reality, usually implicit but now explicitly trumpeted – that America has a preference for white people. We just launched an eight-episode podcast series called Reclaiming Jesus Now that features Allison Trowbridge and William Matthews speaking with Jim Wallis about these questions and their relevance today. Rejecting the teaching of the heretic Nestorius, the Church declared that Jesus is one divine person, with two natures-his mother’s human nature and his Father’s divine nature. Without going back through the list that marks the fundamentally racist nature of Donald Trump’s campaign, presidency, and reelection effort, what’s at stake now is a president who is running on white nationalism.

Mary did not give Jesus his divine nature or his divine personhood-those He possessed from all eternity as the only begotten Son of the Father. Many outside sources give 4 to 6 million. Although Mary did not “originate” or “generate” God, she did bear Him in her womb and give birth to Him. But she also didn’t just give Him His flesh: She gave birth to the whole person. She gave birth to Jesus Christ, both God and man. The radical love that Jesus embodies and teaches is a direct consequence of each and every person being a child of God in a very real sense – which makes us all siblings – as well as the love God showed us in taking on our form in Jesus Christ. Calling Mary “Mother of God” states a truth that must be stated in order to protect an essential truth about Christ. Likewise, Mary as the virginal “Mother of God” is the link between her Son’s humanity and divinity. One of the three essential tasks of the Queen Mother was to be a sign of her son’s legitimacy. She is the sign that He is both God and man.

This challenge to dismantle white supremacy and build a beloved community is one that white Christians need to undertake for the sake of their own obedience to God. Editors note: This is part two of an eight-part series exploring the eight Jesus questions all of us must face, highlighted in Jim Wallis’s new book Christ in Crisis: Why We Need to Reclaim Jesus (HarperOne), available now. We all need to grow and become experts in our field of eternal life. In fact, Jesus’ incarnation as both fully human and fully divine, and his entire life and ministry, proceed directly from God’s creation of human beings as bearers of God’s image. If we seek to be followers of Jesus, as well as faithful bearers of God’s image, anywhere in the world but particularly in the United States today, we must confront, repudiate, and repent of the evil of racism that is woven throughout almost every aspect of our society. Therefore, racism and other forms of human oppression based in identity are not simply morally wrong, they are sins against God and must be named as such. I strongly believe that unless we are willing to hear each other’s hearts and deepest feelings, we can never make true progress in dismantling systems of oppression like white supremacy.