Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Progressive Christian
Politics and Religion
White Savior Syndrome: a brief case study

White Savior Syndrome: a brief case study

Last updated on: December 6, 2021 at 9:53 am by Kathryn Shihadah

White Savior Syndrome: a brief case study 2021-12-06T09:53:03-05:00 Kathryn Shihadah

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Here’s a quick story about a recent White Savior Syndrome sighting:

As my Arab-American husband and I enjoyed a scrumptious lunch in a Yemeni restaurant the other day, a small group entered the establishment and sat nearby. The place was not full, and no background music played, so I couldn’t help but overhear their conversation.

It was a young married Mennonite couple with a baby and a single man – all (except the baby) in church leadership. They’d gotten together to talk about God and make plans for spreading the Gospel in the city.

The lone waitress in the restaurant, Amani, was young and wore a headscarf. She was friendly and articulate.

My husband and I love to check out Arabic restaurants (and other ethnic cuisines), and he loves to schmooze with waiters by making jokes in Arabic – as he did with Amani. He could tell right away from her accent that she was not Yemeni, but Moroccan. We made small talk and raved to her about the food, and about Morocco, where we vacationed for a week years ago. She was very warm and attentive.

“Young Muslim Woman at May 18 Commemoration of Crimean Tatar Deportations-Genocide – Maidan Square – Kiev – Ukraine” by Adam Jones, Ph.D. – Global Photo Archive is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

But half of me continued to eavesdrop on the other table. The group members took turns humbly telling stories of how God had used them to intervene in people’s lives and “lead them to Christ.”

(Commercial: if you question “business as usual” in Christianity – or want to question it – subscribe to my newsletter, and we can journey together!)

When Amani brought them their food, one of the men announced, “We are going to pray over our food right now, and we’d like to pray for you too. Do you have any needs or problems in your life?”

It was clear that Amani was not expecting this, and that she was uncomfortable. But she told them, “My husband is in Morocco and is having trouble getting a visa to come and be with me.”

“Ok,” the presiding minister said, “we will pray for God’s favor on your husband so he can come to America. Would you like to pray with us?”

I couldn’t hear her response, but it was short. She turned quickly and walked to the kitchen.

In that short exchange, I understood something that had puzzled me since the moment the group had arrived: why would a Mennonite woman in a prayer cap and two Mennonite men (and a Mennonite baby) darken the doorway of a Yemeni restaurant? Of course – because they were sure to find an “unbeliever” or two inside that they could rescue.

White saviors, praying for benighted souls to make their way to the Promised Land (I refer here to both heaven and the United States).

As a Christian, I was mortified by their arrogance in obliging Amani to talk about her personal life (yes, she could have declined, but that would have been even more awkward). I shared in her discomfort at the condescending invitation to pray with these folks who clearly knew they had a direct line to the Almighty.

My husband shared in my dismay. Do these people think their prayers are somehow superior to anyone else’s? Do they think Amani’s prayers, which she prayes many times a day, don’t reach past the ceiling because she is a Muslim?

A few minutes later, Amani brought us some Yemeni tea to round off our meal. Part of me wanted to apologize for that earlier display, but I didn’t want her to know that we had witnessed it. We just chatted some more. My husband asked about the word in the Moroccan dialect for “delicious.” He mentioned to her that he is Palestinian.

As we left, Amani said in Arabic, “May God help Palestine and the Palestinian people.”

That is a prayer from the heart.

(If you are energized by challenges to the evangelical status quo like this, you’d enjoy my blog. Sign up for my free newsletter here!)

(If you would like to comment, please pop over to my Facebook page. All of my posts are there and open to constructive comment! I welcome your thoughts. And don’t forget to subscribe to my newsletter!)

OTHER POSTS ABOUT ISLAM:

Ramadan for Christians: then sings my soul, “subhanallah”

Ramadan for Christians: mashallah, inshallah, and more

Interfaith harmony: the kinship of Christians and Muslims

Muslims and Christians: we are family

FEATURED IMAGE: “Young Muslim Woman at May 18 Commemoration of Crimean Tatar Deportations-Genocide – Maidan Square – Kiev – Ukraine” by Adam Jones, Ph.D. – Global Photo Archive is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

white savior syndrome

yemen

Previous Post

December 2, 2021

Are there "strong Christian women" on Capitol Hill?

Next Post

December 9, 2021 Reflections on "O Come O Come Emmanuel"

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category abortion becoming progressive christmas exvangelical Gaza family injustice interfaith islam Palestine and Israel parable politics Ramadan rohr sexual orientation ten commandments Uncategorized upside-down bible women

Select a Month October 2026 July 2026 May 2026 April 2026 September 2025 August 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz