I think I’m going to start a new series, not that I’ve been super successful with my others, but alas, here goes.
I know it’s pretty doom and gloom to write about the “lack thereof” particularly in the black communities of this country, or even various other cultural observances, but I do believe that if we never recognise the lack, or even recognize the absence as a lack that needs to be addressed then we’re doomed from the start. So, for this inaugural post, I’d like to discuss the broad topic of sustainable black intellectual communities.
This has been one of my new talking points obsessions. You know the type of thing you’re really feeling at the time that you find away to insert your various key phrases into a conversation. At one time, it was me using the word “anti-intellectualism” another time I was referring the the “barbershop knowledge” that far to many blacks relied on for real factual information, and now I’m just going to refer to “the lack of sustainable intellectual communities in the black community.”
Same thing more or less, different words.
Now, I’ve more or less been against this anti-intellectualism from the beginning. Once I developed my blogging voice, and as Rippa from Intersection of Madness and Reality pointed out to me on a Twitter DM, that I was indeed a writer and not necessarily a blogger, that I began to flesh out the fallacies that many of live in in the context of black communal life.
Stick with me, I’m going somewhere.
Fact of the matter is that in the black community, we’re not all that tolerant of the other.
We think we are because we so clearly identify with the Democratic National Party and many of their social ideals, but as I remembered a story posted on theFreshXpress last year, many of us will only go so far, particularly on issues of religion. And this is my point of departure.
Brian McLaren, a name I’m sure most of my black readers have never heard of, who self-identifies as an evangelical has recently published a book entitled A New Kind of Christianity that has rocked the world of evangelical theology, specifically those who are members of the Southern Baptist fellowship. You can read the full story as NPR covered it here, but just for excerpts sake here’s some food for thou
Consider the core evangelical belief that only Christians are going to heaven and everyone else is doomed. That may have rung true for his grandparents’ generation, he says, but not now.
“A young evangelical, Roman Catholic [or] mainline Protestant growing up in America today, if he goes to college, his roommate might be Hindu,” he says. “His roommate might be Muslim. His roommate might be Buddhist or atheist. So, suddenly the ‘other’ is sleeping across the room.”
McLaren is onto something here, says David Campbell, a professor at Notre Dame and co-author of American Grace: How Religion Is Reshaping Our Civic and Political Lives. His surveys show that nearly two-thirds of evangelicals under age 35 believe non-Christians can go to heaven, but only 39 percent of those over age 65 believe that. That’s because young evangelicals have grown up in a religiously plural society.
“And, it’s really hard to condemn someone to eternal damnation on the basis of their religion when you know them well and have come to love them,” he says.
Campbell adds that young believers are more flexible about Christian doctrine in general.
“We also know that — particularly within the evangelical community — the younger you are, the less likely you are to take the Bible literally, to believe that the Bible is the inerrant ‘word of God,’ as compared to a book of moral precepts,” he says.
Surveys by Campbell and others show young evangelicals differ from their elders in a lot of ways. They pray less often, read the Bible and go to church less often. And they’re more open to culture and social issues, such as evolution and gay rights.
Well, I guess because I fall into the younger crowd, this makes perfect sense to me. But let the record show, the majority of my peers, my age, who are church goers, would probably disagree with me. Why? Because they’re black and Christian.
Is it as simple as that Uppity?
Yes, to me it is. Do you know why? Here’s the reason why, Brian McLaren is white and in the white religious community, religion is not solely Christianity. Fact of the matter is that white folk read more than us-folk. Not only do they read more, they read actual books. Trust me, McLaren’s book is going to do just fine. Whether the white folks read it just to disagree with it or to actually embrace new thought patterns, they’ll read it.
What do black folk read?
If we pick up a book…
..we’re going to read Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren, or we’ll read some other books that have probably been ghostwritten with the names like T.D. Jakes or Eddie Long slapped on the cover page. Or even the Chicken Noodle Soup series, which yes, may have bits and pieces that help us in some weird day-to-day occurrences, but seriously, we’re not reading for the sake of intellectualism, but merely reading to satisfy our own personal musings and to shore up our own core beliefs.
