Fear of a Black God and White Devils: Jay Z and the Five Percent Nation-Part 2

Last updated on: June 25, 2014 at 7:00 am by Guest Contributor

Fear of a Black God and White Devils: Jay Z and the Five Percent Nation-Part 2 2014-06-25T07:00:00-05:00 Guest Contributor

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

by Andre Key
R3 Contributor

*Read Part 1 here

I think that the obsession with the critique of whiteness found in the Five Percent Nation teachings and other black nationalist oriented religious traditions found in the African American community misses the point entirely. A question that is not often asked is, ‘what should the religious mythologies and theology of Black folk reflect if not a response to the experiences of…well…Black folk?’ The fact that after centuries of racial enslavement, brutal and oppressive Jim Crow segregation that some aspects of Black religiosity responded to it in theological and even in mythic terms should not be surprising. To equate whiteness and white society as the function of some demonic force hell-bent on oppressing and enslaving black folk is just as logical an conclusion as those who generations earlier believed that enslaved Africans due to their circumstances were the recipients of a divine curse (a la curse Of Ham). The more intriguing question to be asked given the historical circumstances of enslavement and racial violence during the late 19th and earlier 20th century is, ‘why didn’t the belief that the white man is the devil became more widespread in the African American religious worldview?’

Perhaps, it is a function of white privilege that African Americans and other non-whites can be subjected to yearly doses of white Jesus films and other re-enactments that are supposedly historical in nature that feature the whitest of actors playing biblical figures in order to reinforce the sacredness of whiteness. The fear and angst exposed towards the teachings of the Five Percent Nation is a cosmos in which whiteness is not revered.

The Five Percenters and its parent group the Nation of Islam offer is a normative religious cosmos for black existence. This is often overlooked in favors of criticizing the elements which are unpleasant to white ears. But lets us imagine that ancient Egyptians, Canaanites, Jebusites, and all the other “ites” from the Hebrew Bible could be resurrected; would modern Jews abandon their faith in order not to offend their one-time foes? And even as the Catholic Church and mainline Protestant denominations have officially abandoned the charge of deicide against “the Jews” there still exists a sizable number of Christians who hold Jewish people responsible for the death of Christ. This gets at the crux of the matter, religion as a human phenomenon responds to the human experience with particularity rather than universalism. The ethical and moral universalism of religion is filtered through historical and cultural myths, rites and rituals that give meaning to the particular religious community. For most whites, black religion operates as what noted historian of religion Charles Long calls an opaque theology. The inability to comprehend a reflective inner life for Blacks which sacralizes its historical experiences leads to an obsession with the elements that openly criticize whiteness (i.e. white man is the devil). Therefore the traumatic slaveocracy and Jim Crow segregation that produced the “blue eyed devil” myth is ignored or marginalized and black religious groups are treated as irrational hate-mongerers.

To be Continued…………

Follow Andre on Twitter @AkeyPhD

Uncategorized

Previous Post

June 24, 2014

Putting Religion in its Place: The Secular State and Human Flourishing - A Debate

Next Post

June 25, 2014 What Jesus Talked About When He Talked About Hell

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Amy Steele Andre E. Johnson Book Reviews/Series Brian Foulks Call for Chapters Carol Howard Merritt Classes Conferences Contributors Crystal St.Marie Lewis Daniel White Hodge Earle Fisher Eulogy Fredrick Robinson Guest Contributions Henry McNeal Turner Institutes Interviews Joseph Boston Katherine Whitfield Kimberly Peeler-Ringer Lectures/Roundtables Natalie Bullock Brown R3 Book Series R3 Contributor Rashad Grove Readers Reflections Symposiums Teaching Traci Ellis Travis Harris Uncategorized Video

Select a Month June 2020 February 2020 December 2019 November 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 October 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz