Written by Sidney Johnson for Blackapologetics.com
“During my first attempts to address this issue, I found it very difficult to begin. It was not so much that the topic was difficult as much as it was that the issue itself is a perplexing one. As an African American Christian, the issue of whether or not I have to choose between my blackness, and my faith really expresses to me the depths of the effects of racism. As I pondered over this question, I realized that there is not one single institution in America, the church included, which has not been affected by the institution of slavery, and the underlying practices of racism that accompanied it. Malcolm X spoke about the very definitions of words like black and white having been impacted by racist teachings. (1) Therefore, because the wounds of slavery pierce so deeply; because Jim Crow laws, and other practices of inequality were allowed to exist unchecked for so long; African Americans are placed in the unique position of being forced to question the validity of every piece of information given to us by those who enslaved us.
Like Malcolm X pointed out, even the way we define words needs to be investigated. Insanity is repeating the same mistakes and expecting the results to be different. So, if we as African Americans continue to accept information from those who have deceived us in the past, without a complete and thorough investigation of that information, it is safe to say that we are practicing insanity. However, when applying this philosophy to Christianity, two issues are raised. On the one hand, despite the teachings of many of our African American leaders, it is a huge misconception that Christianity came from our enslavers. Contrary to popular opinion, African American Christians were not the first black Christians, and secondly, Christianity is not just a theory, but it is in fact the truth and therefore able to withstand the most thorough forms of investigation.” (more…)
