The Interplay Between Contemporary White Supremacy and Religion: Post-Racialism as a Meta-Religion

Contemporary white supremacy can trace its colonial genealogy to religion. In settler-colonial contexts, it manifests as post-racialism, the ideology that argues race has no significant impact on our everyday lives. Sociologists widely deploy the epistemology of white ignorance as a framework to theorise that individuals interpret the ignorance underpinning post-racialism as a “legitimate” way of understanding white supremacy. Meanwhile, psychologists deploy the theory of God(s)’ mind as a framework to describe individuals’ conceptualisation of God(s)’ (political) beliefs. However, there is a dearth of research that deploys both theoretical frameworks to study and challenge religious and political beliefs that uphold white supremacy. This thesis incorporates existing concepts in sociology, psychology, religious studies, and the philosophy of knowledge production to extend novel frameworks of analysis and resistance against post-racialism. I conceptualise post-racialism as a meta-religion to examine how the “legitimacy” of post-racialism draws inspiration from religious constructs and becomes embedded in religious beliefs simultaneously. The analysis shows that individuals and institutions “sacralise” post-racialism by devoting and reproducing their faith in white ignorance. They co-opt the legitimising claims of religious beliefs to justify treating post-racialism as the superior, ultimate, and transcendent framework of understanding white supremacy. Moreover, individuals “divinise” post-racialism by projecting their own faith in white ignorance onto God(s), consolidating the post-racial theory of God(s)’ mind. They declare that God(s) endorse post-racialism, not knowing that this declaration implies their “impartial” God(s) can adopt faith in white ignorance. The findings suggest that post-racialism’s manifestation as a meta-religion represents white supremacy’s parasitic consumption of religion, which functions to perpetuate the racial hierarchy. However, agents of white supremacy reimagine belief in post-racialism as a marker of virtue and/or piety. Thus, critical engagement with both religious and political ideas is necessary to deconstruct and disrupt post-racialism as a meta-religion.