blackreligions

“BLACK RELIGIONS”

Click picture to see example of this religious persecution

"WE AFRICANS HAD OUR OWN RELIGIONS BEFORE THE WHITEMAN STOLE "US” AND FORCED US THRU THE INSTUTION OF SLAVERY TO FOLLOW HIS FAITH AND BELIEF – “CHRISTIANITY”. WE AFRICANS IN AMERICA “DID NOT and DO NOT” HAVE FREEDOM OF RELIGION; THE PRINCIPAL OF “FREEDOM OF RELIGION” THIS COUNTRY WAS FOUNDED ON DO NOT APPLY TO “US”. WE ARE “FREE” TO FOLLOW THE WHITEMANS VERSION OF CHRISTIANITY AND PERSECUTED IF NOT! “NJWEEDMAN”

ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF THIS PERSECUTION: In April of 2002 I was ordered by New Jersey "State Officials" not to talk about "MARIJUANA" a sacrament in my faith (RASTAFARI). In May of 2002 a state official visited my house and ordered me to dismantal the "temple" I had constructed in my garage. In June of 2002 I was jailed for talking about "marijuana"(June 6-10th) and was jailed again (from August 02 - Jan 03) when I continued to do so!

FACT: In 1457, the "Catholic/Christian Council of Cardinals" met in Holland and sanctioned, as a RIGHTEOUS and progressive idea, of the enslavement of AFRICANS for the purpose of conversion to the Christian faith. The Christian church sanctioned the exploitation of AFRICANS in the labor market as chattel. This devilish scheme speedily became the standard policy of the Christian Church for over 400 years. One of the first things a slave owner did was to quickly try to break the new AFRICAN slave of their traditional religion's and customs by forcing them to accept un-natural Christian customs such as the "one-man one woman concept, eating pork, abortions and acceptance of white dominance over them”.

For nearly 350 years (1619-1865) White Christian's used certain biblical verse's to program Africans that they were supposed to be owned by white's, these teachings still affect African Americans to this day. The cross became the tool of slavery and to this day it is still used by white society to “civilize” the African male. I had my child taken for me in 1998 because I openly admitted to not following the “WHITEMANS” faith! (SEE: JUDGE BELL)

DO AFRICAN AMERICANS HAVE THE RIGHT TO RELIGIOUS FREEDOM? OR DO THEY HAVE THE RIGHT TO FREELY PRACTICE THE FAITH OF THE WHITEMAN?

African and African-Derivative Religions

are a large group of beliefs and practices based upon ancient indigenous faiths of sub-Saharan African peoples. Within the last 100 years in Africa indigenous religion has declined under the influence of colonialism, Western acculturation and proselytizing by Islam and Christianity. In the African Diaspora (mainly in the Americas) African-derived belief systems are in a state of impressive growth.

Within just the last two years the amount of information made available through the Internet is also impressive. Some of the best information comes to us from Italy, Sweden and Brazil. We are no longer dependent upon reports from academia or encyclopedias. There are now numerous websites maintained by the faithful themselves and, while the quality and quantity of information varies enormously among them, one may now hear from practitioners their own statements of faith.

In many, if not most, cases African spirituality has evolved in the Americas. Ancient practices brought westward by slaves became synchronized, more or less, with religious traditions of the slaves' masters. This synchronization is most noticeable in areas dominated by the Catholic faith and where the celebration of saints, votive offerings and other practices found parallels in ancient traditions.

The evolution of African spirituality in the Americas occurred mainly in the Caribbean Islands and in Brazil, and to a perhaps lesser extent in Mexico. Influenced by local cultures (Spanish, Portuguese, French, English and native peoples) a bewildering terminology has arisen such that essentially similar practices, concepts and deities are called by different names in different areas. It is impossible, at present, to point you to a simple source of information to clarify this situation.

