Apocalyptic Reading Group - Bonus Session (Damned Whiteness)

The memory of the long civil rights movement often celebrates white Christians who drew on their religious faith to support Black demands for racial justice. However, the visions and actions of these leaders and their organizations often conflicted with those of Black leadership. While Black activists fought for a broad vision of freedom, white allies focused more narrowly on cultivating interracial friendship, marching in parallel to Black movement leaders rather than alongside them.

Damned Whiteness: How White Christians Failed the Black Freedom Movement offers an unflinching history of white-led efforts at interracial organizing gone astray. Considering the examples of Dorothy Day, cofounder of the Catholic Worker Movement; Clarence Jordan, spiritual father of Habitat for Humanity; and Ralph Templin, a Christian missionary who studied nonviolence in Gandhi’s India, David F. Evans reveals how religious white progressives inherited strategies that remained disconnected from the ideas and actions of Black communities. These disconnects have often been cloaked as disagreements over religious doctrine and practice, but Evans reveals how they stem from refusals to acknowledge Black leaders’ philosophies and freedom dreams. Though these patterns persist, Evans offers a way out of this legacy of white allyship and into a future where freedom is possible.

This online book discussion is part of our Apocalyptic Reading Group. Apocalypse means “revelation.” Certainly we are living through apocalyptic times, but what exactly is being revealed?

If the systems of US empire are collapsing, and it seems they are, what will we build in the gaps that empire leaves behind? How will we avoid replicating harmful ways, when those are all many of us have known?

With this book discussion series, we’ll look for wisdom in books. Chosen in conversation with folks whose lives they’ve changed, these books have the power to upend our assumptions, spark our imaginations, and point us toward possible liberatory futures. 

These will not be solely intellectual conversations. We’ll weave in grounding moments, personal sharing (always optional!), and inspiration from a variety of sources to keep us encouraged.

This special session will take place from 4-5:30pm ET/ 1-2:30 PT on Sunday, January 25, 2026. 

Note: David F. Evans will hold an in-person retreat on this material from February 27-March 1. We encourage you to come wrestle with this stuff in person with us.

This series is offered free of cost, and a donation ask will be part of the session. 

We’ll send a zoom link out when you register.

We can’t wait to be in conversation with you!