In This I Defend Barack

(The opinions expressed in the following posting and any postings in this blog are my own. But please do not think that I support Senator Obama for the presidency of the United States.)

The subject of “Black Liberation Theology” came up in the news recently. There is a suspicion that presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama subscribes to that particular school of thought and belief. I personally do not and cannot believe that he believes in that theology considering his speech in Philadelphia recently.

He said: “I chose to run for the presidency at this moment in history because I believe deeply that we cannot solve the challenges of our time unless we solve them together - unless we perfect our union by understanding that we may have different stories, but we hold common hopes; that we may not look the same and we may not have come from the same place, but we all want to move in the same direction - towards a better future for our children and our grandchildren…I have brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, uncles and cousins, of every race and every hue, scattered across three continents, and for as long as I live, I will never forget that in no other country on Earth is my story even possible.

“This belief comes from my unyielding faith in the decency and generosity of the American people…On the other end, we've heard my former pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, use incendiary language to express views that have the potential not only to widen the racial divide, but views that denigrate both the greatness and the goodness of our nation; that rightly offend white and black alike.”

Compare those words with those of Dr. James H. Cone of Union Theological Seminary in New York. Cone has been called "the Father of Black Liberation Theology.” Let's look at something that Dr. Cone wrote that was quoted in African American Religious Thought: An Anthology, "Divine Racism: The Unacknowledged Threshold Issues for Black Theology" by William Jones: “Black theology refuses to accept a God who is not identified totally with the goals of the black community. If God is not for us and against white people, then he is a murderer, and we had better kill him. The task of black theology is to kill Gods who do not belong to the black community ... Black theology will accept only the love of God which participates in the destruction of the white enemy. What we need is the divine love as expressed in Black Power, which is the power of black people to destroy their oppressors here and now by any means at their disposal. Unless God is participating in this holy activity, we must reject his love."

Some may say that I am misinterpreting that statement. According to an article in The News & Observer (http://www.newsobserver.com/politics/story/1008049.html): “Cone wrote that the United States was a white racist nation and that the white church was the Antichrist for having supported slavery and segregation.

“Today, Cone, a professor at Union Theological Seminary in New York, stands by that view, but also makes clear that he doesn't believe that whites individually are the Antichrist.” He is right. White supremacy ruled the day during slavery. Many white churches, not all such as the Quakers, supported slavery and segregation, and even many church members in the South who had no problems in participating in cold-blooded murder in lynching Black men (Thou shalt not kill). But, I beg your pardon. The words as quoted by Cone indicated the present, not the past. “Participates” not “participated.” Also “here and now” means…here and now, doesn’t it, not “back in the day”?

Do those words reflect Galatians 5:22-23: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law”? Cone is an ordained minister. Does his words reflect that of a Christian full of the love of God for others? Does he love white people as Jesus loves them?

I am an African American -- black in heart, in soul, in mind, and in body. I also believe that Jesus was black (along with Miriam called Mary, Joseph, Peter, Paul, Moses, all the prophets, all the Hebrews, all the Egyptians, all indigenous peoples in the Middle East during biblical times, Noah, Ham, Shem, Japheth, and even Adam and Eve). In the past, I have experienced racism from white people on a daily basis, even for years. Even though Senator Obama and I differ on some issues, I appreciate his attitude of desiring unity of all ethnic groups in the United States. Cone’s words are the antithesis of Barack Obama’s message. He said that his family is of “every race and every hue.” He honors every race and every hue and is not endorsing “the destruction of the white enemy.” His overwhelming support in many primaries proves that he transcends petty antiquated “destroy the white enemy” nonsense. Research ”Black Liberation Theology” for yourself. Google it.

Did Jesus say from the cross “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do”? or "Father, God damn these Romans for these white devils sure knew what they were doing!" Was Jesus a weak, sissified “Uncle Tom,” kissing up to the white Romans right to very end while dying on a cross? Or was he planning on serving a cold dish of revenge to those white oppressors later as a revolutionary zealot? (By the way, the religious leaders who gave up Jesus to the white Romans were Black. You Black Liberation Theology disciples ever think about that? Were they not “sellouts” in every sense of the word?)

Oh yeah, my cup runneth over.

Is that not the Jesus of Black Liberation Theology? He was a revolutionary. Were not the Romans the white oppressors that needed to be destroyed? I suppose after Jesus resurrected, He came out of the tomb saying to the Roman guards, "Hearken O ye white devils! Crucify me will you? I’m mad! Get ready thou mother.... for the Big Payback! Revenge! Heyyyy! Die thou white oppressor Romans! Go ye to hell and thou shalt enjoy the trip!" and shot a bolt of lightning out of his hand and destroyed all them on the spot, just like that gross scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark. Then He went to Jerusalem and killed every white Roman, including Pontius Pilate and his wife, and all the Black religious leaders who gave him to the white oppressors. "Burn ye white devil Romans! I’m mad! Whosoever telleth thee that I loved everybody in the world hath lied unto thee! They hath jived you! Burn ye white devils and ye jive-time Negroes! Goeth thou to hell! Bhahahaha!" Later then He told His followers, "Go ye into the all the world, and thou shalt stick it unto the white man by any means necessary. Preach my gospel unto all nations that the oppressor white folks gots to go. For I am a God of love unto all nations of all colors (as long as they are black). Bhahahaha!"

