John Henrik Clarke

"My main point here is that if you are the child of God and God is a part of you, the in your imagination God suppose to look like you. And when you accept a picture of the deity assigned to you by another people, you become the spiritual prisoners of that other people. " -John Henrik Clarke

i like learning about scholars whose works have been characteristic of many other scholars, but have yet to reach me for whatever reason. i've read a few times about John Henrik Clarke....a quote here or there, but i just recently saw a youtube video of him speaking about how Islam and Christianity have been instruments in the enslavement of African peoples (which is probably the most fascinating topic to me, period). theres actually a good number of videos on youtube of him speaking on various topics. coming from Union Springs, Alabama (very close to my hometown, Enterprise), a son of sharcroppers (which i've come to understand as slavery under a different name), a writer, historian, professor, a Pan-Africanist, and basically the pioneer of African Studies in the United States. his books are up on my reading list. here's one of his videos:

the non-religious community

heres a link to a blog i frequent. they have really interesting stories and videos that i like to see. however, the comment sections on these blogs reiterate the exclusivity i feel within the non-religious community.

i am finding it more and more difficult to be a part of this "non-religious" community. i am non-religious and have been for some time now. however, as i learn more about the past of people of color, of women, of any group of oppressed people and am coming to want more kinship with colored communities, the more exclusive the non-religious community seems to be.

most (probably 95%) of non-religious individuals are western, white, upper/middle class males; basically the most privileged group of people of the planet. besides sharing thoughts on theology and some concerning some religions...i have nothing in common with these people.

you'll see on this blog, the only time someone of color is featured in a clip (with the exception of Ayaan Hirsi Ali....who is becoming more and more euro-centric everyday) is when they're ironing their daughter's breasts down with hot stones (which, by the way, has nothing to do with religion or non-religion....why it's on the website is highly questionable)or chanting in some remote jungle....while the readers respond saying someone needs to go help these people (someone- i.e. white and western with no connection with the cause, but feels the need to help them because they can't possibly help themselves. help- i.e. be taught that their ways are barbarous and shown the "right" ways one should live).

most of these non-religious individuals have rejected Christianity, and assume that most other theistic religions are close to or similar to Christianity. which is not really the case (Islam and Judaism are Abrahamic religions as Christianity is, but they have many many MANY differences from their text to their cultures to their histories) and thats among Abrahamic religions-Hinduism, Shinto, Baha'i, to name a few, have even fewer similarities. so when they see some random traditional African religion.....instead of realizing that there is MUCH to learn about any/all traditional religions, they categorize it with Christian zealots and apply the same criticism to them both. as if religions and cultures should all be held in comparison to western standards. in addition, they think they know all there is to know about the religion of some indigenous society from some youtube snippet of a small group of a denomination of a religion practiced by .0001% of the population of this one country!

i am so over euro-centrism.

comment. think. criticize.

varying concepts in Theology

found this book in the clearance section at Barnes & Nobles-The Watkins Dictionary of Religions and Secular Faiths and its been as interesting as i thought it would be.

religion is the most interesting subject i think one can study. hands down. i plan on studying it formally...sometime in the near future.... and it may sound ironic, but i actually have no belief in any god, gods, goddesses, god-like deities or supernatural entities.reading a book like this confronts you with the varying ideas of theology. they all have such fascinating perspectives on life that can tell you so much about their cultures.

for example, Deism takes the stance that god existed at one point in time, but has since died, probably soon after creation (or so, this is how i learned it in my philosophy classes. the website i gave describes it as basically Pantheism).

early in Hinduism the idea that god appeared after creation was present prior to the concept of the Hindu Trinity.

another book i'm reading, African Religions & Philosophy, talks about the concept of god in a number of different traditional (pre-colonial) African tribes. apparently many traditional African societies had some level of ancestor veneration at one level, and then a concept of a higher, more powerful entity that wasn't involved in the everyday lives of humans. they prayed to their ancestors, acting as mediums, or lesser gods to help them in their lives. when something huge was impending (like a war or severe drought) that needed the intervention of this higher, distant god, then they prayed directly to it. also, a number of them associated the idea of this higher god with something valuable to them, such as water. in many cases, the word for god is the same as their word for water (or so it is roughly translated).

this is a quote describing the way Rene Descartes changed the concept of god, mainly in Christianity:

"Descartes thus settled for a concept of God that was relative rather than absolute; we can only understand God to the extent that we are capable and in that process everyone has different aptitudes. Hence the variety of religious expression and experience."

although many Christians still hold the idea that their god is omnipotent and exists regardless who believes in him, Descartes still had much influence in modern Christianity.

quite interesting, right? for me, these variations in theology reinforce my idea that humans created god(s), but if you hold a belief in a god, then maybe knowing different ideas on god will give you a new perspective... on your religion, on others' religions and on the overall concept of god.

comment. think. question.

also, keep in mind that these "definitions" of different ideas about god are highly (and probably overly) simplified. the Hindu concept of god (which is both polytheistic and monotheistic) is one i'm still working on understanding and something that may never make sense to me. similarly with various traditional African concepts of god.

reverence for Christianity?

i'm reading Nomad by Ayaan Hirsi Ali...and it's beginning to go downhill at this point. in the chapter 'Seeking God but Finding Allah', she says this in a conversation she had with a priest. this is a proposition she presented to him:

"'The churches could go into Muslim communities, provide services just as the radical Muslims do: build new Catholic schools, hospitals, and community centers, just like the ones that were such a civilizing force under colonialism in Africa.'....

Father Bodar positively beamed with happiness. he said he had been trying to achieve just this for years and that he has often been mocked for even suggesting it. the Roman Catholic has a long history of resisting religious challenges from inside and outside what used to be called Christendom. all kinds of heresies have been combated successfully from the earliest times....and of course, the church fought against Islam not only in the time of the crusades but also when, as recently as 1683, Muslim troops of the Ottoman sultan menaced the Holy Roman Emperor's capital, Vienna."

there are two parts that are important.

1) "...a civilizing force under colonialism...."

i cringe just typing that. as i have read, Somalia, where Ayaan is from, was never formally colonized. Somalis successfully fought off the British four times. and i wonder if she ever realizes what an amazing act they, known as The Dervish State, did for Somalis by resisting colonization...

of course this priest has been trying to get into Muslim communities for years and convert them. he's a typical priest-he prays on those that do not ascribe to his religion in order to make himself feel morally superior; he capitalizes off their emotional distress by regurgitating some theological bullshit that probably came from the priests that were murdering, lynching, and torturing Muslims during the Crusades all while making them feel as though their religion, their culture, their beliefs are inferior to his.

religion disgusts me on many levels, particularly Christianity, but what disgusts me even more are missionaries and priests that go into remote parts of the globe and convert the people. they force them to convert in exchange for food, they brainwash the inhabitants to hate and devalue their own culture, and sometimes do so via violence. they reek havoc on some of the oldest societies in the world without thinking twice about it, and get praised in the process by their Christian brethren!

for one, to believe that colonialism was a "civilizing force" and not the degradation, enslavement, disregard and disrespect for indigenous cultures that summoned centuries of genocide for Africans on the continent and in the diaspora....is just ignorance, if not blatant euro-centrism. more and likely, her understanding of colonialism has come from the European perspective. not to mention her bias against nearly anything Islamic or Middle Eastern. that statement also gives the impression that African cultures prior to colonialism were uncivilized. if that isn't typical racist, ignorant, anthropologically foolish bullshit straight from David Duke's mouth, i don't know what is. i really can't believe this is coming from an African. as intelligent as Ayaan is in so many other areas, how is it that she does not understand racism in anthropology, history, and sociology? maybe, on some level, it is too difficult to revere a culture (as she does) while simultaneously understanding the atrocities committed in its past.

and second it is absurdity to suggest that churches in colonized countries were of any aid to.....anything. this really sounds like something i'd expect a tea partier to say. churches and Abrahamic religions in general have, for the most part (with the other part too overshadowed to even acknowledge...), been a detriment to society; to mankind, and have aided in the imped of almost all progressions we now consider successes. the Enlightenment period in Western history that Ayaan speaks so favorably of, was battled in nearly every aspect by the church. individual freedom, reproductive rights (which are very much so still in progress), religious freedom, separation of church and state,and scientific freedom have all been fought tooth and nail by the church. it's still fighting these things. and in colonialism, it aided in the brainwashing of the indigenous peoples, damaged, burned, and destroyed ancient religious artifacts, shrines, traditions and belief systems. any ancient knowledge these societies possessed prior to colonialism is now lost due in part to the church. i could make and entire blog devoted to showing the ills and problems the church and religion in general has done and aided in.... i have no idea how an atheist could give credence in this way to the church.

2) "...the church fought against Islam...in the Crusades...".

fought against or persecuted to the extent that modern day standards would consider it an attempted genocide against Muslims? they weren't fighting them because Muslims had hundreds of suicide bombers at that time, they were doing it because they were religious fanatics (like the same extreme Muslims she's very much opposed to) who wanted control of the minds of any and everyone they could and didn't like another religion infringing on their proselytism. how can she justify the religious extremism of one religion and abhor it in another? religious extremism is religious extremism. whether it is coming from Christians, Muslims, Sikhs, Shintos, or Baha'is. it should be opposed in any and all regards because it is the threat to the very freedom she venerates.

i think, like many critics of Ayaan's, is that she has let all her concepts about nearly everything be shaded by this good/bad; western/non-western dichotomy.

