how do you operate as a self respecting black man while following a religion that tore apart Africa, is still tearing apart africa, was used to justify african slavery, and is based on a book that repeatedly condones slavery?
thats like being black and working for the government that opresses you?????
people in this thread might say im a bitch or im racist for taking this side of the argument but the reality is i never even thought about this until i heard blavk friends of mine criticize other blavks for supporting christianity.
Sorry for my delay in response but you pose an excellent question and a profound question requires a profound response. Though a variety of missionaries, the R.C. church, a variety of other sects like one I was exposed to like the Seventh Day Adventist sect created by the racist Ellen G White that's ironically overloaded with a Black congregation in my area, LDS, and many other examples I could mention. What you describe was the actions of others. From my reading of the Bible I can not discover any verses of that show Jesus Himself or any of His apostles entering African villages to subjugate or enslave them. That was the actions of others.
There have been a variety of Europeans that have also contributed to the problem historically like Cecil Rhodes, the Apartheid movement in South Africa, and tons more, but they were not the only ones.
If you look in the Bible, Joseph was sold into slavery after his brothers were enraged at him in Genesis 37, but I find it interesting who bought him: they were Ishmaelites (Genesis 37:25-28). I find that interesting. Though they were not formally in existence as they are today because Mohammed did not exist yet. Would you care to think who the Ishmaelites were destined to become? If you are not able to pick up on my clues google what people honor Ishmael today and you will begin to understand certain things that is not presently understood by most people. And so historically, I feel these people had a great hand in the business of slavery in Africa and destroying villages and tribes which sold these people to the European slave ships to be sent to the Caribbean and North America. Even if you were to look at modern news today look who is destroying Africa, it's Boko Haram (
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boko_Haram).
You are also right with the government having a hand in opposing blacks, and for that reason I opposed Hillary becoming president because she is an acolyte of Margaret Sanger who historically was an incredible racist. I did have debates with others on this site. If you wish to read my arguments against Sanger feel free to read them:
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https://www.blacktowhite.net/threads/trump-wins.79333/page-92#post-1353218 )
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https://www.blacktowhite.net/threads/trump-wins.79333/page-93#post-1353359 )
The US government also failed to celebrate in some victories Blacks had historically: It will stun many that when Jesse Owens won the Olympics in Germany, it was FDR ( America's president at that time ) that shunned Owens and it was Hitler that celebrated his victory too. For proof it was in my post here too:
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https://www.blacktowhite.net/threads/trump-wins.79333/page-14#post-1223768 )
And reflecting on the Bible I feel a strong sense of justice and truth that appeals to me as well as the testimony of many others whose lives were dramatically changed even in our modern times. Ever hear of Isaiah Reed (
http://www.isaiahreed.com )? He was a ******* dealer and a pimp that cleaned up his life and became a pastor after cleaning up his life. Or Katie Souza (
https://www.expectedendministries.org )? She was a ******* dealer too and she became a pastor. Also Joyce Meyer? She was ******* by her dad and she now has a massive ministry (
http://joycemeyer.org/broadcasthome.aspx ). Moreover, Lee Strobel, an atheist and a reporter, was a researcher who set out to prove that God was a myth only to prove that God is real. He wrote a book called, "The Case For Christ" which is recently a movie in the theatres today: (
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Case_for_Christ,
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt6113488/ )
I do not follow organized religion that goes back thousands of years as to me there are inconsistencies again like the SDA's, Mormons, the Anglican church, and the R.C. church. However as I recently said there is a testimony based on the recent lives of those I mentioned and several other people alive as I write this post. If Christianity is a dead religion there would be no fruit and there are as I aforementioned. Moreover, I do get a sense of peace and truth from the Bible as well.
I pray this answers your question, but feel free to pose any further questions or address anything I said or referenced should you feel I missed anything. Peace.