Legal/Law/Criminal Justice and Reform

‘Spiritual Wickedness’: Religious Leaders Melt Down Over SCOTUS Ruling Overturning Race-Based Admissions

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Multiple religious leaders melted down over the Supreme Court’s decision Thursday that race-based admissions were unconstitutional, according to posts on Twitter.

The decision, regarding Harvard University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s admission process, determined that affirmative action, which grants college admission based on race, violated the 14th Amendment, sparking protests from religious leaders on Twitter. Ekemini Uwan, a public theologian and a co-author of the book “Truth’s Table,” called the decision the result of “spiritual wickedness” on Twitter.

“This is what spiritual wickedness in high places looks like, ” Uwan wrote. “America, must be born again. My soul cries out!”

This is what spiritual wickedness in high places looks like.

America, must be born again. My soul cries out! #affirmativeaction #SCOTUS https://t.co/iuMrJd82Io

— M.DivA, NAACP IMAGE AWARD NOMINATED AUTHOR (@sista_theology) June 29, 2023

Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis, a pastor at Middle Church in New York City, said that the decision showed that “equity was more offensive than racism,” before accusing the founding fathers of never intending “for us to be educated or free,” according to a Twitter post.

But, one thing is very true: The founding fathers certainly did not intend for us to educated or free.

And that’s why our laws cannot be predicated on their intentions. We deserve more than that.

— Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis (@RevJacquiLewis) June 29, 2023

In another tweet, Lewis claimed that Supreme Court Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett were only appointed to the court because of “race-based admissions.”

“Race-based admissions are the only reason Brett Kavanaugh or Amy Coney Barrett are on the court in the first place,” Lewis said. “Sure as hell wasn’t a merit-based choice. They were handpicked to mold the country for white supremacy, and they are delivering on that promise.”

Rev. Duke Kwon, an Asian lead pastor at Grace DC church and the author of, “Reparations: A Christian Call For Repentance and Repair,” expressed his disbelief on Twitter that concerns about anti-Asian discrimination were “at the center” of the Supreme Court’s ruling.

I can’t stand that Asian Americans are at the center of the SCOTUS ruling that ended affirmative action.

— Duke Kwon (@dukekwondc) June 29, 2023

Another pastor at Bridge Church in Brooklyn, New York, Rasool Berry, wrote on his personal Twitter account that if many of the U.S. systems were based on race, the solution could also be based on race.

Slavery in the USA: race-based.
Anti-literacy laws: race-based.
Segregation: race-based.
Redlining/School funding: race-based
standardized tests bias: race-based
School discipline bias: race-based.

But solutions to correct the inequalities can’t be race-based? #affirmativeaction

— Rasool Berry (@rasoolberry) June 29, 2023

Berry said in several follow-up tweets that he had worked in the admissions department at the University of Pennsylvania. He argued that legacy admissions, students who are related to alumni of the school, before Brown v. Board, when the court ruled against racial segregation in schools, have benefited from race-based admissions.

“I worked in admissions at Penn. ‘Legacy’ (students related to alumni) is considered in admissions,” Berry wrote. “Those whose families were Legacy prior to application of Brown v Board, are already beneficiaries of race-based admissions. Miss me with this ‘color-blind’ rationale.”