While visiting with the women on “The View,” CNN’s Don Lemon raised a lot of eyebrows. He spoke about his latest book in which he addresses racism in America and his thoughts on God and Jesus.
He wants us to be “realistic about God and the Bible.”
But his idea of Jesus has some Christians and Jews scratching their heads.
Don Lemon’s Social Causes
The host of “CNN Tonight with Don Lemon” has used the show to promote social causes. Now, he’s bringing that social justice warrior role to his recently published book “This Is the Fire: What I Say to My Friends About Racism.”
Lemon was a constant critic of President Trump during his years in the White House.
He mentions Trump in his book, “It breaks my heart and burns my tongue to say it, but in 2016, Donald Trump was exactly the president we deserved and probably the president we needed in the way you need symptoms that alert you to a disease.”
That’s not praise by any means, he’s suggesting that Trump exposed weaknesses in America and allowed the racism that people might have thought was buried to surface.
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Don Lemon’s Depiction Of Jesus
Speaking to Meghan McCain and the other hosts on the show, Lemon spoke about the true identity of Jesus needing to be shown to begin to address racism in America.
Lemon says, “People ask me all the time, especially young mothers, young white mothers, they say what can I do? How can I fix this after George Floyd? I don’t have the vocabulary to teach my kids. What can I do?”
He continues, “And, I thought about that and offered some advice. That’s what the book is about. It’s one of the reasons I wrote the book. We have to start, as I said earlier in the show, we have to teaching the true history of this country, the history that African-Americans brought to this country.”
Lemon said, “We have to start being realistic about God and the Bible,” and continued to say, “If you are a person of faith in this country, and we know America is built on faith and religious freedom, then we have to, a good way of starting is to present the true identity of Jesus.”
Lemon wants us to think of Jesus in racial terms and hang pictures of Black or Brown Jesus.
He continued, “And that is as a black or brown person, rather than someone who looks like a white hippy from Sweden or Norway. And I think we should start with a true depiction of what Jesus looked like. And put that in your home. Either a black Jesus or a brown Jesus. Because we know Jesus looked more like a Muslim or someone who is dark, rather than someone who is blonde or a blonde-looking carpenter.”
“And when your children ask you ‘who is this?’ This is Jesus. Jesus was Middle Eastern. Bethlehem was not in Sweden. And so Jesus does not look like popular depiction that we have in our churches and in our homes and that we see all over the media.”
The journalist believes these diverse pictures of Jesus will help combat racism.
He went on, “And I think that is a good place to start and that is a good place that your kids will ask questions, and then you can go from there. Then we can come to a true reality about what America really is and then try to figure out how we fix this issue of racism in the country. It is a spell that must be broken.”
You can see Don Lemon talking with Megan Mccain on The View right here:
He suggests that if children grow up thinking Jesus wasn’t white, it will help with racial strife.
He is asking for a truthful conversation about who Jesus was, but his didn’t sit well with some people.
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Dickerson Calls Out Lemon On Twitter
Michael Dickson, Executive Director of Stand With Us Israel, takes issue with Lemon’s intended characterization of Jesus for the simple fact that it erases the important fact Jesus was a Jew.
Dickerson’s been named one of the Top 15 influential Jews on Twitter.
He tweeted:
Dear @donlemon, while discussing healing racial wounds on @TheView, you inadvertently contributed to the erasure of Jewish identity. You told people to “present the true identity of Jesus, as a black or brown person.. more like a Muslim or someone who is dark.”
Jesus was a Jew. pic.twitter.com/ovDZLtRSHE— Michael Dickson (@michaeldickson) March 17, 2021
Dickson further pointed out that Don Lemon wanted to discuss the truth about Jesus but left out his identity, tweeting:
He was a dark-skinned, Jew hailing from Bethlehem in Judea, the ancestral Jewish homeland (Jew=from Judea, today the State of Israel).
You rightly asked for a truthful conversation about who Jesus was in order to foster understanding. Omitting the actual truth.. (2/3)
— Michael Dickson (@michaeldickson) March 17, 2021
And, he also points out the diversity of Jews:
..erases the very identity, heritage and birthplace of Jewish people. It also denies the diversity of Jews, who are black, brown, white and everything in between. I am sure this was not your intention and hope you will correct the record. I would be happy to discuss more. (3/3)
— Michael Dickson (@michaeldickson) March 17, 2021
Lemon also misses another important message. Christians aren’t fixated on or concerned with Jesus’s skin tone.
They are focused on Jesus’ message.
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