This goes not just for laypersons but also clergy as well. Black clergy seem to be enthralled by books that speak about dynamic leadership and church growth and about how to take a ministry to “the next level.” We wouldn’t ordinarily pick up the book by Malcolm Gladwell entitled Outlier and discover that yes, talent and some amount of charisma is necessary for fame, but that coincidence, maximizing opportunities and actually sheer dumb luck actually play heavily into the equation.
Especially in the South, there isn’t much atmosphere to engage in core theological disagreements. The idolatry of the Biblical text is far to great, in my opinion, to have any sustainable intellectual conversation, somehow one’s argument must begin and end with the Bible. Yes, in my post-Biblical approach at times, it comes off as heretical. My close friends are used to it, but at times in class, I really want to speak out, but I know the response I’ll get: none. It’s highly frustrating to suggest an idea and sometimes not even the professor will engage the thought-process, let alone the other students. I think the frustration is compounded because in the white Christian religious circles, such thoughts have a much better chance of finding some traction versus that of the black Christian religious community.
I mean just ask Brian McLaren.
Then ask Carlton Pearson.
One white, one black.
Bishop Pearson had to convert to New Thought in order to still have a following, because the black religious community has given him a resounding HELL NO to his “gospel of inclusion.”
As I’ve said before, not just on the issues of core Christian theology, but black Christians have miles to go in order to provide an atmosphere that is conducive to having real dialogue. Too many Christians are too arrogant and fail to see that the Biblical text isn’t authoritative for everyone. Which means they’ll use Scripture to justify a response, while the other party is trying to figure out how by quoting the Bible makes them right?
If I never say it again, let me reiterate: our idolatry of the Biblical text will be the downfall of humanity. Enough white religious communities are able to poke some holes in the Biblical text and deal with the tension that the various voices of the Bible speaks from, but blacks….smh….right along with the Evangelicals most certainly believe in the infallibility of the Bible, and far too many believe in the inerrancy of the text. At this point, if I were having a conversation with someone who believed in the inerrancy of scripture I’d have to change the topic.
I personally think it’s quite simple on how to rectify this problem: pick up a damn book and read! And read something other than damn Purpose Driven Life or Chicken Noodle Soup for the Soul. Granted white liberalism is a foreign language to black liberalism, it’s probably nothing more than a dialectical difference after all is said and done. The topics are not so foreign that one cannot grasp it.
At this point, I’m not even attempting to try and change anything. I doubt I’d see that in my life time, but in an age when denominational churches need to seriously think about their existence in the next 100 years, we need to at least be having the conversation. We need to be having the conversation that engages postmodern, and most certainly postcolonial thought. No those words need not scare you, but feel free to look them up and learn something–don’t run away from new ideas.
I think black intellectualism exists, but it exists on an individual level. It’s not easy to find a community of them that meet on a regular basis. And I would dare say that if they are members of a church, their intellectualism is only going to go so far and probably exist well within modern thought. Cornel West is truly and exception. And I will say this, what are the progressive thinkers of the previous generation doing to foster new thought and new ideas in the younger generation. Seriously, creating mini-mes is not what’s up.
Black culture is still caught up in the “gotta pay your dues” which is really nepotism and brown-nosing 101 masquerading as a meritocracy. If I’m under 30, and I think the way I think, I am fully persuaded that there are others who think just like me or at least have the wherewithal to engage my ideas on a certain level. But, the old guard has said HELL NO, you must do it a certain way in order to be taken seriously. Honestly, as me and The Critical Cleric bemoaned last night that after eight full years of schooling post-high school, I’m tired of listening to someone else and reading other books–when is it my time to write and publish. And the prospect of having to play the politicking game at the doctoral level, and then get on at an institution, and then wait for tenure just to publish what you want to publish and do what you want to do sounds absolutely ludicrous.
