An Oklahoma State University professor appeared to endorse racial segregation in churches in a recent column that warned black Americans they were “exposing themselves to the dangers of white Christian Nationalism” by attending church with white people.

The column also indicated that many black churchgoers are ignorant, blithely unaware of the alleged danger they place themselves in by sharing a pew with white churchgoers.

The Oct. 14 column, by Lawrence Ware, a teaching assistant professor in the Philosophy Department and interim director of Africana Studies at OSU, ran on The Root website, which is dedicated to “Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude.”

Ware’s article was headlined, “Professor: Black People Who Attend White Churches May Be In Danger And Not Know It.” It also included a subhead that read, “We know about the evils of white Christian Nationalism. But if you are Black and attend a white church, you may still be in danger.”

Ware warned that as more black people “increasingly attend white churches, they might be exposing themselves to the dangers of white Christian Nationalism.” He noted that many black citizens “don’t even attend multiracial churches, they have started going to white ones,” and warned that there is “danger” involved when “attending a church like that.”

According to Ware, the supposed dangers of black Americans attending church with white people include that many white individuals may be Republicans and support President Donald Trump. Ware declared that Trump is “comfortable with policies that marginalize Black folks,” linking to a story on Trump’s opposition to “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) policies. 

Critics of DEI have long argued that the DEI policies institutionalize racism and often fuel antisemitism.

Ware did not define “white Christian Nationalism” in his column, other than to say its adherents “believe American slavery was beneficial because it introduced Black people to Jesus.” He noted that many white supporters of segregation in the 1960s considered themselves Christians, but he did not cite any modern examples.

While the phrase “Christian Nationalism” is often used as a pejorative by left-wing individuals to attack those with political views different from their own, the term is rarely defined and often nebulous.

Ironically, when one group recently tried to define the term, black Americans were among the racial groups that most readily embraced so-called “Christian Nationalism.”

The 2024 PRRI American Values Atlas surveyed respondents to ask if they agreed with certain statements the organization defined as “Christian Nationalist” beliefs.

Those statements included the following:

• “God has called Christians to exercise dominion over all areas of American society.”
• “The U.S. government should declare America a Christian nation.”
• “Being Christian is an important part of being truly American.”
• “If the U.S. moves away from our Christian foundations, we will not have a country anymore.”
• “U.S. laws should be based on Christian values.”

The PRRI survey found 44 percent of black respondents identified as either adherents or sympathizers with those views, the largest share of any racial group.

Overall, PRRI reported that “there is little variation by race or ethnicity when it comes to support for Christian nationalist identity.”

Professor Says He Teaches ‘Through the Lens of Critical Race Theory’

In 2021, Ware participated in a panel hosted by the Oklahoma Conference of Churches titled, “Is America a ‘Fundamentally Racist Nation’? A Faith Perspective.”

Much of the panel’s focus was on enactment of House Bill 1775, which banned K-12 schools from teaching several concepts, including that “one race or sex is inherently superior to another race or sex,” that “an individual, by virtue of his or her race or sex, is inherently racist, sexist or oppressive, whether consciously or unconsciously,” or that individuals “should be discriminated against or receive adverse treatment solely or partly because of his or her race or sex.”

Ware condemned Oklahoma lawmakers for passing HB 1775.

“Everybody around us looks down on this state,” Ware said. “And they look down on this state because of these kinds of laws. Many, many friends of mine refuse to come back to this state. Many, many people who are not from this state don’t want to come here.”

Oklahoma has since been among the states enjoying the strongest levels of in-state migration as people decamp from other parts of the nation to move to Oklahoma.

Panelists were also asked to respond to a comment made by state Sen. Shane Jett, R-Shawnee, who said, “America has become too preoccupied with the color of people’s skin.”

Ware responded: “He’s comfortable with being preoccupied when black people are the people who are the targets, but he’s not comfortable with being preoccupied when we’re now pushing back and now white people are the targets.”

Jett is Cherokee and his wife is a native of Brazil.

During the panel, Ware said he teaches “through the lens of Critical Race Theory.” He also said, “When it comes to, like, homosexuality, I teach them, ‘Hey, support LGBTQ, whatever.’ I mean, there’s just clear things that you should support.”

During the panel, Ware also complained that white people “voted for Donald Trump and they support Donald Trump, and they refuse to tell the truth about what’s happening. And so, while I really, really wish that things would get better, I just don’t have any faith that it will. I just think that we have to find a way to persevere in the reality of racism being here.”

On the “Rate My Professor” website, former students have rated one of Ware’s classes as very “easy,” “a breeze,” and a good course for an “easy A.” One reviewer wrote, “TAKE HIS CLASS. SO SO SO SO SO EASY.” The average difficulty rating for Ware’s class is 1.9 on a five-point scale.

One reviewer wrote that Ware was a “funny dude and undeniably woke” who said “a few things that were blatantly erroneous.”

[For more stories about higher education in Oklahoma, visit AimHigherOK.com.]