Eric Metaxas Goes Twitter Blackface (UPDATED)

Let me just get to the point. Here Eric Metaxas’ most recent contribution to his Christian witness.

Metaxas was reacting to Joe Biden’s comments about conservative African-Americans not being black. Biden’s point was not well stated and he apologized for it today.

The fact that Biden was out of line with his comment is no reason for Metaxas to engage in what has been called by Christian professor Karen Prior the “Twitter equivalent of Blackface.”

Anyone following Metaxas over the past three years shouldn’t be too surprised by this. Some prior guests on his show includes Katie Hopkins, (see also this link), Milo Yiannopoulos, and his good friend and opponent of the “hoards” from the third world, Ann Coulter.  And of course, there is Metaxas’ undying support for Donald Trump.

Those folks want to keep America (and Britain in the case of Hopkins) white and European.  I don’t know what’s in Metaxas’ heart, but I could never give those three a platform, let alone call them friends and heroes.

Metaxas is currently getting dragged on social media for this tweet, and rightly so. However, if tomorrow everything goes back to normal, what will it matter?

Ed Stetzer has weighed in:

Now Joe Carter:

After being ratioed all night long, Metaxas doubled down:

In the most recent Quinnipiac University poll, Joe Biden was favored by 81% of black voters over Donald Trump, who was favored by only 3%. Although it was a dumb and insensitive way of saying it, Biden was not untethered to the facts.

If anyone is failing to deal with reality, it is Metaxas and his supporters. They fail to deal with the fact that there are good reasons for the disparity in the black vote. Principally, what Republicans do is criticize black voters for being captivated by “shiny objects” as if black voters don’t have reasons to favor the Democratic party.

Conservatives will make the most of Biden’s gaffe but exploitation can’t cover the fact that members of GOP fight against expanding voting access. Members of which party support Confederate heroes and symbols and find “very good people” among those who want to see a statue of Robert E. Lee remain in a honored place? Not the Democratic party.

According to a recent poll, black Americans feel that racial division has grown and that Trump is responsible for that that. They strongly disapprove of his performance and hold him responsible for an increase in racism on his watch. There are reasons for these results which Republican leaders simply don’t want to confront.

 

 

David Barton (left), Eric Metaxas (right)

29 thoughts on “Eric Metaxas Goes Twitter Blackface (UPDATED)”

    1. Horowitz?

      Horowitz asked 2 different sets of questions depending on the race of the interviewee. Questions deliberately designed to misrepresent the
      situation.

      He never asked the black interviewees their opinions on Voter ID laws. He misrepresented some of the comments he got from the white interviewees. they never said blacks “couldn’t find the DMV”, they said it was harder for them to GET to a DMV. In some states that is true, further some states that instituted Voter ID laws then made it harder for blacks to get those IDs ( AL closes Driver’s License offices).

      Also, note he only asked if people had ID, NOT if they had government issued ID sufficient to allow them to vote in voter ID states. Funny how he choose to ask people in NYC rather than a state that actually instituted voter ID laws (ex. AL).

      Additionally, the 1st group didn’t say all blacks aren’t smart enough to use the internet, they said many of those who don’t have ID also are less likely to have access to the internet.

      This video is nothing more than a piece of propaganda designed to fool people. In your case it clearly did.

      Apparently disqus doesn’t like my link about AL closing drivers license centers so re-posting w/o it.

    2. Horowitz?

      Horowitz asked 2 different sets of questions depending on the race of the interviewee. Questions deliberately designed to misrepresent the
      situation.

      He never asked the black interviewees their opinions on Voter ID laws. He misrepresented some of the comments he got from the white interviewees. they never said blacks “couldn’t find the DMV”, they said it was harder for them to GET to a DMV. In some states that is true, further some states that instituted Voter ID laws then made it harder for blacks to get those IDs ( AL closes Driver’s License offices).

      Also, note he only asked if people had ID, NOT if they had government issued ID sufficient to allow them to vote in voter ID states. Funny how he choose to ask people in NYC rather than a state that actually instituted voter ID laws (ex. AL).

      Additionally, the 1st group didn’t say all blacks aren’t smart enough to use the internet, they said many of those who don’t have ID also are less likely to have access to the internet.

      This video is nothing more than a piece of propaganda designed to fool people. In your case it clearly did.

      Apparently disqus doesn’t like my link about AL closing drivers license centers so re-posting w/o it.

      1. This is such a dumb argument, you need an ID to do just about anything even in Alabama, like get a job, drive a car, rent a car, open a bank account, buy a gun, fly on a plane, apply for welfare, get a credit card, cash a check, buy alcohol, buy cigarettes, file unemployment, apply for food stamps, apply for Social Security, rent a house, buy a house, get married, adopt a pet, rent a hotel room, apply for a fishing license, apply for a hunting license.

        But not vote.

        Just say you want to make it easier to cheat.

        1. There are different types of ID. Not all of them would be accepted to VOTE in AL (or other states with Voter ID laws).

          for example, exactly WHAT ID is required to apply for Welfare benefits in AL?

          and please cite were you are getting that requirement from.