Lord deliver me.
What do you think?
(And yes, I’m aware I talked about all this from a very male perspective, I did so because why? I’m a male. ‘Nuff said.)
Keep it uppity and keep it truthfully radical, JLL
Article by Uppity Negro
The Uppity Negro graduated from Fisk University, after spending three years at Dillard University prior to Hurricane Katrina. He is a recent graduate of the Interdenominational Theological Center with dual masters degrees. He is also a musician, and an armchair cultural critic in the area of race, religion and politics with the hope of advancing both the Black community and humanity at large. Currently, he resides in New Orleans and is on staff at Dillard University.
Uppity Negro has written 44 article(s) for us.
{ 27 comments… read them below or add one }
I totally and completely agree. There are two subjects that I always try to avoid in discussion: religion and politics. They often go hand in hand and any discussion of those topics usually ends up going in circles. There's nothing wrong with having faith or being passionate about one's religion but I do have an issue with people blindly following something and being close-minded about everything else.
However, that blind faith is the fundamental basis for Christianity. If you're Hindu, Muslim, ect. that's fine. What you do is ultimately between you and God,. God isn't asking my opinion on matters of salvation….. I do agree about the discussion of differing religions. There is nothing you can do to convince me otherwise, so I don't engage in those conversations.
I've never been a fan of the mega church. The foundation of the mega church is usually built on money and power, which are in direct conflict with the true essence of the church. Some of these preachers are being praised as gods themselves, and that creates a serious problem. People begin following them blindly, instead of letting the Word of God be basis for their worship.
The paragraph about non believers struck a cord with me. If non believers can go to heaven then what is the whole point of Christianity. " I am the way the Truth, and the Light no man cometh unto the Father but by me." If being good can get you into heaven (something directly in conflict with the Bible) what is the point of me being a Christian? No, I will never believe non Christians can get into heaven the same way I didn't believe all dogs were going there as a youth. If that's so I've wasted my whole believing in something.
I think you have a good point, but there is one thing that I have to disagree with…..the notion that only "Christians" go to heaven. I am a Christian myself, but I understand the history of the Christian church, especially among the Black Community. I find it hard to believe that all of our ancestors in Africa were doomed to an eternal pit of hell up until the white man came and "rescued" them and and shipped them to America and taught them about "White Jesus". I highly doubt that the God that I love and serve would allow that to happen.
Remember, most Christian sects in America during this time period not only condoned slavery, many of them used religion as a tool to keep our people enslaved. "Endure Hell on Earth(Slavery), and pray for salvation in the here after (heaven)". Religion was once called "the Opiate of the Masses" and I feel that at times it has been just that for the Black Community. We tend to spend too much time "praying for change" rather than "marching for change".
if you are including followers of other religions as non believers then I have a problem with the statement
“If non believers can go to heaven then what is the whole point of Christianity”
followers of other religions do “Believe” even if its not the same as you. I dont know, i was raised in the Islamic faith and while I was taught that the Islamic way is the preferred path, i know that there is more than way to salvation.
Acknowledging that fact shouldnt make you any less a believer in YOUR path.
This is an interesting topic. As a black male from the South, I have been stereotyped into the Southern Baptist fellowship. I am FAR from it! I agree the Black community is very stubborn in the area of religion. Hopefully, as older generations ascend, the younger generations will begin to think differently.
For proof of my exclusion from normal Black Christian values, read this post from my blog titled 'A Demasculinization of Jesus Christ'. http://www.thejobagroup.org/?p=2003
There's a saying that goes "if you want to hide something to a black person, put it in a book". As racist and hateful as that statement is, I agree to some level. I am a substitute teacher for NYC public schools and subbed for fifth grade last month in a south bronx elementary school as a social studies teacher. I was appalled that the black & hispanic children could not locate Haiti on a globe and were unaware of the earthquake that took place. However they could recite Lil Wayne and Young Jeezy lyrics so perfectly, but they could not read text from their textbooks. It is upsetting as an educator to see the lack of knowledge and lack of care for knowledge as well. Where are the parents? Also on the trains when I do see children reading, theyre reading urban fiction Zane books and other authors. Why aren't our children reading the Wall Street Journal, NY Times, Lisa Delpit & other multicultural education authors?
