#BlackLives(STILL)Matter after Trump

What Has Changed or Not, and Where Do We Go from Here?

Abstract

When younger generations ask why America is a nation divided, do we explain how religion and politics sow the landscape of public consciousness? Religious rhetoric falsely comforts when invoked as a default excuse to cloak political agendas or to justify public actions. A conundrum arises for the proverbial church and academy whenever religio-politics conflate God-talk with ideological posturing that polarizes, or restrictive policy that marginalizes, in the public sphere. Debate ensues over what constitutes a faith response, complicated, perhaps, by what might be deemed appropriate prophetic action. I examine public implications of #BlackLivesMatter dynamics to consider: Where do we go from here?