White Savior: Racism in the American Church (2019) User Reviews

Excellent exposition

[jaimemedina-36288 · 9/10 · 25 October 2021]

Absolutely fascinating, if tragic, analysis of the genesis and development of the race problem in the US. A thorough exposition of the historical backstory gives a critical context.

If you've got a problem with the content, a good hard long look in the mirror is in order.

Simplistic, lacking depth, more focused on racism in America than the actual Church

[J0SCH · 3/10 · 1 March 2020]

The first half of this is focused on racism in America almost entirely, with a pretty basic and high level overview on the topic. It's not until about the halfway mark where Christianity starts to come in, and even then, it weaves in and out of focus on the Church in the back half. If you take the parts actually focused on racism in the church, this could have been a 15 minute YouTube video.

It feels like a rather basic term paper a student turned in last minute. Don't waste your time, look for other sources of information on this topic elsewhere online. Unfortunately this is an important and relevant topic/issue and I'm not trying to belittle it, it's just that this film fails to provide depth on this topic.

An Inside Look at Racism, Conscious and Unconscious. Within US Christianity

[nafps · 8/10 · 16 December 2020]

I found the review claiming the film mostly looked at racism in America very puzzling. It actually spends less than 10 minutes at the start on that. The rest is focused laser like on racism within the church.

In fact, the segments within the film focus specifically on: The Story of Race, The Bible and Race, Anti Blackness, Erasing Native Voices, Intersectionality, Christianity in Black and White, and Problem of Reconciliation.

Only the first segment talks about US history in general. The rest are all specific to Christian churches. Almost everyone in the film are clergy, and they are uniformly self critical, blunt, so honest that it will make some uncomfortable.

The voices in this documentary are incredibly wide ranging: Black, white, Latino, Native, Asian, Arab, and seemingly dozens of denominations. It is quite striking the one group that is conspicuously entirely absent, white fundamentalists. These are not necessarily the most racist of Christians, but they certainly are the ones most likely to deny there is even a problem.

"There is no resurrection without crucifixion" as one minister points out. This means talking about the horrors, including mass deaths, of 400 years of white supremacy that was in US churches as in the rest of the US. And as one of the other ministers points out at the end, sometimes the best and most ethical thing to do is be quiet and listen.

Historical & Social Misinterpretation

[seekthepath · 2/10 · 24 December 2020]

A film which further delivers on "progressive" ideals, transfer of power, intersectionality, & contemporary movement without acknowledging much of the United States changes & progressive movement while it continues to evolve. Half way through the film it becomes an agenda & propaganda to Black Lives Matter, Anti-Whiteness & criticism to Western Civilization. A complete hypocritical lens considering the same individuals who speak of lack of "diversity" explicitly have the privilege to enact & practice their faith as they see fit in the U.S. The issue with our society are films & education like this one, which displays & ironically expresses hatred to a group in this case "white supremacy". These aren't christian values but rather an execution & separist idealogy. This furthers inflames racial tensions. For starters, we can't reconcile our differences by continue labeling groups, but recognizing cultural differences & embracing those differences.

Daring Deep Dive Into American Racism

[stevenclark-43007 · 9/10 · 12 January 2020]

After watching this "no holds barred" documentary the faces of the men and women participants and their heart felt stories keep flooding my mind with strong waves of unsettled emotion.

I attempted to listen and feel deeply what was being portrayed without jumping to judgement and blasting away with my bias. The movie provokes without attacking, asks questions without answering and allows silence to scream out for attention.

This excellent work dares to dive into the "treacherous waters" of race and religion which at time seems to mix as well as oil and water and at other times like water and concrete.

If you seek an emotional challenge to where you place yourself with religion and race then White Savior: Racism in the American Church is your saving grace.

Hypocritical and Contradictory

[noshimonoriku · 2/10 · 8 January 2020]

Fantastic rundown of how Christianity has dehumanized, degraded and out to destroy entire cultures that aren't White. Making statements like, "America is a melting pot. Meaning everything will become one thing, and that one thing is white." All the while slowly disregarding all the history and facts, and just promoting more inclusion into Christianity. This documentary shows the hypocrisy in how White people have misinterpreted the Bible, and use it to dilute cultures into being more white, and ultimately shows how after generations of this dilution, all the People of Color who break down the White Christian influence, are still Christian and follow it. A clear example of brainwashing through the generations. A wonderful example of how White Christians are still winning.

This documentary made me more angry than anything. I was confused as to what the message was. And if it was to show how heavily Christianity has influenced America and even the world, they did an amazing job, because all the Christian People of Color in the film, explaining the history, don't even see they're own hypocrisy.

Ambitious and direct--with great interviews by contemporary voices

[stephenmatlock · 10/10 · 23 September 2019]

This is an exceedingly ambitious film, condensing 400 or more years of history and theology and work into an hour examination of America itself through the eyes of the American white Protestant beliefs and behaviors.

It was great to see so many familiar faces, great to see honest truth spoken plainly, great to see people of all demeanors and styles, from serious and earnest to hopeful and happy.

Racism is a sin, period. It seems to be the one sin that cannot be examined in the American church. It has led to grievous behaviors by white Christians for 400+ years, and it still causes the witness of the American church to be grossly stained.

This film is an attempt not to fix that--no film can do that, and the film and the speakers say that--but it is an attempt to get people, especially Christians, and most especially white Protestants, to examine themselves, what they really want, and how much do they want what they say they really want.

I watched this straight through, starting at 1130 pm when someone forwarded me the link. I couldn't go away from this the entire time.

Kudos to the entire production team on this most excellent film. Please, more of this!

Horribly biased, making up data

[dustinbangerter · 2/10 · 3 December 2023]

Overly cookie cutter assumptions made. Within the first 3 minutes the narrator (which was poorly recorded and mixed) had explained to us without justifiable cause, data or historical references that those generations before us had never seen race or skin color differences. In one broad crayon stroke they had laid foundation for an argument that was then permeated throughout the rest of this ideological... uhhh I mean, documentary. I've been studying, history, neurological development, genome research, philosophy and biological and evolutionary development as well as the history of religions and myths for the last 15 years.

This is a mocking depiction of humanity. And while I completely agree with the initial premise of the message I vehemently disagree when a biased, uneducated message is cloaked in the robes of an educational documentary. Propaganda exists in both sides of the proverbial political coin... both are drawn as easily classified caricatures of the opposing side when, in reality, everything is a muddy mess. I was hoping to see this 90 minute movie and find some good information to help shed some light on that mud and instead it focused on throwing mud and misleading the viewer into their own biased narrative.

Somewhat informative

[cliffcarbone · 4/10 · 2 April 2022]

The documentary, to some degree, is informative but it does not even come close to exploring the depths of the topic its title suggest.

Furthermore - simplifying the American church's history of racism and sexism to simply a wrong and misguided 'interpretation' of the Bible greatly misses the factual mark and does NOT take an honest and genuine approach to the Bible. The fact is that the Bible DOES sanction racist and sexist oppression.

Until people as a whole can admit that this ancient text is at the center of these issues then people will, in one hand, continue to use it in ways that harm others while justifying and making excuses for it in the other.