My issue with black churches is that they are all talk and hardly action. We can bring our troubles to the Lord….yes but the Lord needs you to act on it. You can't pray and sit at home…youve got to pray and move & accomplish the things you want to do…….when it comes to talking about education I can only speak about it with people that are at my level……other people aren't interested at all……its very sad & the disregard for education and information will continue to be a crutch in Black America if a shift doesnt occur………
So much was said here but let me first say that the "NICE" the first church was a megachurch, the bible says 3000 joined in Ephesus. I just believe a season of exposure crippled the image of thousands of great megachurches in this country.
I believe one an be Godly and intelligent at the same time. I make no excuses for anyone to be so heavenly bound their earthly no good.
I just think you do more harm than good by casting churches as a large group. Not every church is doing terrible or having no impact. Many times Pastors have the heart for the poor like Jesus did but their vision is aborted by lack. When non christians hear that fellow christians are putting down their own religion why would they come to Christ? Which by the way is the only way to the Father. Muslims, Buddhist, they never put down their faith. Black people must stop putting down and dogging everything that didnt manifest in their life, and recognize and analyze to themselves why didnt Christianity work for me?
Its not just the books or reading. I believe that was a problem for the older generation.
@Chris
Of course not every church has a bad message and of course there are a lot of churches that are doing the right thing, but not getting the press for it. The issue is that in our pop-culture world with the internet and religion networks, in the public eye, the black church is stereotyped to be preachers who are either the T.D. Jakes, Creflo Dollars, the Jamal Bryants, and the Eddie Longs. Moreover prevailing thought is that if various pastors are NOT on a mega church status, they are attempting to get to that status.
Additionally, the black preacher is a caricature in pop-culture. Just Sunday night, Fox networks "The Cleveland Show" put up an image of a stereotypical preacher and it was so normal that it wasn't even a butt of a joke.
That being said, when we fail to critique ourselves, we've already begun the process of self-extermination.
I find it sad that there cannot be a plurality of thought in the Black church. It is almost as if the Black church has not paid any attention to the last 50 years of new discoveries about Christianity. Don't mention that early Christians didn't believe in the Trinity! Don't mention that there are other books not included in the Bible! Thats blasphemous!!
I also do not see the Black community engaging in learning a lot about other religions. No one says convert but at least have a good working knowledge of what other people around the world believe. Our community is so stuck with Christianity we do not even try to learn about the "other".
eventhough i do not know of mr. mclaren i am very familiar with mr. pearson and the whole ideal of inclusion of heaven for all….seriously this has nothing to do with black and white and to try and make that arguement stand is laughable…any believer (black and white) of christ and his teachings, hence the term "christian", knows and believe's that without salvation there is no other way to heaven….john (3:16-18, 14:6-7)….honestly, what since does it make to even belief or have faith in God if everyone has a right to heavenly glory?…in that case we all ought to be able to live comfortably within sin with no guilt and a child like demeanor…but just as all the intellectual free thinkers know who read the bible that ALL have sinned and have fallen short of the mark….in so many ways we (mortal man) want and wish that we could have the bible read as we think and believe in our own hearts, but that's the great thing about the bible..it is all DIVINEly inspired with no exerts of unsurety….
how about maybe we could be like the jehovah witness's and feel like we could do good deed's and maybe earn a spot in heaven, or possibly be like the Hindu's and not believe in God all together, Yes! that surely should merit heavenly inclusion……truth be told it has always been and will always be about SALVATION…if we were all to be judged just off of the ten commandents alone we all deserve hell, cause honestly there's NOT ONE person that is good by nature and does not lie (bear false witness), cheat, steal, use god's name in vain, idolize, etc….but most human beings don't even like to recognize there own sin nature in the first place and that is one of the first steps to salvation is recognizing that YOU ARE A SINNER….paul wrote about it in romans (7:14-25 to be exact)….to say that this has something to do with being black and intellectual and "free thinking"…come on…so what do you say to the white christians who practice and believe the same statutes….
