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African American Ramification of Belief in the Great Distraction of Christianity (The backlash of self hate via assimilation)
”Think of the tragedy of teaching our children not to doubt.” ~Clarence Darrow
African Americans have been trying to prove their moral equivalence to euro America for so long they have forgotten their actual and natural human equivalence. Once America agreed African Americans would be better off led by preachers the damage had begun. African American thinker and author J.A.
Rogers, speaks to this brilliantly in his From Superman to Man. When the Pullman porter is asked by the white politician if Christianity has brought solace to Blacks, he poignantly with honest precision retorts the following: "To enslave a man, then dope him to make him content! Do you call THAT a solace?...The honest fact is that the greatest hindrance to the progress of the Negro is that dope that was shot into him during slavery...The slogan of the Negro devotee is: Take the world but give me Jesus, and the white man strikes an eager bargain with him...Another fact' there are far too many Negro preachers. Religion is the single most fruitful medium for exploiting this already exploited group." ~ J.A. Rogers
The case against Christianity as a useful belief system for African Americans lies in what they have forgotten, either willfully or unconsciously, about themselves. I believe if one is unconscious one is not accountable. For example, if a racist doesn't know s/he is a racist, can s/he be accountable for being one? However, to consciously and willingly turn ones' back on spiritually based knowledge(in this case about African spirituality and questions about existence and creation) and accept another, especially when it can be obtained by mere investigation through means that are available to us all, highlights an ignorance deep rooted in self-hate. For why else would a people continue to ignore the spiritual historical roots of ones' own ancestral heritage and choose to remain, as the main foundation, with one outside of their own. Especially when it is accessible through academia, literature and vestigial culture? Though African indigenous traditional beliefs are as filled with ritualistically superstitious propitiations and just as tribal in their folklore as monotheism, the answer is simple. Doing so would mean not believing in the religions, mainly Christianity here in the US, that were handed down to present generations from the loving preceding generations before it.
It is here where we must always remember that because it was passed down by those who love us and those we love, that in itself does not make it true. Many human generations have died believing in something that is not true(e.g. all the eras of human existence who thought the world was flat). If a mother truly, in her mind, believes the brutal beating of her child for not coming home on time from play was justified, it does not mean it is actually justified. She may truly love her child but that does not make the beating just.
Ergo, the Christianity passed down from generation to generation in the African American community since being brought to the Americas, done so first through the plantation owner and then post slavery through loving African American parents in the name of love for the child, does not make the creation myths and purpose of existence laid out in the precepts of its 'holy writ' true. On the contrary it means a myth creation story was and continues to be perpetuated by a people who, once liberated from a slavery that totally colonized the mind and replaced the cultural and spiritual foundations of this people, lost(over time) their own mythical creation story. Sure Christianity gives consolation and makes African Americans feel good about knowing what cannot be known, especially as death approaches, in trying time, or in times of existential uncertainty. But that is the placebo effect of all religions.
For as real as theism can make one feel good (and it is clearly a real feeling to believers) in trying times, the supernatural stories one has to believe in in order to be a believer remain, as do all placebos, unreal and untrue in the evidence based world we all are born into.
”Think of the tragedy of teaching our children not to doubt.” ~Clarence Darrow
African Americans have been trying to prove their moral equivalence to euro America for so long they have forgotten their actual and natural human equivalence. Once America agreed African Americans would be better off led by preachers the damage had begun. African American thinker and author J.A.
Rogers, speaks to this brilliantly in his From Superman to Man. When the Pullman porter is asked by the white politician if Christianity has brought solace to Blacks, he poignantly with honest precision retorts the following: "To enslave a man, then dope him to make him content! Do you call THAT a solace?...The honest fact is that the greatest hindrance to the progress of the Negro is that dope that was shot into him during slavery...The slogan of the Negro devotee is: Take the world but give me Jesus, and the white man strikes an eager bargain with him...Another fact' there are far too many Negro preachers. Religion is the single most fruitful medium for exploiting this already exploited group." ~ J.A. Rogers
The case against Christianity as a useful belief system for African Americans lies in what they have forgotten, either willfully or unconsciously, about themselves. I believe if one is unconscious one is not accountable. For example, if a racist doesn't know s/he is a racist, can s/he be accountable for being one? However, to consciously and willingly turn ones' back on spiritually based knowledge(in this case about African spirituality and questions about existence and creation) and accept another, especially when it can be obtained by mere investigation through means that are available to us all, highlights an ignorance deep rooted in self-hate. For why else would a people continue to ignore the spiritual historical roots of ones' own ancestral heritage and choose to remain, as the main foundation, with one outside of their own. Especially when it is accessible through academia, literature and vestigial culture? Though African indigenous traditional beliefs are as filled with ritualistically superstitious propitiations and just as tribal in their folklore as monotheism, the answer is simple. Doing so would mean not believing in the religions, mainly Christianity here in the US, that were handed down to present generations from the loving preceding generations before it.
It is here where we must always remember that because it was passed down by those who love us and those we love, that in itself does not make it true. Many human generations have died believing in something that is not true(e.g. all the eras of human existence who thought the world was flat). If a mother truly, in her mind, believes the brutal beating of her child for not coming home on time from play was justified, it does not mean it is actually justified. She may truly love her child but that does not make the beating just.
Ergo, the Christianity passed down from generation to generation in the African American community since being brought to the Americas, done so first through the plantation owner and then post slavery through loving African American parents in the name of love for the child, does not make the creation myths and purpose of existence laid out in the precepts of its 'holy writ' true. On the contrary it means a myth creation story was and continues to be perpetuated by a people who, once liberated from a slavery that totally colonized the mind and replaced the cultural and spiritual foundations of this people, lost(over time) their own mythical creation story. Sure Christianity gives consolation and makes African Americans feel good about knowing what cannot be known, especially as death approaches, in trying time, or in times of existential uncertainty. But that is the placebo effect of all religions.
For as real as theism can make one feel good (and it is clearly a real feeling to believers) in trying times, the supernatural stories one has to believe in in order to be a believer remain, as do all placebos, unreal and untrue in the evidence based world we all are born into.