Islam and the Middle East is backwards; wrong; inferior; less than-Western society is good; better; superior.

the fact that the west, at one point and time (and still today) has done more harm to this planet than good (which is not to say that others have not) is something i don't think she will let herself realize any time soon. the west, to her, will always be the shining beacon of hope and goodness and freedom, and the middle east will always be anything but.

comment. criticize. think. pray....ha...just kidding.

Nomad

thursday i walked into the Barnes & Nobles near Time's Square and i was happily surprised to see that Ayaan Hirsi Ali has a new book out entitled Nomad. i nearly screamed when i saw it at the check out counter. how did i not know of this?

i read two pages and bought it. usually, i would just check it out from the library, but since it was just released this month, they probably won't get a copy in until late summer. plus, i own and have read her other books (Infidel and The Caged Virgin), and i think she's such an amazing woman. her perspective is so extraordinary and remarkable that i cannot pass up one of her books. i would say she's one of my idols, but i don't idolize anyone. i idolize characteristics in people, but never the person.

i'm about 100 pages in so far and she's talking about specific family members of hers and detailing what she's been doing since she was stripped of her Dutch citizenship and the long-distance reunion with her family.

but in between talking of her family, she goes into the issues with Islam, the issues of underdeveloped countries (and/or with overly religious societies), and the reverence she has for the west. at some points, though, it is almost as if she has an infatuation with western countries. in a letter to her dead grandmother, she contrasts western and non-western countries ("non-western countries" meaning, in this context, countries that have a national religion or an overwhelmingly religious citizenry like Somalia, where she is from). she says this:

Grandmother, i have compared the infidels' morals to those that you taught us, and i must report that they have, in practice, a better outcome for humans that the morals of your forefathers.

the infidel insists on honesty and trust. everywhere you turn here, you must trust someone: to fly the airplane you travel in, to teach your child, to take care of you when you are sick and feed you food that is edible. and everywhere your trust is borne out.

the infidel does not see life as a test, a passage to the hereafter, but as an end and a joy in itself. all his resources of money, mind, and organization go into making life here, in Earth, comfortable and healthy. he is obsessed with cleanliness, a good diet, and the right amount of rest. ....

because the infidel trusts and studies new ideas, there is abundance in the infidel lands. in these circumstances of peace, knowledge, and predictability, the birth of a girl is just fine. ......

salvation lies in the ways of the infidel, grandmother. he has printed and bound books full of memory. he peeks through lenses that allow him to see an invisible world of creatures that live in us and with us, and he has sought and found remedies that attack them and defend our bodies. grandma, fevers and diseases are not caused by jinn and forefathers rising from the dead to torment us, or by an angry god, but by invisible creatures with names like parasites and bacteria and viruses. the infidels medicine works better than ours, because it is based on facts, inquiry, and real knowledge.

the sooner we adopt the infidel attitude towards work, money, procreation and leisure, the easier and better life will be.

it's interesting to see what my/our society looks like through someone else's scope. she praises a number of things i wouldn't consider positives. for example, she says we have an abundance in western countries. i'm assuming she's referring to our resources. but theres so many things that are ignored in that abundance. like the cheap (or often times free) labor i spoke of in the last post, the stealing of resources we do to nations like Somalia, and the countries we unlawfully dispose of this abundance.

she also speaks about western countries as if we don't have religious zealots simply because we have secular governments. anyone who has lived in a western country and paid attention could tell you the extremes religion takes in the United States, especially.

one thing that always makes me think from her books is the criticism she makes of western liberals and feminists. she says when it comes to their own countries, liberals and feminists are relentless in their criticisms, but when it comes to other countries and cultures, theres the go-to response of relativism. which is very true. conservatives are mainly the ones openly condemning some of their practices (although their criticisms are usually saturated in a superiority complex and racism).

but Ayaan sees this as egotism. to her, it is almost like someone saying "this is right, good, better, beneficial and progressive for MY society, but for yours.....its whatever. MY society is the society that can handle this concept and reap its benefits. yours probably cannot. your people aren't intelligent enough to grasp this concept, thus i suspend my opinion on YOUR country and YOUR people....".

i think religion has some benefits (very very few, that can probably be accessed through alternative mediums), but that overall it's destructive, divisive, counter-productive and idolizes mental docility, dogmatism, and ignorance in its followers. and by "religion", i mainly mean Christianity and Islam. other ideologies and practices that may fit under the umbrella of "religion" don't, to me, share or continue to exhibit these features. "religion" is too broad a term to make one single true statement about it. and while i may side with liberal on 99% of the political issues, the topic of Islam is one i would disagree with them on. that being said though, there are many aspects of any religion that is difficult to tell apart from the tradition of a land. the Qu'ran says nothing about female genital mutilation, yet it is most practiced in Muslim populated countries, and many Muslims in western countries continue to practice it. so is it a part of Islam or their culture?

this post isn't all that coherent. maybe when i finish the book i can get some cohesive thought(s) and my post won't sound like a ramble.

anyway, theres so many questions that arise while reading her books. you should definitely pick this one up.

comment. read her book. but her book. think. criticize.

also, she did an interview on the Tavis Smiley show you can view.