That is not the Jesus I know, "participating in the destruction of the white enemy." Is that the Jesus you know and love? Did not Jesus Christ of the Bible say that he came not to destroy men's lives but to save them?

What did Cone say? "Black theology will accept only the love of God which participates in the destruction of the white enemy. What we need is the divine love as expressed in Black Power, which is the power of black people to destroy their oppressors here and now by any means at their disposal. Unless God is participating in this holy activity, we must reject his love." That crap is “old school.” That crap went out of style with the Spanish Inquisition, 8-track tapes, and platform shoes. Is he saying that God should "get on the good foot" and kill some white oppressors or we are going to be very perturbed with Him? He needs to get with the Black Power program or else He is fired or executed? I wonder if there would be an election for a new "Black God" who knows how to obey orders! If Black Liberation Theology was “all that,” then why is it that in all my years I have not heard any successful Blacks testify “I owe my success to Black Liberation Theology,” have you? From George Washington Carver to Oprah to Bill Cosby to Josephine Baker to Booker T. Washington to Nannie Helen Burroughs to Earl Graves to Susan Taylor to Beyonce to Frederick Douglass to Mary McLeod Bethune to Duke Ellington to Smokey Robinson to Martin Luther King, Jr. to A. Philip Randolph to Bayard Rustin to Tiger Woods to Will Smith to Michael Jordan to even Senator Barack Obama? Thousands can be included. The first black millionaire was Madame C.J. Walker (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madam_C.J._Walker). She died years before Dr. James Cone was even born. She prospered during a time of social segregation and with no knowledge of a "Black Liberation Theology." (She prospered in spite of segregation? What? Black folks became wealthy during segregation? I thought the white folks held all black folks back, and until the Democrats gave us civil rights, none of us did well. We needed government programs.) Did Halle Berry say when she won her Oscar: “I want to thank my mother and Black Liberation Theology”? As a matter of fact, Blacks did very well without it before it came into existence. Read the books on black history in America. In all the Black churches I have been in all my life and of the hundreds of preachers I have listened to all my life, I have not heard such nonsense preached. Therefore I suspect that many Blacks have not been buying what Black Liberation Theology has been selling.
(Also too, if America is such a bad place for Blacks, why do many Black Africans come here to work and live? They all should want to go back home and warn other Black Africans not to come here.)

I would ask the radical Black Liberation Theology disciples, "How many white people has your God killed lately? I have not seen any replays of Sodom and Gomorrah on CNN, up-to-minute coverage. What's up? Is he asleep at the wheel? He has not even destroyed the KKK, the American Nazi Party, the Aryan Nations, and their ilk? Has your God lost his touch? Has he become color blind? (God forbid!) Did he run out of lighter fluid for his fire and brimstone? I will lend him a couple of bucks to go to Wal-Mart so he can get some. (Since he is God, they will probably let him have it for free.) If you want to kill white folks, you have to do it properly and safely. Or maybe fuel prices have shot up so high, money for God to send fire and brimstone from heaven to destroy masses of white people is just not in the budget at this time? Have the banks been threatening to foreclose on his streets of gold? Does he need to hire good black lawyer? But he still has destroying the white oppressors on his to-do list taped on his refrigerator. He will get around to it someday when the right people are elected and fuel prices go down."

Dr. Cone, didn’t you say "Unless God is participating (present not past) in this holy activity, we must reject his love"? We must “reject his love”? We must reject all this nonsense, don’t you think? If all of the adherents to this peculiar theology are seriously committed to their faith to the letter, then let them organize a public prayer vigil that they may call on their “God” to destroy the white oppressors once and for all. Let’s solve the problems of race in America and in the world by wiping them all out for good. Let’s get it on. Send out news releases to the media and hold press conferences to announce the event. Show me your faith by your works. Faith without works is dead. Actions speak louder than words. If there is no prayer vigil, then we will say that your faith is in vain and it was all “much ado about nothing.” Your God is dead.

Dr. Cone, if you are reading my gentle commentary, I hope you had a change of heart much like former segregationist and white oppressor Governor George Wallace. This is not a criticism of you personally. It is a criticism of your philosophy. Your god is toxic. And I’m positive that Senator Barack Obama would agree that your god is toxic.

In all due respect…

Damn the god of Black Liberation Theology.