Shedding Light on Religion

Religion is a powerful force in many people’s lives. Religion guides how people act, what they do, and how they think. For many people in America, prior to the conclusion of the Civil War, religion was even seen as a way to justify slavery. In the 1600s and 1700s, many white Christians used arguments from the Bible to justify the owning of slaves. One common justification used was a passage from the book of Genesis which read, “Cursed be Canaan; lowest of slaves shall he be to his brother” (Gen. 9:25). During this time, Christians believed that Canaan (one of Noah’s grandchildren) had later moved to Africa and that all black Africans were his descendants. For that reason, they argued, the Bible justified the keeping of black slaves by white people. Consequently, once slaves were taken from Africa and arriving in the colonies, they were forbidden to practice their former beliefs which included all formal traditional African worshipping. Within the colonies, to push slaves even further from their inherited beliefs, some plantation owners required the enslaved to even work on Sundays. This became an intentional move to break them away from their religious regimen and softening them over time to accept whatever religion was presented to them. Additionally, plantation owners separated the enslaved people who spoke the same tribal language so they could not worship together and could be taught Christianity at the same time. African practices were brought into Christianity in new and interesting ways as a way of luring the enslaved into Christianity and away from their own practices. To ensure obedience, slave masters used biblical verses to control their behavior including 1Peter 2:18- Slaves must submit to their masters, even the master who is harsh and Titus 2:9- Slaves must please their masters in everything. This form of limited teaching of the Bible tricked slaves to believe that if they opposed the slave master they would be going against the word of God. Once implemented, this provided Christian fanatics an opportunity to use the shield of God to justify their lying, thievery, injustice, murder (Christian crusades-Conquistadors-KKK)and to advance their self- interest, leaving many to question if these people were practicing an unclean religion. Furthermore, colonizing and enslaving in the new world came with no biblical justification for conquering lands, murdering civilians, and destroying cities in the name of Jesus the Christ. The very idea of conquering a land through war and violence in the name of Christ is completely unbiblical. Therefore, it has become evident that the name of Christ has been abused, misused, and blasphemed by unchristian type actions. Today it has become more understandable why some slave owners were wary of giving their slaves too much religious education. They did not want their slaves to learn too much about the Bible because some of its passages concerned slavery and freedom, the love and the wrath of God(Romans 1:18). For example, the Bible tells how the Hebrew people escaped slavery in Egypt. How could slave owners explain the Hebrews fleeing from oppression when black people were supposed to be content with their own oppression? Therefore, Hosea 4:6 (My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge) becomes much clearer as well. Over time I have come to believe that your religion is not what you profess, but what you practice. So for many Africans, the word “religion” is problematic, because it differed from their original beliefs. Black people were beaten to submitting to an unfamiliar faith, in turn, leaving millions confused between a forced religion, and what was more authentic �" spirituality.

Religion is a set of rules, regulations, and rituals that were created by humans which were supposed to help people spiritually. Due to human imperfection, religion has become corrupt, political, divisive, and a tool for power struggle. Spirituality is not theology or ideology. It is simply a way of life, pure, and original as given by the Most High. Spirituality is a network linking people to the Most High, the universe, and each other. This African way of life was stripped away and replaced with colonial Christianity. As it now stands for blacks, they have moved far away from spirituality and the pride of original black churches. The Black church had been a place of hope, enhancement of social networks, gaining of education, a wage of social struggle and a location to express the grief and glory of black experience. Not any longer, Church leaders now sell hope, not substance, encouraging members to show up and give unselfishly. More so, religion has morphed into addictive opium for the poor and a market for the rich. Religion has convinced blacks to pray about everything. Blacks prayed when they were beaten, they prayed when they were raped, they prayed when they were hung, and they prayed when they were killed. Perhaps nothing has saved blacks because they’ve been praying to the god that was forced on them. As for conscience Africans, their spirituality is truly holistic and non-confusing; which leaves me to wonder, if the slave master wasn’t a Christian, would blacks be today?

Thanks for reading,
Historian/Educator Derrick (CEO) Caples

Reviews

[T.S. Sky]

The white man got God from us. Africans worshiped God before the slave master. They just changed the name but the story is the same. Mary is Isis and Jesus is called Horus. The white supremacist in that time does what evil does. They take something good and corrupt it for their evil gains.

[CEOCaples]

I knew this run deep, Thanks for the enlightenment

[T.S. Sky]

Thank you for writing this page.

[Kimiko Watson]

I love your work. I cannot desist from saying I am definitely learning a lot of new information.

[CEOCaples]

Thank you sincerely, I appreciate you taking time to enjoy my work

[Kimiko Watson]

You are most welcome