Love of Self Part IV: God-Given

RELIGION

To sway even one reader towards or away from his/her beliefs or lack thereof is far from the purpose of this piece of writing. After all, the world has been privileged with the knowledge shared by innumerable intellectuals of all sorts of backgrounds.

Some embraced religion:

This from Edmund Burke, an 'Irish statesman [...] author, orator, political theorist, and philosopher' (Wikipedia), in his book Reflections on the French Revolution.

 Others criticized it:

 This from Henry Louis Mencken, an 'American journalist, satirist, cultural critic and scholar' (Wikipedia), in his book Minority Report.

But what Irishmen and Americans think of religion, as you'll soon see, is of little significance to us in Dominica and to black people as a whole, recent arrivals - latecomers, I dare say - as they are to the realm of true spirituality. For if the black man is truly the father of human life on earth - and science agrees he is (though popular opinion may disagree) - then his beliefs long predate those of any other race of people on the planet.

The view of 1952 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Albert Schweitzer, a 'German—and later French—theologian, organist, philosopher, physician, and medical missionary in Africa, also known for his historical work on Jesus.' (Wikipedia)

As the first post in this series (Learning from our Mistakes) stated, it is believed that about 62% of African slaves brought to Dominica were from the Bight of Biafra, a region on the western coast of Africa bordering Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, and Gabon. From this knowledge, the following quote from the introductory page of Michigan State University's (MSU) Exploring Africa curriculum becomes relevant:

"Africans are notoriously religious, and each people [society in Africa] has its own religious system with a set of beliefs and practices. Religion permeates into all the departments of life so it is not easy or possible to isolate it [from other aspects of African society and culture.] A study of these religious systems is, therefore a study of the peoples themselves in all the complexities of traditional and modern life." - John Mbiti

Mbiti did praiseworthy work in removing some stigmas and misconceptions about indigenous African religions. Both colonial Europeans in centuries past and traditional Christian onlookers in current times have associated religions native to Africa with witchcraft, evil, and heretical practices. Mbiti emphasized, however, that indigenous African religions and incoming Christian/Islamic ideologies were shaped and adapted by one another, though the two failed to understand each other completely. For example, while most Western religions refer to the Supreme Being as "God", the name varies with regions as well as religions in Africa but all refer nonetheless to the same Being, for the most part. African names for "God" may be found here.

83-year-old John Samuel Mbiti, "the father of contemporary African theology". (Dictionary of African Christian Biography, DACB)

Mbiti shared, from his years of research in Africa, that indigenous African religions transcend belief in the supernatural and actually pervade the faithful's "world-view", impacting all aspects of Africans' everyday lives. Additionally, he asserts, these religions "provide a system of morality that establishes right from wrong, good and appropriate from bad or inappropriate behavior". (Exploring Africa) Lastly, rituals form an integral part of the communication between humans and God for those who practice these indigenous religions (click here for pictures).

You can learn more about African spirituality from MSU by clicking on this link.

Similarly, in the Caribbean, our religions have been heavily influenced by the influx of Christian missionaries, and vice versa. Santeria (meaning "Way of the Saints"), for instance, is "an Afro-Caribbean religion based on Yoruba beliefs and traditions, with some Roman Catholic elements added. The religion is also known as La Regla Lucumi and the Rule of Osha." (BBC) To read about Santeria deities, Catholic influence, and holy books, click here. For Santeria and slavery, click here.

So how exactly did Christianity infiltrate African belief systems? It was the result of arguably the most significant encounter between the African and the European: SLAVERY.

Santeria is described as a syncretic religion with its roots in the Cuban slave trade. Christianity also made its way into the Caribbean, Dominica included, via slavery.

"Slavery...devastated traditional culture and religion among Africans. Slaves in the 18th century came from various African societies, cultures, and nations, such as the Igbo, Ashanti and Yoruba on the West African Coast. Consequently, slaves from differing ethnic groups displayed few commonalities. Africans were black, but did not experience a homogenous existence; they shared little of their traditional cultures and religions.
Ibo, Yoruba, and Ashanti religions did not survive the Middle Passage. The institution of slavery, and the influx of Christian conversions helped in eliminating traditional African religions in the United States." (Wikipedia)

An article by Jeffrey K. Padgett helps present one half of an interesting dualism regarding converting slaves to Christianity and says:

