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Post by nebsen on Feb 26, 2012 18:25:32 GMT -5
www.theroot.com/buzz/remembering-black-atheists-historyThis article is in The Root. I have noticed a more vocal out pouring of Black atheist/ agnostic coming out of the closet so to speak, over the past year or so. Personally I think it is a good thing & healthy .It made me wonder how many on ESR are in this camp ? What are your feeling about this subject. I have a core belief that African peoples are highly spiritual & in a way this has help many endure the hardships of slavery etc. Mind you I said spiritual, as opposed to religious ! Think about ancient Kemet a highly moral spiritual civilization that lasted three thousands years. With a belief in many gods & at the same time believing in one supreme deity( the hidden one ) ! 
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Post by anansi on Feb 27, 2012 0:54:47 GMT -5
www.theroot.com/buzz/remembering-black-atheists-historyThis article is in The Root. I have noticed a more vocal out pouring of Black atheist/ agnostic coming out of the closet so to speak, over the past year or so. Personally I think it is a good thing & healthy .It made me wonder how many on ESR are in this camp ? What are your feeling about this subject. I have a core belief that African peoples are highly spiritual & in a way this has help many endure the hardships of slavery etc. Mind you I said spiritual, as opposed to religious ! Think about ancient Kemet a highly moral spiritual civilization that lasted three thousands years. With a belief in many gods & at the same time believing in one supreme deity( the hidden one ) ! I have kind of parted ways with my parents religion which I view as more cultural than anything else, I would not refuse accompanying my elders to service if requested not because I am cowardly but I know their days are slipping by,and it give them comfort to know that family is still is. However how does one separate spiritualism from religion,for all of our ancestors both distant and near practiced some form of organized religion,and yes it inspires them to do great things and persevere through bad times,but we cannot over look the fact that since religion is spirituality organized and thus hierarchical there is some damning thing done in the name of religion.take for example very ancient Kemet, I said very ancient because right up passed the 1st dynasty the Pharaohs simply took his entire court with him when he died,now imagine you were some lowly cook but a good one ,enough draw the Pharaoh's attention but the old geezer suddenly took ill, you would be worried sick if he took a turn for the worst,you have a wife and young child you want to be alive for if nothing else ,but men or woman in robes tell you how much it is an honor to be sacrificed just so you can keep serving that ol geezer in the after life. The key here is sacrifice most religions that i am familiar even faintly requires some sort of sacrifice,it maybe a one off thing as done in Christian religion where we supposedly nailed some Jewish guy to a cross and we in some denomination to this day ritualistically ate of his flesh and drank of his blood.(Oh Yuck!!) That same Jewish guy came from a long line of goat killers,and perhaps a human or two take the story of Abraham and his son Issac "Take your son, your only son – yes, Isaac, whom you love so much – and go to the land of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will point out to you." (Genesis 22:1-18) He replaced it with a lamb but still he was willing to carry it out, not too long ago about a month or so I came upon this story of two brothers in India who kidnapped a ten year old girl and sacrificed her to some god for good harvest,while in East Africa sacrifice of Albinos for good luck is common place,and ritual murders is still a fact in West Africa, The amphitheater or Colosseum of the Romans were one gigantic death machine dedicated to sacrifice to the Roman gods and ancestors of leading citizens so too were the death machines of the ancient Americans,while brilliant at star mapping,mathematics,and architecture ripped the beating hearts out of their still living victims in the thousands. you have folks very religious who will pack bombs to themselves or to kids and detonate it in a crowded market most wars has some religious tinge to it,how often have you heard this phrase.. He sacrificed his life for his 1 God 2 King 3 Country all three in the same breath or any combination thereof. Now with all the above that not to say there isn't anything of beauty in finding spirituality but how do one go about that without it being or having the potential of becoming the above. |
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Post by nebsen on Feb 27, 2012 3:54:38 GMT -5
anansi,The best example that I had growing up was my Mom. She was a very spiritual & sensitive women, & I would even say very psychic, but she did not attend church.My Step- Dad on the other hand was an advent church goer & used to beg my mom to go with us,( for us kids their was no choice), we went every Sunday with him. I would have to say I'm very glad that I had that experience growing up (early 50's Civil Rights period). But my Mom would always tell us that spirit was every where, just not in a building called church, & that it lived inside of us. She is now with the ancestors , but I will never forget her wisdom concerning the universality of spirit being every where,esp. inside one, not just in a building on Sunday mornings ! So I would say spirituality is inner directed ,while religion is outer directed .
Concerning ancient Kemet & spirituality; their was a very deep wisdom & a system of initiation which is very African & a deep respect & inclusion of the female aspect of spirit which is surely missing today in so called religion . Kemet was all about balance of male/ female deities , & energies . personally I believe the beginning of Kemet decline was when their became an imbalance of male dominated energies esp. during the Greek/ Roman periods.