@Mr. Riely – One correction. Jehovah's Witnesses believe that you cannot only "profess" and be right in God's eye. Your profession must be matched by doing right and living in a Godly way. Essentially, you are not a Christian only on Sunday. I do not see how that is any different.
"Your profession must be matched by doing right and living in a Godly way."…
That is one of the main prerequisites of salvation…to repent of your sins and to turn away from your old ways…you are considered new in christ after you have given your life…it does not mean that you will never sin again, but through salvation you are spared through the blood
"Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that you cannot only “profess” and be right in God’s eye"
…..difference is jehovah's witnesses stance on christ and the belief in "working" your way into heaven….in christianity you don't have to work towards anything cause christ paid the price in full on the cross for us…salvation is free…i mean honestly, what logic is there in working towards something if your not going to get rewarded for it???…
This article reeks of self-hate. Point. Blank. Period.
Excellent points are made regarding Christianity in America; the lack of progressive and intellectual stimulation seen in many evangelical communities is not exclusive to churches with a predominantly African-American demographic.
I've attended numerous "multicultural" religious houses with majority a Caucasian population, and have noticed the same issues.
I grow tired of African-American individuals placing White culture on an ascended pedestal as if everything about the dominant population is superior to our actions.
While I agree that we have numerous issues in our culture(religious and secular), these same problems exist within other communities; many times we are unable to see these issues because we are on the outside looking in.
-E. Reed
the problem of intellectual stimulation is not exclusive to churches that
I wrote this blog in the context of the other blogs on my site, not necessarily to be understood as a stand-alone piece. Anyone who has read my blogs over the months at my site would know that I don't participate in self-hate of my race–not by any stretch of the imagination. I would ask that you wouldn't seemingly interpret self-criticism of my people as self-hate.
I stand by the fact that blacks need to be aware of the self-limitations we place on ourselves. If those who are not of our skin color can do something better or have better insight on certain issues, one would be a fool to not listen to them and to what they have to say. Especially living in the United States, we need to be aware that we are all citizens of the same country and all humans. Anytime we begin to treat non-blacks as "other" we're expressing the same hatred and bigotry that was meted upon us–the oppressed becoming the oppressor and for me, in no way, shape, form or fashion can I agree to that.
I think this was a very good post and many of the comments on this post illustrate your point.
SMH…people, people, people….
I'm not Christian…and I cannot tell you how much it frustrates me to be discussing something like gay rights and how they relate to human equality only to have someone start quoting scripture to me. If I don't believe what you do how is that argument going to work? What sealed my distaste for that view was when I was told that even a child who had no exposure to Christianity was going to Hell for not being saved. I grew up in South Carolina by the way. Best of luck to those trying to bring rationale to religious fervor. Great article
Hello there – former Fiskite (I did not attend Fisk but used to live in Nashville and have links to the campus). I think this issue is far more complex than the way you have considered it. Bring in the relevancy of scriptures, their interpretation, and whether someone believes the Bible literally or figuratively and you've got a chewy problem.
Since you have presented it as white religious intellectualism vs. black religious intellectualism, I'll bite on this topic.
I'm black but know few blacks such as those you criticize in your rant. Perhaps this is because even though my parents are devout Christians, we never attended predominantly black Churches.
Personally, I think reading alone will not expose blacks to other religious ideas. May I suggest apart from not going to mostly-black churches, blacks also venture out of HBCUs, black organizations and other sectors of the "black community?" It's more difficult to think differently when you rarely remove yourself from what you know.
I found it curious that you wrote of intellectualism and yet, never question why so many blacks are Christians or religious in some form in the first place. I rarely see blacks write about atheists and agnostics unless they have something negative to say.