The Nation of Islam and a good memoir

i'm reading this memoir thats pretty good by Sonsyrea Tate entitled Do Me Twice. yes, i know, going off the title, i would never have picked this book up. sounds like something by Zane. but Sonsyrea Tate has another book i read a while back- Little X. its about her life growing up in the Nation of Islam.
her paternal grandparents converted when the Nation of Islam was becoming popular in the 60's, and her mother converted when she married her father. she and her family attended the NOI temples and schools, they dressed as the NOI and they followed the religious rituals. the first book is more about being a child and the standards and beliefs that she received as a child from the NOI. the second book is more about her problems with the beliefs she had and her rebellion from the religion.

here is an excerpt from Do Me Twice:

"i thought about my growing resentment toward Islam as i'd known it and realized the main thing i disliked was that it changed every decade or so. at least in America it did. it was as if it was being created and re-created as we went along. i needed a religion that would remain the same when everything else changed, something solid to hold on to in a confusing, ever-changing world. if your religion is confusing and unstable, you're in trouble. the very name of my religious organization changed three times before i was fifteen.
we started out as the Nation of Islam, then after Elijah Muhammad's death our organization evolved and was renamed the World Community of Al-Islam in the west. we were told to consider ourselves Bililian Muslims, after the darkest Muslim that followed the original prophet of Islam in Mecca. (before then, we'd been taught not to associate with the Muslims of middle-eastern orthodoxy because our Nation of Islam version of Islam was different, and, for us, better than their ancient, foreign religion.) Elijah Muhammad's son, Warith Deen Muhammad, who led or organization and re-named it the World Community of AL-Islam in the West, changed the name of our organization again. He now said we would call ourselves the American Muslim Mission.
as we changed customs and practices to align ourselves with the world-wide Orthodox Muslim community, Warith Deen Muhammad said we would no longer follow a central leader because Arab Muslims did not do that and we were modeling ourselves after them."

while i am far from religious, i find it one of the most interesting subjects to study. a year or so ago, i was obsessed with Islam-i was reading almost any book (suggestion: Muhammad by Yahiya Emerick-very very good read about the Prophet Muhammad and the spread of Islam)i could find on the subject and even tried learning Arabic (still in the process...). and now i'm reading more about the black power movement, and the Nation of Islam was and has been a strong constant in the struggle.

now that i live in Brooklyn, i have a new perspective on them as a group. i see them every now and them in the Atlantic Terminal Subway Station or the 125th Station in Harlem selling The Final Call (their newspaper), which i try to buy when i can.
on one hand, i respect them and wish that some things they implemented in the lives of their followers could have been duplicated on a mass scale for all blacks. for example, Sonsyrea talks about how they learned to love themselves as black children in school, and were taught to hold Africa and its cultures to the utmost respect. they were a community based organization that embraced collectivism and community living-buying food from other blacks, bulding businesses, hospitals and organizations that were aimed at blacks to help blacks. and it shouldn't be forgotten that this is the organization that fostered Malcolm X. Elijah Muhammad also enforced one of the best diet plans than many nutritionists. these are things the black community needed and still needs.
however, on the other hand, i could never join an organization like this. for one, its a religious organization. i would never associate myself with any religion, let alone a theistic one. second, the NOI is a very patriarchal religion, but then again so is Islam (and so is Christianity). Sonsyrea speaks about wanting to go into the work force and earn her own money while her mother was trying to teach her that her job was to be a mother and a wife before anything else (her mother had 10 children, while their hot water, electricity and telephone were being turned off for lack of money). the Million Man March is one example-having a march for black men as if black women have not suffered in this oppression that they have and as if we have nothing to add. almost all the articles in their newspaper are written by a man to a man, and the only advertisements or promotions i see in the paper mentioning women speaking have to do with cooking. in addition, Louis Farrakhan is absurdly homophobic, and i've discussed my thought on homophobia in the black community already.
mainly my problem (my problem with all religions) is the dogma involved. Elijah Muhammad's diet plan is one of the best i've heard, but he forced this on his followers and told them they would go to hell if they didn't follow it. its almost humorous to think i'd go to hell for eating pork and white rice...

think. comment. criticize. read the books.