Excuse Me, Christians...

Posted By: Maryanne Campbell on April 24, 2010

I came across an article entitled, “The Perils Of Patronizing” by Michael Gerson, who wrote the following:

“Christianity was the religion held by **** masters -- often distorted into an ideology of oppression. But African Americans found a model of liberation in the Exodus. They discovered that Jesus more closely resembled the beaten and lynched **** than their pious oppressors. And African Americans -- by their courageous assertion of God's universal love and man's universal dignity -- redeemed a nation they had entered in chains.

But black liberation theology takes this argument a large step further -- or perhaps backward. The Rev. Wright's intellectual mentor, professor James Cone of Union Theological Seminary, retreats from the universality of Christianity. "Black theology," says Cone, "refuses to accept a God who is not identified totally with the goals of the black community. If God is not for us and against white people, then he is a murderer, and we had better **** him." And again: "Black theology will accept only the love of God which participates in the destruction of the white enemy." And again: "In the New Testament, Jesus is not for all, but for the oppressed, the poor and unwanted of society, and against oppressors."

The black community is in large part driven to Christianity, or had it handed down to them rather, from a very young age. It’s the crux of our community to a large degree as we gather together on Sunday mornings to commune, worship and socialize. It may be perhaps where we are most connected, especially if one doesn’t reside in a predominantly black neighborhood or community. As a child, for instance, the church was the only place I was exposed to my culture as a whole.

So, given Gerson’s words, I have to ask, what is your take on your religion? How do you feel about it and define it? What are your views?

Gerson, M. (2008). The Perils Of Patronizing. Retrieved April 24, 2010 from The Washington Post. Website: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...
If you enjoyed this article, Join BlackInAmerica.com today for similar content and opportunities via email!

Maryanne Campbell
Administrative, Security,
Prairie View A&M University class of 1999
Member Since February 2009

Comments

Please Login To Post Comments...
Email:	Password:

Richard Kigel
teacher, writer at Philosophy Day School

“So, given Gerson’s words, I have to ask, what is your take on your religion? How do you feel about it and define it? What are your views?”

Maryanne: What a profound series of questions. People write books about the subject. I think it will be interesting to see what kind of response you get.

What is MY take on religion?

It can be a highly personal, intimate, sincere search for the presence of the Living God.

Or it can be membership in a group of like minded people in a community.

It can be liberating and loving. It can be rigid, intolerant and tyrannical. it can be deeply spiritual. Or it can be mechanical and superficial. It can be real and it can be phony.

I think it all depends on the individual seeker.

But, the bottom line is that every individual has the freedom to practice religion as he or she sees fit. Or to practice no religion at all.

How do I feel about it?

As the worlds most ancient scripture, the Rig Veda says, ‘GOD IS ONE. WE KNOW HIM BY MANY NAMES.”

Seeking the divine presence in my life, my words and actions is something I strive for. I strongly believe the essence of the divine is expressed in 1 John 4:16—“GOD IS LOVE. AND HE THAT DWELLETH IN LOVE DWELLETH IN GOD AND GOD IN HIM.”

How do I define religion?

It comes from the Latin word “religio” which means to care for, to respect.

The Latin root of the word “religion” is the Latin word “ligare”, to bind, to yoke, to join, to connect. We get our word “ligament” from “ligare”. It means any bonding structure, any connecting element.

So, I define religion as a system of thought and a way of life that connects, binds, unifies a person with the divine.

However, there isn’t only one definition. Everyone has the opportunity and the right to define it as they see fit.

Just a word of thanks for presenting such a serious, momentous question. You forced me to think about the subject more deeply. It is possible to give a quick superficial answer to your question. But that doesn’t do justice to the search for God by all humankind throughout the ages on every continent.

What a question!!!

Thank you for offering it!

Saturday, April 24th 2010 at 9:12PM

Jen Fad
Nurse at Healthcare

[I think it all depends on the individual seeker. ]

I concur with Brother Rich in that it depends on the individual. I don't go to (church) to mingle or mix up with the other church goers. I go to church out of obligation to fulfill the hebrews 10:25 commandment. If not for that reason, I'd not go at all. I love God, but I don't care for the concept of organized religion.

Sunday, April 25th 2010 at 3:34AM

Cynthia Merrill Artis
Florida A&M University class of 2013

Jen... I'm with you... When I go to church it's to surround my self with the saints(most time they arent there) but I myself, am in a higher spiritual ground. A church is a dwelling designed as a meeting place for saints to gather and worship... But the church is in you.... That's what GOD looks at most...