For the most part African spiritual traditions in the Americas derived from two or three major cultures in ancestral Africa, the Yoruba culture of Nigeria, Benin and neighboring areas being perhaps of greatest influence. The major faith found among the Yoruba people is called Ifa (it is also a name for God, known also as Olorun or Olodumare). Orishas constitute the pantheon of deities (emissaries of Olorun) in Ifa. On the Internet, websites may speak of Yoruba faith, Orisha worship, Ifa religion. These are, essentially, synonyms for the same thing. Another interesting relationship is that almost all AFRICAN faiths utilize “HERBS” as sacraments, of which cannabis is the most sacred.

The African continent is probably the zone showing the widest prevalence of "marijuana use". When white men first went to Africa, marijuana was part of the native way of life. Africa was a continent of marijuana cultures where marijuana was an integral part of religious ceremony. The Africans were observed inhaling the smoke from piles of smoldering hemp. Some of these piles had been placed upon altars. The Africans also utilized pipes. The African Dagga (marijuana) cults believed that Holy Cannabis was brought to earth by the gods. (Throughout the ancient world Ethiopia was considered the home of the gods.)

Santeria (Lukumi, Macumba) evolved mainly in Cuba (where attempts at suppression have failed) and is now found throughout the Americas, especially in large metropolitan areas such as Los Angeles, Miami and New York City. Except, perhaps, for the ritual sacrifice of animals (particularly chickens, which are later eaten), Santeria probably differs little from other Ifa-derived traditions.

bit further south in Africa in the Congo, Zaire and Angola, the Bantu and other cultures supply the background for another strand of spirituality known in the New World (mainly Brazil and Cuba) as Kongo, Palo Monte, Palo Mayombe, Xango (Shango), Quimbanda, Umbanda and many other names. There are similarities and differences between the Kongo and Yoruba faith systems and, to some extent, each has influenced the other.

Another major strand of African spirituality in the New World is Vodou, also known as Vodun, Voodoo (pejorative), Vodoun and other spellings. This specialization of derived faith has its roots in Benin (where it was formally recognized by the government in 1989) and areas to the west of Yorubaland in Africa. Perhaps to a larger degree than in the case of Ifa and Kongo belief systems, it has been influenced by Roman Catholic traditions as well as by the Spiritism movement espoused in the 1800s, by H.L.D. Rivail (1804-69) in France under the banner of Kardecism (so named after a Druidic spirit).

The expressions of African and African-derived Spirituality in many ways bear remarkable similarities with Native American Spirituality and with Shamanism. There is very little evidence of exclusivism or doctrinal elitism. One gets the sense that most practitioners of these faiths can move comfortably between and among them.

Rastafarianism is in large measure credited to being founded by Marcus Garvey. This religion reaches back to Africa to find history and meaning. It is, in the main, a Bible-based, Christianized, backlash against a white-dominated social structure in which the late Emperor Haile Selassie (Ras Taffari Makonnen ) of Ethiopia is idolized. Because of the clash between RASTAFARIANISM and the drug laws there actual is a legal definition of this religion in U.S. law books.

Is a religion which first took root in JAMAICA in the ninetieth century and has since gained adherents in the UNITED STATES. See: Mircea Eliade, Encyclopedia of Religion pages 96-97 (1998 edition). It is among the 1,558 religious groups sufficiently stable and distinctive to be identified as one of the existing religions in this country. See J.Gordan Melton, Encyclopedia of American Religious pages 870-71 (1991 edition). Standard descriptions of the religion emphasize the use of marijuana in cultic ceremonies designed to bring the believer closer to the divinity and to enhance unity among believers. Functionally, marijuana known as GANJA in the language of the religion --operates as a sacrament with the power to raise the partakers above the mundane and to enhance their spiritual unity. UNITED STATES Vs BAUER, 84 F.3d 1549, 1556 (9th Cir.1996) MCBRIDE Vs SHAWNEE CITY ,71 F.Supp. 2d 1098, (5th Cir. 1999) STEELE Vs BLACKMAN, 236 F.3d (3rd Cir. 2000)