Something that many don't know is that Marcus Garvey was a very religious man but not in the sense of church going, just like my Mom. Also he had a philosophy called " The African Mysteries " which was very close to the teachings of Theosophy". But least i digress !
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Post by anansi on Feb 27, 2012 22:30:27 GMT -5
Nesben I too have a core feeling that there is something out there that can't be readily measured and beyond our current understanding so that mystery kept me from being an atheist but I kept abreast from any form of religious organizations.
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Post by nebsen on Feb 28, 2012 17:15:17 GMT -5
A quote I read today I think encapsulates my Mom thinking about religion : The Divine does not like to be shut up in a building. The Divine likes to be out in the open. It is right here in the very body. Each one of us is a miniature universe, a living shrine. Morihei Ueshiba
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Post by nebsen on Feb 28, 2012 17:38:53 GMT -5
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Post by nebsen on Mar 18, 2012 13:21:43 GMT -5
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Post by sundiata on Mar 21, 2012 1:26:50 GMT -5
Nebsen, why is that surprising? I'm definitely agnostic, closer to atheist and have been so for a while. Honestly, I don't see how some Egyptsearch members can run around citing all of these anthropology articles and still adhere to biblical scripture. Evolution made the biblical God obsolete. I mean, the moral aspects of the Bible are useful but one can have a discussion on ethics outside of that context. I don't mean to offend anyone with this statement, but most educated people simply don't believe wholeheartedly in God. The more you learn about the universe, the more you realize that if God exists, he surely hasn't let us know about it. Going merely on claims of divine inspiration is just an exercise in blind faith, a concept that makes absolutely no sense to me. I guess in terms of religion, I'm handicapped by a critical mind and I don't compartmentalize for anything.
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Post by nebsen on Mar 21, 2012 2:17:19 GMT -5
Sundiata, did you listen to the link i provided ? I think if you did you might have a better understanding where I might stand on the subject. From your above post I believe you don't have a clue to my sentiments on the matter. Anansi might have a better, if limited understanding to my feelings around the subject than you do at this time. I'll just say this I'm a very open minded person not bound in by" That Old Time Religion "! I have a deep respect for my & your ancestors who were very devotional in their belief in the " Good Book" & the God Jehovah .In many ways they exemplified, the truest tenets, of Christianity more than most. But I feel we are moving into a different age, which will demand a totally different way of seeing & understanding the world we live in . For one has to be very OPEN, for old dogmas might well be a deficit moving forward !
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Post by sundiata on Mar 21, 2012 10:50:32 GMT -5
^Which link? And no, I'm not particularly privy to your position on the matter, I was merely stating my own in response to: "It made me wonder how many on ESR are in this camp? What are your feelings about this subject." It appears Anansi simply relates to your way of thinking and no, my "ancestors", most at least, didn't even know about any good book as our ancestry goes beyond slavery. But I agree, we're in a different age that requires us to have open minds considering what's possible. I'm not sure however, where religion and spirituality fits into this. I guess I think too scientifically, but it's hard not to. The way I've survived so far was by relying on my senses.
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Post by anansi on Mar 21, 2012 13:48:21 GMT -5
^Which link? And no, I'm not particularly privy to your position on the matter, I was merely stating my own in response to: "It made me wonder how many on ESR are in this camp? What are your feelings about this subject." It appears Anansi simply relates to your way of thinking and no, my "ancestors", most at least, didn't even know about any good book as our ancestry goes beyond slavery. But I agree, we're in a different age that requires us to have open minds considering what's possible. I'm not sure however, where religion and spirituality fits into this. I guess I think too scientifically, but it's hard not to. The way I've survived so far was by relying on my senses. I would be an agnostic if I were to put a label on what I believe I certainly do not follow any organized or un-organized religions for that matter but think there is more to this universe that can be measured and tested with current knowledge and technology, I think Nesben while not following any organized belief systems is pretty much the same..call it for lack of a better term spiritual person. |
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Post by nebsen on Mar 21, 2012 15:08:00 GMT -5
Sundiata , the link I referred to is 5 comments above I said "A very interesting conversation on Atheist today spirituality & the church". I highly recommend that you take some time about an hour & listen to what is being discussed by different leading Atheist in the field today in America ! Than get back to me ,for Atheism today is not the same as a hundred years ago. Like every thing else it is evolving with the times, nothing is static ! Anansi you are somewhat right , but let me put it this way .I have a simular belief system as Marcus Garvey. I have a very insightful article titled" Marcus Garvey And Esoteric History" which from the time this article was written I believe in 1980 by a Robert A. Hill was never explored in depth like this article from a book he had written . My scanner, printer ,is down for I would very much like the forum to read it when Iget a new one.
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