Honestly, I have a problem with organized religion... I have come across so my hyporitcs in the church I attend... It was so overwhelming... That I stopped going so much... I felt it was taking away from my spiritual growth... After servics I would find myself in idol gossip about the church members, the pastor and his off beat remarks.. and the choir... I realized that my church was not healthy.
Sunday, April 25th 2010 at 4:28AM

robert powell
co-owner at self

Maryanne Campbell,

Excellent Scholarship-

gerson said, "“Christianity was the religion held by slave masters .....But African Americans found a model of liberation in the Exodus."

So does this mean that paganChristianEuropeans were Pharoah---

A Tribe of Men that ruled and thought they were Creator?

and does this mean that the AfricanAmericaSlaves were the jews, led by Musa out of the wilderness?

neither of these two groups filled this description. no Musa, no Destruction of Pharoah, no wandering for their home--

the slave 1865---that slave was liberated;

yet THAT slave took the American of european paganAncestry as their 'God'----Pharoah........

THAT slave committed, in my opinion, a Great Crime against Humanity --

THAT slave acknowledged that kidnap, rape, pedeophilia, and murder were the attributes of their 'God'-and allowed Pharoah or masterPaganChristian to "really" believe he was 'God'.

no, maryanne, the africanAmerican community, in my opinion, is not driven to Christianity it is driven to love of Pharoah----a false Human 'God' ---

despised by the Monotheistic Thought, the Family of Adaam, of the Followers of Musa, isaIbnMaryam and the Muslim.

Sunday, April 25th 2010 at 8:17AM

Richard Kigel
teacher, writer at Philosophy Day School

Wow!

Already this has been a fascinating exchange of ideas. Each one of us has had some signficant insight to contribute and from a different perspective.

We have an N.D. Buddhist, a Muslim, and several of us who attend a house of worship in the Christian tradition without feeling bound by the doctrines of what we call "organized" religion.

Some people have an innate sense that there is a God and that we are spiritual beings but do not feel that they need to belong to a particular religion in order to find that Divine Power. It is possible to find the presence of God during a silent walk in the woods or on a beach or even watching a sunset or just gazing at the night sky.

Anything that shows how insigificant we are compared to the Creator brings us to some deep spiritual insights.

Anything that shows us how to love, how to share goodness, how to stand up against the forces of evil, that is spirituality.

Organized religion is where folks attend a particular place, a church, a mosque, even a storefront or a private house, where fellow faithful gather and say pre-written prayers and sing praises to God together in communal worship.

Organized religion has rules and regulations, doctrines, beliefs and practices that the failthful must follow if they want to remain in good standing with the congregation.

In spiritual seeking, there are no rules, no doctrines, no requirements and no organization. These folks believe that God is everywhere and can be found inside each of us so why would we need to join an organization to find Him?

And, as so many of you have said, everyone has to find his or her own way in this.

Different strokes for different folks.

That's the way it has always been. And that is the way it always will be.

Sunday, April 25th 2010 at 1:49PM

Richard Kigel
teacher, writer at Philosophy Day School

Hey Hannah:

I just now read the beautiful insight you shared--and I wonder--is that anything you learned inside a house of worship? Or is that something you knew inside yourself?

Sunday, April 25th 2010 at 1:51PM

Richard Kigel
teacher, writer at Philosophy Day School

Wow!!!

Those are profound philosophical insights.

People write books and poetry and music about these questions of life.

I am willing to bet that you came to this deep knowledge from inside your self using your own mind and your own observations of the world.

I bet you did not receive this deepl knowledge in any house of worship or as a result of organized religion.

Clearly, you have discovered the ancient knowledge of God on your own.

That, in my opinion, is true spirituality. And it is available to every man, woman and child on the planet.

Sunday, April 25th 2010 at 4:15PM

Richard Kigel
teacher, writer at Philosophy Day School

These comments shows what many spiritual masters have learned. It is possible to arrive at the same truth by very different paths.

I believe that if someone follows his or her own religious tradition with faith , love and charity, each one will arrive at the same place of peace.

You all show how valid that is.

Sunday, April 25th 2010 at 7:38PM

Richard Kigel
teacher, writer at Philosophy Day School

For Clark--I would call him THE "PROFESSOR" because of his Ph. D level of knowledge, insight and expertise in government and public affairs.

He is an educator at heart, a clear, informed, lucid and inspiring one at that. He has taught me so much already!!!

He will always be "The Professor" to me.

Monday, April 26th 2010 at 8:45AM