How Ableism Fuels Racism: Dismantling the Hierarchy of Bodies in the Church

Publishers Weekly starred review "Marshaling fine-grained historical detail and scrupulous analysis, Hardwick persuades." —Publishers Weekly (starred review) As a Black autistic pastor and disability scholar, Lamar Hardwick lives at the intersection of disability, race, and religion. Tied to this reality, he heeded the call to write How Ableism Fuels Racism to help Christian communities engage in critical conversations about race by addressing issues of ableism. Hardwick believes that ableism—the idea that certain bodies are better than others—and the disability discrimination fueled by this perspective are the root causes of racial bias and injustice in American culture and in the church. Here, he uses historical records, biblical interpretation, and disability studies to examine how ableism in America led to the creation of images, idols, and institutions that perpetuate both disability and racial discrimination. He then goes a step further, calling the church into action to address the deep-seated issues of ableism that started it all and offering practical steps to help listeners dismantle ableism and racism both in attitude and practice.