You wrote: "And I will say this, what are the progressive thinkers of the previous generation doing to foster new thought and new ideas in the younger generation. Seriously, creating mini-mes is not what’s up."
I suggest our generation not wait around for someone to "foster" us. New ideas begin with you. You don't need someone to prod you into them. In fact, you don't even need to build upon old ideas if you don't want to. Think about where science and mathematics would be if every generation waited to be nurtured into new ideas and built only upon old ideas. I'll be extra contrary here and add that just because a previous generation is considered progressive does not mean that generation is right.
Just between me and you, this was NOT some of my best blog writing. I'm usually a bit more coherent in my thought processes, but alas, I felt strongly on the topic and this is what came out.
But by all means I hear what you're saying and am in favor of anything that moves blacks into wider culture, but still affirms that which is ours and values that which is ours.
I avoid the religion topic as long as possible with people. I think Catholicism is weird as crap, and this is even before Priests were known to take a liking to children. Then I was young and impressionable, or rather young and unimpressionable, when I was in a baptist church and heard the word fagotism. I was smart enough to understand that spreading hate in the name of God was wrong. I developed a sense of right and wrong before religion was introduced to me, so I just don't get a lot of it. Furthermore, Christianity was a tool, albeit a decent one, to strip African identity from slaves.
Now when folks are too religious, I think they simply lack a viable way to deal with life. I guess religion might be better than some medications. Religion, as with most things in life should be taken in moderation.
I think what you may have missed in your screed is that fact that intellectual black religious communities DO exist, not on an individual level, but in pockets all across this world. I can say this as a member of a large African Methodist Episcoplal congregation where, though the church's stance is that the Bible is inerrant, there are people, particularly the young adults who are willing to challenge its inerrancy and get down to the brass tacks by reading classic and current theologians, history books, commentaries, etc, etc. I'm quite familiar with McLaren, a proponent of the Emergent church movement, and I came to know him because a young pastor in my church brought him up. I've read John Calvin's "Institute of Christian Religion" because a young adult pastor used it as a supplement in a Bible Study one evening. I, and many of my friends, make it our personal business to go into the catacombs of scripture to discover the tension you speak of. What WE do have to accept is that the IBRC exist where they are nutured. If you are concerned about there not being any, you have to make the steps to create the community. After all, God created us to exist in community and be like-minded. Maybe out of the need that you discern, there are others waiting for the person to draw the water that they may drink from. The problem is, we spend too much time talking about what's missing, and crticizing the void rather than rightfully filling it. You may be called to fill the void, you may well be preparing to do it, so your purpose right now shouldn't be to add to the inactivity but to just start building. Be a part of the change you want to see instead of just talking about it. Stop casting the blanket over black people assuming they don't read real books. Put out a poll first and test that notion and see how shocked you'd be that everyone isn't just reading sports pages, magazine, Purpose Driven or Woman Thou Art Loosed.
As an aside, as a black woman, I didn't get that your post was very male. Sure you brought up McLaren, Pearson, Jakes, Warren, and West but that doesn't make it "very male" it makes it the representation of the leaders in Christianity. Christianity has barely come to grips with the women who are ascending to positions of power in the faith because many are still grappling with Paul's words to the church. (Was Paul, right?) The women who are on the level of a Jakes and Warren are relegated to "Girl Power" status with their big conference, snapping of fingers, in the meantime, all I ever did was love a man, status. But that is totally another subject.
As always is my tendency, I've run on for too long, but I'm going to forward this along to a black pastor who just interviewed McLaren to get his thoughts. I think this is a very interesting dialogue you've started.
