Racism in Religion
In American Society, racism is a taboo subject. And in the church, it's even more taboo. But it was real. Very real. I experienced it firsthand. I remember the leader of my church (the pastor's wife) coming into my apartment (actually I was staying with two sisters in the church in a two-bedroom apartment) and blasting my roommate for having all "Afro-centric" decor. "You've got to get rid of this," She said with disgust, flailing her hands in dismay at the Kemetian (Egyptian) paintings on the wall she'd gotten at a Harlem festival. She said the "ethnic decor" was not conducive to evangelizing different kinds of people, that they would be somehow pushed away by my roommate celebrating her own culture. No "universal appeal" our leader said, aggravated, her blue eyes flaming.
It was weird at the time, but it was understood amongst my household that this woman was not "white" but our leader-the leader who God had appointed to be over us. We were brainwashed with Hebrews 13:17:
"Continue to obey your leaders and be submissive to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls as those who will have to give an account."
It was preached over and over again, specifically the "obey your leaders" part. Our women's leader was so out of line it was ridiculous but after all, she was our God-appointed leader. In retrospect, it was racist and this was just one of many instances where she allowed her true colors to show, but at the time we were also indoctrinated with Galatians 3:28:
"There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, there is no male and female, for we are all one in Christ Jesus."
Our church leaders skillfully used that scripture to nullify any concept of rascism among Christians. Any "isms" for that matter were eradicated. After all, the word of God was literally handwritten by this male God himself, up in the sky sitting on his judgment throne-a God that could not be questioned.
The pastor's wife was disgruntled because the leadership team was all-"black". She and her husband took over leadership of our small satellite church from another couple and most of the membership were "black" students from a local engineering college. She kept saying that the church leadership needed to raise up more people. She didn't say "white" people but that's what she was implying. The members of our leadership team were instructed to recruit the blond hair and blue-eyes members of society to make sure we were spreading the word of God to "all nations".
Funny, because in the churches I was a part of that were all "white" this was never an issue.
They weren't pushing for more Mexicans or Chinese or Phillipino either...
Wait, I take that back. "All-white" was an issue when the church needed some "flavor" and the entertainment was boring. Ain't nobody got soul like "black" people. Nobody. So when the church leaders decided that they needed some lively singing, a choir-along with some other extra-curricular activities- they made it a point to recruit "people of color".
It's so blatant. I visited so many "black" churches and "white" churches that it's ridiculous. Nothing in America today is more segregated than the religous institutions. Even the mega-churches on t.v.
If we are so liberated from racism then why the stark segregation? It's bullshit, that's what it is.
It's all under the guise of "leadership". In the church I belonged to for 15 years, almost all the congregation leaders were white. And the higher you went in the church's corporate structure, the paler it got. When the big city churches got too dark, evangelism campaigns were deliberately set up to recruit "white" men and women-the kind that fit the all-American Archetype.
This church was a world-wide organization with its satellite congregations in Boston, New York, and London. And in true cult-style, the protocol was the same everywhere. "Black" people weren't "promoted" to the higher ranks of leadership because they couldn't "reach as many people"-the same excuse Hollywood gives for not giving black actors parts in movies or t.v. shows or for financing all-black films.
The church is no better than society in this respect. I would argue from a historical perspective that the church is the progenesis of racism. We're not talking about spirituality here, we're talking about religion as an institution.
Early on in the nation's history, African slaves were forced to accept the Jesus doctrine and relinquish their own culture. In fact, Christianity was how the world was conquered by means of missionaries. They went everywhere and gave the indigenous people an ultimatum-either bow down to Christianity or die. They had to dismantle the ancient spiritual practices of a people so they could conquer them.
In its original essence, Chrisitanity teaches racial inferiority and superiority, depending on who is imposing the religion. You have blue-black people in African countries worshipping a frail, hippie-looking effeminate white male as their savior. If you understand psychology, then you know that the brain stores things in the form of images. It's similar to a computer desktop page with the icons or the iphone with the apps. "Black" people's "APP" for savior is a white male. Any wonder why there's so many issues?
And you know what people say? That same corny line I'm tired of hearing: "NOT MY CHURCH."
Yeah, your church, too.
