Some of their spiel is rather simplistic. People the world over will build images,
idols etc to suit their religious conceptions and their cultures, or local agendas.
Can these be criticized on various fronts? Sure,, but such criticism would hit EVERYBODY.
White people have done so and so have blacks with their own set of
images and idols. African religions that consider God in human form produce
Africanized image. In Kemet, various gods viewed as using incarnation were pictured
as native Egyptians. The white man is not unique. Every local culture does it.
Does this mean white supremacy did not use this as a means of control etc? Sure,
but too often arguments like Johnson simplistically picture black people as
these childlike beings, "unable to think for themselves" who are supposed to be
"Psychological cripples" because they accept Christianity. Claims of doom and gloom
re Christianity supposedly "hurting" black people psychologically are also dubious-
as if black folk can't make up their own minds as to which belief they find
attractive- only the "approved" religion (proponents have multi-claims as to exactly
which is the "approved" belief for the black man) is good.
Does this mean various religious institutions and leaders can't be criticized severely
on various grounds, including the "cash money" leaders? Sure, they deserve criticism
but that does not mean religious black folk are supposedly these blind, lost cripples,
who need Umar Johnson to come set them right.
Christianity as such has not brought in any "psychological crippling" of black people.
Sweeping claims this are simply bogus. One of the greatest black kingdoms of all time
Kush/Meroe before AND under Christianity is a huge source of black pride and accomplishment.
Likewise further south in today's Ethiopia, under Christian rulers, there is a proud
legacy of victory in battle, and sterling cultural black accomplishments. The Christian
generals at Adowa or the commanders of the Christian Kushite armies were not these
childlike "cripples" Johnson seems to conceive of under his "woe is us" claim,
nor were the empires and nations they founded and ran populated by alleged "cripples."
Likewise the Christian black folk who made the Civil Rights Movement were not any supposed
"cripples." Since when Rosa Park supposed to be this psych "cripple"? Or Martin Luther King?
Or Rev Fred Shuttlesworth in Birmingham who laid his life on the line- beaten, jailed shot, bombed
several times. Shuttlesworth was one of the bravest men America has ever produced- a fighter
for his people, braver than King. Since when is he supposed to be some "crip" allegedly
"under the control" of "the white man"? These men risked their lives and got things done,
while others in the safety of the North stood on the sidelines and produced mostly rhetoric.
The article "Ethiopianism and African Nationalism" (Shepperson 1953) shows that Christianity
was an important mobilization force in aiding some aspects of the anti-colonial struggle.
Likewise in the US, it was the mobilization wrought by "crip" Christian churches that got things
done in the Civil Rights Movement. The faith was a key, not any "crippling" factor. In fact, the African
independent churches often got their start by forging links with independent Black American
denominations, independent of any white control.
As for color, many black Christians have long conceived of Jesus as black. The iconography
of the Kushite/Ethiopian church for example has long filled its walls with a black Jesus, and that's
long before any white Europeans showed up. So where are these supposedly "crippled" black
folk who can't think for themselves? Likewise the "Ethiopianism" of indigenous Christian movements
of Africa have long portrayed Jesus as black and some were influential in colonial freedom
struggles. One of the foremost black thinkers of the 19th century, Edward Blyden, one of the
fathers of pan-Africanism, was a Christian who advocated a blend of Black Christianity and
liberation far from anything under any so-called "white control." The Hon Marcus Mosiah
Garvey likewise drew easily from a long tradition-2000 years of African Christianity- to
portray black Jesus, black saints etc in his ceremonies. Since when Marcus is this alleged
"psychological cripple," supposedly "brainwashed by the white man" as some seem to insinuate?
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Conservative Orthodox Leader Pope Shenouda III of the Oriental Orthodox Communion (Egypt, Ethiopia, Armenia, Syria, Eritrea) Pope Shenouda III, in his 2003 book - laid out the Long Creation Age - Old Earth view:
QUOTE:
"Question: How can the saying of the Bible that God created the world in six days coincide with the opinion of the geologists that the age of the earth is thousands even millions of years?.
Answer: The days of creation are not Solar days as our days now... The day of creation is a period of time, not known how long, which could have been a second or thousands or millions of years. This period was determined by the saying "so the evening and the morning were..."
The evidences for this are many, among which are:
1. The Solar day is the period of time between the sunrise and its rising again or between the sunset and its setting again. Since the Sun was only created on the fourth day [Gn 1:16-19]... then the first four days were not solar days.
2. As for the seventh day, the Bible did not state that it has ended... The Bible did not say [so the evening and the morning were the seventh day, and thousands of years passed from Adam till now while this seventh day is still going on. Accordingly, the days of creation are not Solar days but unknown periods of time.
3. As a whole, the Bible said about the creation and its six days: "This is the history of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in (the day) that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens." [Gn 2:4]. So the Bible summed up in the word (day) all the six days of creation...
Let the geologists say then whatever they want about the age of the earth; for the Bible did not mention any age for the earth that may contradict the view of the geologists. The way the Lord looks to the measure of time is explained by the apostle as follows: "With the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day" [2 Pet 3:8]"
--FROM: Pope Shenouda, 2003. So Many Years with the Problems of People Part 1: Biblical Questions. pg 11-12
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Orthodox Leader Pope Shenouda III of the Oriental Orthodox Communion discussed the long creational age- Old Earth view in an earlier 1999 Youtube video:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUuHiHHpCm0 See minute 6:36 where Shenouda says the "days" of creation may be million of years or ages of time - and not a day of 24 hours.