THE CHANGING FACE OF BLACK RELIGIONS

By: Tanu Henry

Angel Falcon grew up in a Catholic household and attended the prestigious Cathedral PreParatory Seminary in Rye, New York, a parochial school designed to prepare young Catholics for priesthood. But Christianity began to feel too shallow" for the Afro-Puerto Rican student. In search of a '"more fulfilling" religious experience while earning his Bachelors degree at Yale, Falcon became a devotee of Ifa, an African-based religion described by its African and African American followers as "the highest form of divination. "

Now working on a masters degree at Harvard Divinity School, Falcon is journeying the initiation process to become a Baba/awo, or priest - a journey back to the African-based religion with which he was fairly familiar from his Afro-Caribbean upbringing. "Ever since I was a kid I've felt a connection with the god Chango. He was always protecting me," said Falcon.

Falcon's conversion resembles that of many other people of African descent who are becoming adherents of African-based religions. This is emblematic of a growing international trend as black communities from Paris to Pretoria, from Philadelphia to Port-au-Prince, embrace new forms of spirituality and rediscover and reinvigorate old ones. This ongoing transformation of global black religion is loosening the strong historical grip Christianity and Sunni Islam have held on many societies in the African Diaspora for the last several centuries.

This renaissance of longstanding African and African-inspired religions - such as Ghanaian Ashanti religion, Nigerian Yoruba Religion, Haitian Vodou, Dahomean Vodun, Cuban Santeria and Brazilian Candomble - is happening in many urban centers throughout the world. In addition, many people of African descent are beginning to adhere to different kinds of religions and spiritual practices such as ‘the Black Israelites, the Nation of Islam and the Nuwaubians in the United States – that seem to have been born out of a need to reconnect with ancient, and often reinvented, religious past.

Dr. James Lorand Matory, professor of Anthropology and Afro-American Studies at Harvard University, says he notices a number of trends in the current movement toward African based religions. "First, people are adapting religions to fill cultural and political needs," he said. "The other major trend I will point out is that people all over the world seem to shop for religions because they provide answers for their problems at a certain time. They might try one religion this year and another one the next year that seems to respond better to their needs. There also seems to be an increasing amount of people who abide by more than one religion at the same tif1)e. There is a growing assemblage of the religions of the world because there is much more movement and communication all over the planet because of migration and technologies like the Internet."

In the face of slavery in the New World and colonialism in Africa, traditional African religions were sometimes aggressively attacked, or simply strongly discouraged, forcing practitioners to them new identities in order to practice them. During slavery in Cuba and Haiti for example where slaves were not allowed to practice their traditional religions - practitioners of traditional African religions would associate an African god with a Catholic saint who had similar attributes _and substitute the European image for the African one in their rituals. In the United States, where African religious beliefs were also suppressed, many of the practices of traditional African religions, such as drumming and spirit possession, became incorporated into Christian worship. In the early to mid-twentieth century several religious movements with explicitly race conscious theologies, such as the Nation of Islam and the Nuwaubians, were established in American urban cities as black Americans migrated from the south to the north.

In Africa, European missionaries during the colonial era often forbade African religious practices and led strong efforts to convert the "heathens" from their "pagan" beliefs. The pupils of the Christian mission schools were discouraged from staying in contact with their non-Christian relatives.

Traditional practices were also attacked by Muslims from Northern Africa and Persia, who imposed Islam on most parts of sub-Saharan Africa through military conquests. Many African converts to Islam became opposed to traditional African religions because traditional African beliefs in multiple spirits and a pantheon of gods contradict Islamic theology, which emphasizes the oneness of God.

Now, more than one hundred years after the end of slavery throughout the New World and as post-colonial Africa seeks a distinct non-European identity, many Africans and people of African descent are turning to religions that seem to reflect their African heritage and culture more strongly.