Interesting article. I am a 68 yr old white woman, raised in the south, and I married black twice. Most of my family is black and modt of them are varying degrees of religious. I am the only atheist I know of in both the black and white relatives. When a child, I heard the leaders of a baptist church my family attended occasionally trying to figure out how to keep the n- out of the church. That was the end of my respect for churches and of religious 'logic' entirely. My kids, mixed, are educated and avid readers. My youngest son just wrote a book on education "Conversations with America's Best Teachers" trying to help educate all American kids. I have a hard time finding anyone to really talk to about education, religion, and politics as this country appears to be totally divided at this point. Being white/sort of, atheist, and democrat, really complicates things, so I was quite pleased to find this very logical and thought-provoking article. Thank you.
Nice post my brother!
I recently interviewed Mclaren about his new book and how it relates to urban and African-American issues. Here are the links:
http://blog.beliefnet.com/jazztheologian/2010/03/…
and
http://blog.beliefnet.com/jazztheologian/2010/03/…
I'm planning on interacting with your post on my blog as well.
Stay in the groove,
robert gelinas–AKA: Jazz Theologian
My only thing with religion is while we are kids, God is Great and God is Good. However, when we become teenagers and adults, God is instantly transformed into a smite-happy deity, hell-bent on shooting a lightning bolt up your ass. I personally do not feel like God would so welcomely want to destroy us. I feel as though he would like for us to happy and good to one another, but who wouldn't want that for themselves, their children or their fellow man?
I was raised both Baptist and Episcopalian in southern Georgia. In the end, I found religion mostly on the beaches of St. Simons and Jekyll Islands. I've read the entire Bible, one time and half. I even took a college course where we read the Bible and analyzed it as one would another book. I don't quote scriptures to people. However, when I see people spewing hatred, I ask them who did Jesus turn away? I ask them what is the meaning of love they neighbor?
I don't like organized religions (Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, etc). I think people have it all wrong. Instead of separating each method of belief, find the similarities. Celebrate the differences. I enjoy my multi-cultural neighborhood. At first, it was difficult to persuade them each to introduce their religions to each other. But after a couple of gatherings, we've made a tradition of sharing our beliefs. We even got the Jehovah's witness involved. I used to be afraid of them as a kid because I was told that they don't believe in God.
Actually, from the ones I've spoke with, they believe in God; they don't believe in praising Jesus. This is because there is nowhere in the Bible where Jesus says to praise and worship him. Sure he says that he is the truth the light and way, but he's telling you to do as I say and as I do. He's a guide, not the goal.
Ok that's my 2 cents on religion. Up next, the black community…
And as for the Black Community, I may still be young, but I have witnessed so much in our communities.
I have been at a community college where during the finals, a female student comes into the student center complaining loudly about how a teacher was trying to hold her down in remedial English. Her English was still broken when she said this. But she turned the television up loud because "dat right thur be my song" and she recited every lyric with precision about some lipgloss. If she had put that much effort into her English class as she did with learning that lipgloss song, she wouldn't have much to complain.
Our community has it backwards. We would rather front with a nice looking car, but have a crappy house to live in. We would rather spend a grand on gold jewelry and matching gold teeth than to spend a grand in long term investments. We know every acronym of every rapper out there, but have no clue what stock market symbols are.
I'm not self hating, because this is not myself. This is not how I was raised. This is not what my ancestors fought and died for. Excuse my language, but fuck that "vicious cycle" excuse.
Yes, it's an excuse. "Aw, I live in the ghetto." Wow, you and millions of other people. I know plenty of people who come from and live in the ghetto but never show their asses. They work, they pay their bills and they praise God that they can continue on. They find creative ways to entertain themselves without breaking their banks or killing someone. They make choices such as not buying those $200 sneakers when they can buy a bag of charcoal and food, plus have money left over to purchase a pair of affordable and comfortable shoes and save.
Noooo, we like to show off. We like to play like we have money. We rely on our outward appearance to define who we are. If you looked at my outward appearance right now, I'm a hard worker in thrift store jeans, a $10 political t-shirt and a self-made crochet hat. The only reason you can tell that I'm a hard worker is that my palms are slightly callused from house- and yard-work. Plus my palms always faces a person.