To wrap this up, I feel that in order to heal from the effects of the religious experience, we have to be honest about those ugly things we were subjected to. I'm not saying there weren't some good things, too, because there were. But things like racism-be it subtle or really out there-needs to be discussed and dealt with. Too many christian people live under this guise of "we're all God's little children" but in reality they are products of race-based social engineering. So let's just be honest about it. And after we get honest, unplug from the matrix and get our minds, souls, and spirits right.
Until next time,
H.
It was weird at the time, but it was understood amongst my household that this woman was not "white" but our leader-the leader who God had appointed to be over us. We were brainwashed with Hebrews 13:17:
"Continue to obey your leaders and be submissive to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls as those who will have to give an account."
It was preached over and over again, specifically the "obey your leaders" part. Our women's leader was so out of line it was ridiculous but after all, she was our God-appointed leader. In retrospect, it was racist and this was just one of many instances where she allowed her true colors to show, but at the time we were also indoctrinated with Galatians 3:28:
"There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, there is no male and female, for we are all one in Christ Jesus."
Our church leaders skillfully used that scripture to nullify any concept of rascism among Christians. Any "isms" for that matter were eradicated. After all, the word of God was literally handwritten by this male God himself, up in the sky sitting on his judgment throne-a God that could not be questioned.
The pastor's wife was disgruntled because the leadership team was all-"black". She and her husband took over leadership of our small satellite church from another couple and most of the membership were "black" students from a local engineering college. She kept saying that the church leadership needed to raise up more people. She didn't say "white" people but that's what she was implying. The members of our leadership team were instructed to recruit the blond hair and blue-eyes members of society to make sure we were spreading the word of God to "all nations".
Funny, because in the churches I was a part of that were all "white" this was never an issue.
They weren't pushing for more Mexicans or Chinese or Phillipino either...
Wait, I take that back. "All-white" was an issue when the church needed some "flavor" and the entertainment was boring. Ain't nobody got soul like "black" people. Nobody. So when the church leaders decided that they needed some lively singing, a choir-along with some other extra-curricular activities- they made it a point to recruit "people of color".
It's so blatant. I visited so many "black" churches and "white" churches that it's ridiculous. Nothing in America today is more segregated than the religous institutions. Even the mega-churches on t.v.
If we are so liberated from racism then why the stark segregation? It's bullshit, that's what it is.
It's all under the guise of "leadership". In the church I belonged to for 15 years, almost all the congregation leaders were white. And the higher you went in the church's corporate structure, the paler it got. When the big city churches got too dark, evangelism campaigns were deliberately set up to recruit "white" men and women-the kind that fit the all-American Archetype.
This church was a world-wide organization with its satellite congregations in Boston, New York, and London. And in true cult-style, the protocol was the same everywhere. "Black" people weren't "promoted" to the higher ranks of leadership because they couldn't "reach as many people"-the same excuse Hollywood gives for not giving black actors parts in movies or t.v. shows or for financing all-black films.
The church is no better than society in this respect. I would argue from a historical perspective that the church is the progenesis of racism. We're not talking about spirituality here, we're talking about religion as an institution.
Early on in the nation's history, African slaves were forced to accept the Jesus doctrine and relinquish their own culture. In fact, Christianity was how the world was conquered by means of missionaries. They went everywhere and gave the indigenous people an ultimatum-either bow down to Christianity or die. They had to dismantle the ancient spiritual practices of a people so they could conquer them.
In its original essence, Chrisitanity teaches racial inferiority and superiority, depending on who is imposing the religion. You have blue-black people in African countries worshipping a frail, hippie-looking effeminate white male as their savior. If you understand psychology, then you know that the brain stores things in the form of images. It's similar to a computer desktop page with the icons or the iphone with the apps. "Black" people's "APP" for savior is a white male. Any wonder why there's so many issues?
And you know what people say? That same corny line I'm tired of hearing: "NOT MY CHURCH."
Yeah, your church, too.
To wrap this up, I feel that in order to heal from the effects of the religious experience, we have to be honest about those ugly things we were subjected to. I'm not saying there weren't some good things, too, because there were. But things like racism-be it subtle or really out there-needs to be discussed and dealt with. Too many christian people live under this guise of "we're all God's little children" but in reality they are products of race-based social engineering. So let's just be honest about it. And after we get honest, unplug from the matrix and get our minds, souls, and spirits right.
Until next time,
H.
Comments
Post a Comment