"African religions are entering the mainstream because black people throughout the world have gained the courage to become adherents of them," said- Matory. "This confidence comes in conjunction with the end of colonization in Africa and the emergence of black pride movements coming as a result of the end of apartheid in South Africa and Jim Crow laws in the United States. "

In 1997, for example, in the face of strong resistance from Christian groups, the parliament of the West African nation of Benin - the site of ancient Dahomey, the cradle of Vodun - declared July 10 National Voodoo Day: And this year in Philadelphia more than 600 priests and practitioners from Nigeria, Brazil, the Caribbean and the United States convened for the National African Religious Congress. The Philadelphia based LePeristyle Haitian Sanctuary organized the conference as part of an effort to increase public awareness and respect for African religions. Battling the mainstream American perception of such religions as cult like and marginal, the group recently published a hardcover guide listing more than 500 practitioners of African-based religions, and has begun contacting state governments in hopes that priests of African-based religions can be licensed to perform wedding and funeral rites.

In California, Kosanba, a scholarly organization of Haitian and other academicians was formed to study Haitian Voodoo. The group held its last conference in Port-au-Prince, Haiti last December. And all over the world an increasing number of celebrities have expressed their devotion to African forms of spirituality, including self-help author Iyanla Vanzant, who is a YorubaPrietess; Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka, who is a devotee of the Yoruba god Ogun; and actor Wesley Snipes, who embraces Yoruba religion, as well as a spiritual form of Afro-Brazilian martial arts and dance called Capoeira

Similarly, West African author and lecturer Malidoma Some has gained international fame through his lectures on African spirituality that promote personal enrichment by making connections to the ancestral and spiritual worlds. Some, a graduate of Brandeis University and the Sorbonne, went to a Catholic Seminary before returning to hi_ Burkina Faso viHage, where he went through the traditional religious rites into manhood.

Although most African-based religions are known as accommodating to other religions and do not encourage proselytizing, other religions have not been as welcoming. In April Emerge magazine reported that several Christian ministers say Iyanla Vanzant's message, addressed to a predominantly African American Christian audience, is not religiously valid because of her affiliation with Yoruba and other "New Age" religions. Recently, Vanzant has begun to exclude references to her initiation into the Yoruba religion from her biographies because it is unsettling to some of her admirers.

Nevertheless, African brands of spirituality are increasingly moving on to the main stage of the global religious landscape. Their burgeoning prominence is especially evident in eastern U.S. cities such as New York, Boston and Miami where there are large numbers of immigrants from the . Caribbean, Africa and South America.

"There is a broad representation of African descended people in [Boston] and they have come from many historical circumstances," said Dr. Linda Barnes, Director of the Spirituality and Child Health Initiative at the Boston Medical Center, who is working on a project that examines how human spirituality is related to wellness in Boston's black community. "There are Christians and Muslims, and people of many different religions, that will include African American, Haitian, Afro-Dominican, Afro-Cuban, Afro-Puerto-Rican, and many others. This is creating an unprecedented contact between people who were historically dispersed but now find themselves in close proximity. They are no longer hearing about each other from a distance so there is a lot of cultural and religious sharing."

Other groups long on the African-American religious scene seem to be growing in visibility Rastafarians, Nuwaubians and the Black Israelites are increasingly in evidence in American cities. At train stations in Boston, it is not unusual to see men from the Nation of Islam peddling the Final Call or Muhammad Speaks, while Nuwaubians - members of an Egypt-centered order who dress in black two-piece outfits and wear fezzes, and whose, leader claims to be descended from another galaxy - sell everything from incense to Egyptian crystal rocks. At times the influence of such groups goes beyond their immediate membership; the dreadlocks, African beads, and medallions traditionally associated with Rastafarians have made their way into the flow of mainstream fashion trends.

It remains to be seen whether the new pluralism in black religion will be celebrated and religious differences will be acknowledged but respected or simply add to the many divides that currently separate peoples of African descent.

"For me, It says Falcon, "this is the true religion for black people."

THE NEXT "PLANNED" MAJOR NJWEEDMAN ACT OF CIVIL DIS-OBEDIENCE