I don't claim to know everything, but I read a lot. I especially read on homeopathic and natural remedies. I know how to do a lot of things that my ancestors did. I can crochet, can food, pickle food, preserve food, create jewelry, paint, draw, draft, weld, write stories, garden (especially) and other things that if I listed, I would be accused of hanging with too many white people. LOL <— I know the LOL killed my argument right there, but doesn't it look marvelous?
I'm not saying we should all convert to whiteyism. HOwever, we do need to look at our current condition and implement some common sense in where we are headed.
While it is true that "blind faith" is fundamental to christianity; Black folks are the truely the only people that are SO literal that we refuse to think beyond the words on the page. The Bible is NOT a literal set of documents, it was meant to be understood by EVERY generation. God made man with common sense but we forsake that and call it "blind faith" that we are supposed to take the literal words from the page and apply it….NO, that is not how it works.
A little, silly example is in the Bible when it mentions "fear" of God. Black folks literally take the word "fear" and they believe you should be SCARED of God. "Fear" means "respect"…again, it was written to be understood by ALL generations. We really need to take our religion to the point of spirituality and break outside of our slavery mentality. Slave owners kept us in line by giving us literal words from the Bible to keep us down. It is 2010, and now we are doing it to ourselves by not using the intellect that God bestowed upon us.
“Well, I guess because I fall into the younger crowd, this makes perfect sense to me. But let the record show, the majority of my peers, my age, who are church goers, would probably disagree with me. Why? Because they’re black and Christian.”
It is unfortunately ironic that the good points in this article are eclipsed by the very same sloppy use of the intellect you say you decry wholesale. Not only does your endorsement of the non sequitur which lies in the research cited by McLaren portray this sloppiness, but even more so your conclusion that what gives rise to the disagreement among your peers over said issue was that they are “black and Christian”. If you were going for rhetorical effect, it certainly didn’t play out that way in the subsequent paragraphs as you tried to provide warrant as to why that was so. Essentially you seem to be arguing as follows:
All intelligent people should hold to universalism, as it is clearly the intellectually respectable position
Black Christians by and large do not hold to universalism because they are not all that intelligent
Clearly, if black Christians read more, they would not be so naive as to accept religious exclusivism, as exclusivism clearly is born out of ignorance
Therefore, the solution to Black Christians who endorse exclusivism is reading more books (save self-help devotional style books).
None of these premises enjoy even prima facie plausibility, let alone are truth value. The sad thing is is that I agree with the notion that there is no vibrant intellectual tradition and status in black Christian circles. We both probably see it as a goal to somehow reverse this unfortunate fact, but it is the impetus, direction and final destination upon which we differ. However, displaying the same lack of careful thinking won’t help you progress toward that goal.
As far as universalism goes, it has nothing to do with intellectual enlightenment (on the contrary, i would argue the endorsement of Christian universalism is symptomatic of intellectual vice, but that’s another topic). One can be an exclusivist IN VIRTUE of being well-read, intellectually with-it or however you choose to characterize those who are supposedly thoughtful, respectable people. I’m not an exclusivist because I stay holed up in some backwoods Independent Baptist church where people still believe Jesus’ birthday really is Dec. 25th. I’m an exclusivist (and staunch anti-universalist/pluralist) because I’ve thought through the issues and concluded that its true and that universalism displays the same folly theologians worried by Positivism displayed in decades gone past. I would even commend Alvin Plantinga’s “In Defense of Religious Exclusivism” to you to juxtapose your own views against.
In short, your analysis totally misses the mark. If you wish to evoke change and not just bemoan the sad story that is black Christiandom (and I sincerely think you do), it would help to zero in on what the real causes of anti-intellectual are in black Christian circles, not harp on a particular point of doctrine you are disappointed not more people embrace.
One clear solution is for black Christians to understand the proper place and role of the life of the mind, that intellectual honesty and exploration are virtues, not vices, born out of the Imago Dei, This is something white Christians are quickly gaining ground on, that blacks are still in the dark about. Solutions like this and others are what will really bring change.