"The planters who opposed the conversion of their slaves feared the possibilities of a Christianized slave, and resented the idea of sharing their religion with a heathen. During the era of the slave trade, many whites claimed that slaves were not capable of understanding Christianity. However, many were afraid that if their slaves received education they would demand their rights as human beings. For slaves to be kept in bondage, they needed to be kept in ignorance." - The Christianization of Slaves in the West Indies

The other half is presented by the University of Richmond, which affirms that slavery was used as a "necessary evil" means by which African slaves could be freed (spare me such irony) to Christianity by Europeans:

"Slaveholders believed that slavery would liberate Africans from their savage-like ways, especially if they were infused with Christianity. As religion ran deep through slavery, white Christian slaveholders argued that slavery was a necessary evil because it would control the sinful, less humane, black race." - The History Engine at http://www.richmond.edu/.

Christianity was also a medium of justification for the practice of slavery. Several passages of biblical scripture, in both the Old and New Testaments seem to condone slavery, although many will point out that: a) the slavery referred to therein was more of a voluntary servitude; b) the Old Testament passages only applied to a certain group of people at a certain time, and c) there are as many verses condemning slavery as well. Some of the verses in question are given below (you may view the entire chapter to get a sense of context):

• Leviticus 25:44-46 - Pro-slavery
  ⁴⁴ "Your male and female slaves are to come from the nations around you; from them you may buy slaves. ⁴⁵ You may also buy some of the temporary residents living among you and members of their clans born in your country, and they will become your property. ⁴⁶ You can bequeath them to your children as inherited property and can make them slaves for life, but you must not rule over your fellow Israelites ruthlessly."
•  Galatians 3:28 - No slavery
  "There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus."
• 1 Timothy 6:1-2 - Pro-slavery
  "All who are under the yoke of slavery should consider their masters worthy of full respect, so that God’s name and our teaching may not be slandered. ² Those who have believing masters should not show them disrespect just because they are fellow believers. Instead, they should serve them even better because their masters are dear to them as fellow believers and are devoted to the welfare^[a] of their slaves."
• 1 Corinthians 12:13 - No slavery
  "¹³ For we were all baptized by^[a] one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink."

[All verses were taken from the Bible Gateway website, where parallels between the New International Version (NIV) and King James Version (KJV) may be read.]

To learn more about biblical stances on slavery, click here and here and here.

To read more on the relationship between Christianity and Afro-Caribbean slavery, click here.

For data on religious diversity and affiliation in the Caribbean, click here.

Finally, the attitudes of slaves towards conversion to Christianity - whether that conversion was forced or not - remains clear even to this day: its appeal rests in the promise of final justice after a lifetime of hardship.

"The most important aspect of Christianity for slaves was the promise of heaven. This idea preached the notion that for all the suffering that is done in the physical world, your soul will be preserved and experience a hardship-free spiritual life. What this did for the slaves was give them hope for the future. The converted slaves’ belief in heaven allowed some to passively resist their master and focus on the afterlife." - The Christianization of Slaves in the West Indies

Make no mistake about the presence of Christianity and Islam in Africa prior to slavery, however, albethey among the minority. The two intermingled with African belief systems in ways that may now be imperceptible to those who practice any of them. Says Laurie Maffly-Kipp of the National Humanities Center at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill:

"Islam had also exerted a powerful presence in Africa for several centuries before the start of the slave trade...Catholicism had even established a presence in areas of Africa by the sixteenth century...

"...slaves mixed African beliefs and practices with Catholic rituals and theology, resulting in the formation of entirely new religions such as vaudou in Haiti (later referred to as "voodoo"), Santeria in Cuba, and Candomblé in Brazil." - African American Christianity Pt. I: To the Civil War.

 So, with so much intersectionality (definition on page 4) creating the inseparable nature of slavery, indigenous African religion, and Christianity in Dominica, how do we take this information and move forward? Simple: we must show some SELF-LOVE. No matter that the full-bodied story above mirrors that which took place on a larger scale in North America. No matter that our blend of religious expressions is far less interesting than that in Latin America. Are we responsible for the actions of our ancestors or our neighbours? That is for us to discuss and you to decide. However, these are our unarguable duties to them - to remember and respect their heritage, now ours, and their sacrifice, to credit their strength in bondage, their courage under cruelty, their beauty, and their very presence, which set the foundation for one vital freedom we enjoy today: to believe or not to believe.