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Black Folks & Religion [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-04-23
What a lot of people don’t understand
Black folks’ relationship with God and religion is not the same as others, that should be evident the moment you walk into a Black church or listen to a Black Pastor or even attend a religious ceremony.
Now I’ll be the first to say I’m not a religious person, I believe in God but I don’t do dogma and rules. That being said, Black folks relationship with religion is something special to behold.
Religion for us, is deeply rooted in tradition and culture and most importantly history. It was religion that gave us up, that fueled us, that sustained us, religion is at the heart of our communities, it is more than belief in God. It is belief in hope. It is not performative attendance, it’s a ritual, a family gathering a communion of souls.
We enjoy church, that’s why our songs are joyous, our hearts filled with love, that’s why we sing and dance in our churches, to thank the one that brought us all together and united us. This belief that Black communities are fragmented is but one of the many myths spread about Black folks.
We do not invoke God, only when in church or when in dire straits or worse as a political tool, we invoke him at diner, when waking up, at parties, in our hearts, in our jokes, in our laughter and our tears, God to us is another family member unseen but present none the less.
We do not read the bible to seek out passages to hate, we read the bible to seek out passages that guide and advise and teaches us to love one another. And that is why, most of us are unable to truly hate those who have wronged us. That is why we do not seek revenge but justice.
That God that was used to justify our enslavement is the same one that has, unbeknownst to you sustained us through years of oppression and subjugation. He was and is our guiding light. The reason you do not understand our relationship with God is that you keep him stuffed inside your bible and only in there do you ever acknowledge him.
We keep him in our hearts, our homes, our schools, our churches, our cookouts, he his always besides us, that is where he lives… free of the constraints you would place upon him just as once you placed upon us. The bible is not the end all be all of God, it is but a glimpse of him. Some are content with that glimpse. We are not.
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#ThePoet - Muriel Vieux – April 23rd, 2025, ©All rights reserved
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