        2. Have you even actually looked at anti-voter ID arguments? Just curious because, clearly, you don’t seem to understand them. I suggest reading an article this isn’t from some Right Wing trash website.

          People do have to provide ID for voting too, the question is whether it has to be an official ID from the state that you have to pay for both in money and time. If you validate your ID though a SS card, bill with your name on it, or whatever, why does it matter?

          This is also a solution is search of a problem. In-person voter fraud is not a problem of any significance. It doesn’t seem to make sense to prevent 10s of fraudulent votes by possibly preventing 1000s legitimate votes. Does it?

          And I bet you hate government regulation and intervention, except of course, when you think it might help your preferred political party gain a slight advantage.

          1. Show me how in-person vote fraud is a problem in any significance. You can’t do it. But, even going a step further, show me how it is a problem *even in principal*. Even theoretically. How could any large scale fraud be perpetrated using in-person voter fraud and not be easily discovered.

            In-person voter fraud is essentially the stupidest, least effective, most work, most easily caught way to influence an election.

          2. “People do have to provide ID for voting too,”

            that is not correct. I have never had to provide ID to vote, just sign my name in the registry. Also, I have voted in many elections in a few different states.

          3. Ok, point conceded. My state doesn’t need a government ID, but I was overly broad. What I meant was, in a lot of states, you do have to show ID. That is not was anti-voter ID people object to. Showing a form of ID is fine. What they object to is the mandate of needing to show government issued ID that cost both money and time to procure when there is no cause for why that is demonstrated.

          4. No, a voter ID card will not cost the voter money (other than the value of his/her time). Any state that requires a government issued ID to vote, must provide a free one to eligible voters that request them. To do otherwise would constitute a “Poll tax” which is illegal.

            Granted it will cost taxpayers a lot to pay for these ids, but not the individual getting them. The only way it could cost the voter is if they were getting an ID that allowed them to do something other than just vote (ex. a drivers license).

            At least you have the decency to respond. I’m still waiting for “Big K” to tell me what ID is required to get welfare benefits in AL (or anywhere else really).

  1. Why in the world would you follow up your opponents gaffe by doing one worse? But it’s becoming more typical for the religious right… being nasty has become a virtue… (John Fea had a post awhile back on Metaxas’s debate with David French and they discussed Bonhoeffer… Metaxas has some really odd/a-history views on that period of history, but the main point he seemed to be making in contra to French, is that christians need to get mean, dirty and “fight”… so maybe that’s what his abhorrent tweet is supposed to be; a punch in the face to one of his targets… so like Jesus!

  2. Just keep pouring on that gasoline, guys, you’re doing a fine job of burning down Evangelicalism.

  3. Just more of the slimy cesspool into which Trump has dragged most Evangelicals.

    1. It appears to me, they jumped in with great enthusiasm. No dragging needed.

      1. Yup. His base has stuck with him through thick and thin. It was his second term, but Bush’s ratings had sunk to around 30% by the height of the financial crisis. If even Trump dips below 40% in the polling averages, that would be a surprise.

  4. In the Gospel of John, isn’t there a really really really (two word) short verse that describes an emotional response by Jesus?

  5. Joe Biden would have done well to have said “. . .you haven’t been paying attention.” instead–but he did apologize for saying “you ain’t black.” Biden’s record on minority rights is, with a couple of exceptions, pretty good. There was no call for Eric Metaxas’s sad attempt at satire. Fortunately, it seems to be backfiring. Good.

    1. Joe Biden would have done well to not say anything at all. All he needs to do is shut up and wait for the debates. As Napoleon said, “Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.”

      1. Well, yes. But if he felt that he had to refute the speaker, he should have said something less likely to give the GOP a talking point. Unlike Metaxis, so far as I know, he did apologize.

      2. I fear that such napoleonic reason is not the way to deal with Trump and Co. That was by and large the strategy in 2016 (“we’ll be reasonable, and people will come round to us”), and it failed. I’m afraid that to loosen the grip of Trumpdom, something rather sterner will be needed …

  6. This will follow him the rest of his life. Metaxas is not as well-known outside evangelical circles as some. And this is no way to introduce himself to the broader world, because it will be the one thing that defines him.

    Not a good look. But that he even wrote the thing, let alone sent it, tells everyone just what kind of person he is. Loathsome.

  7. I wonder when Metaxas is forced to “walk back” that tweet, (or maybe even forced to actually apologize for it), will he expect the same level of forgiveness he has shown Biden?

  8. I wonder when Metaxas is forced to “walk back” that tweet, (or maybe even forced to actually apologize for it), will he expect the same level of forgiveness he has shown Biden?

  9. sad.
    He clearly must have left his WWJD bracelet at home, because that is not what Jesus would do.

  10. I have come to the conclusion that Twitter makes people stupid, no matter what side they are on.

    1. Honestly I think he just reveals the stupid. Metaxas had been showing his stupidity for years before Trump, such as his fake history of Boenhoffer.

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