I think some readers will be thrown off by the introductory "Brixton" discussion. Let me give it some context.
Maria Dixon, MDiv, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Communication at the Meadows School of the Arts at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX.
She annually takes her students to the U.K. for six weeks in London, which includes the colorful (in every sense) part of The City called Brixton, where over half of the population is of African or Caribbean descent, or Asian (read: Pakistanis and Middle Easterners). It is the home of the Brixton Mosque, the oldest Mosque in South London.
That may be why some of he students were afraid of Brixton.
She herself is progressive and black, but? and? --- this is the best part --- she is apparently a Genuine Christian with a capital G. "Gee ...it's true." As this rather paradoxical blog entry of hers illustrates: "Still Striking Out" (Link)
(What I wanted you to see is that her main complaint about the Christian Church is that it is not Christian enough: it isn't calling people to the saving power of Jesus Christ, our redeemer who died for our sins and has come that we might live in Him. Wow!)
So we've got some real complexity here.
Which is to say: a real human being. Maria Dixon, progressive, black, Methodist, Christian: a real human being.
I am proud to see her defending Paula Deen.
I would qualify that to "a piece of the truth."
It's easy to damage ones own soul.
Methodist ---and Christian? How can DAT be? LOL!
(You may recall my many laments about the Methodist church I was raised in now swirling the PC drain...)