Last weekend, Aron and I went to a presentation about the history of Black Freethought by Alix Jules hosted by Houston Oasis. Right now the Houston Atheists boast the largest group of freethinkers in Texas with a population of 2,078.
Salute!
We happen to know Alix from being members of DFW’s Fellowship of Freethought the largest group of freethinkers in Dallas at 1,127. If you have never heard of him, he is in charge of DFWCOR Diversity Council.
We happened to be in Houston because Aron was giving a speech for the Humanists of Houston, another sizable group of Texas freethinkers, about the supposed coexistence of dinosaurs with people. Yes. People still do seriously believe that.
If you’re from Texas, you know that many freethinking Texans are actively interested in seeking the community of other nonbelievers because we can feel isolated and lonely. Two words…Rick Perry, if he’d been elected president -you’d all be feeling our pain right now. However terrible the pain freethinkers feel here, it can’t be directly compared to being a black freethinker.
As many of us already know, African-Americans are the most religious ethnic group.
While the U.S. is generally considered a highly religious nation, African-Americans are markedly more religious on a variety of measures than the U.S. population as a whole, including level of affiliation with a religion, attendance at religious services, frequency of prayer and religion’s importance in life. Compared with other racial and ethnic groups, African-Americans are among the most likely to report a formal religious affiliation, with fully 87% of African-Americans describing themselves as belonging to one religious group or another, according to the U.S. Religious Landscape Survey, conducted in 2007 by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life.
Although black nonbelievers exist somewhere in the 12 percent of the African American population that is religiously unaffiliated, they earn the distinction of being triple mavericks from the American status quo as they are not white, religious, and disproportionately economically disadvantaged. Few people really set out to alienate themselves from society, but black nonbelievers are often double alienated. As Alix says…
I remember the feeling of abandonment when grappling with the realization that it was my belief (or lack of it) that caused the rift in my relationships. I recall receiving a text: “write back when you’ve found Jesus.” There’s no more belittling feeling than being told that your lifelong congregation had been asked to pray for your safe passage and deliverance from Satan, yet watch the church say nothing to condemn priestly pedophilia.
I noticed during the Q&A that non-blacks can have difficulty identifying with what black nonbelievers go through. More importantly, they struggle with how to help support blacks coming out of religion. The first question for Alix was why blacks are Christians because of slavery in the Bible. Alix had a good answer that they identify with the bondage of the Israelites. I want to add that black slaves like the poet Phillis Wheatley took an unintended lesson to heart from their white slave owner’s religious indoctribation.
But how presumptuous shall we hope to find
Divine acceptance with the Almighty mind
While yet o deed ungenerous they disgrace
And hold in bondage Afric: blameless race
Let virtue reign and then accord our prayers
Be victory ours and generous freedom theirs.
How could they be worthy of salvation, but unworthy of their own freedom? Unfortunately. Wheatley fell prey to the rationalization that salvation was the purpose of slavery that still exists today. It is exactly the same type of rationalization that plagues women believers of any race. How can women be believers with the overt misogyny in the Bible? Anyone can cherry pick among the hateful verses in the Bible to try to find a higher purpose.
Another questioner asked how one could help when for example their attempt at volunteering to register black voters was met with seeming coldness from the local black community, In some ways a better question is how can I as a non-black show solidarity or support with black nonbelievers? The greatest voices of African Americans have been black voices like Martin Luther King. Alix was a bit dismayed that even today many prominent black voices are reverends. And too, he pointed out that he originated from Haiti, a colony with a rich, cultural history of Black Freethinkers before Christian regimes governed there.
It should be self evident that Blacks are perfectly capable of speaking and leading themselves. As an Eurasian, I would find who already has a strong voice in the community and support their efforts. When, I was a child I went to a predominately black school. I could sing along with the “Black National Anthem” and learn black history because it is the history of fellow human beings. So, we can join our fellow human beings in Solidarity this weekend and support them as freethinkers because their feelings of stigmatization from leaving religion are not of an unrelated category to our own. “Out of the many one” is definitely a better motto than “In God we trust”.
Aron and I will show our solidarity this weekend at an event where Alix Jules will be speaking at to kick off the newly formed Black Nonbelievers of Dallas. This is a post by Mandisa Thomas that might help you hook up with a local event.
Thank you for this post and more importantly your support. The secular movement and its many organizations must move beyond creationism vs evolution and separation of church and state. It must embrace social justice issues and the increasing number of black non-believers and other people of color. We want a better society also. Thanks again.
It may help if someone posts a list of misconceptions that people have about Black nonbelievers. Just in the discussion of the Day of Solidarity there have been comments elsewhere that have been misinformed to downright racist.
Thank you for sharing the idea of supporting the black nonbelievers. He/she must truly feel isolated when most are expected to love church and form their lives around it. I belong to a large African-American family through marriage, and I have been told a few times, “You know, Barbara, we are a Christian family,” as if being Christian is a requirement to be in the family. I have also been told by a cousin and by my husband to put aside my own thoughts and pray for whomever they are praying for and to go along with their beliefs, as if the only way we can get along is to believe exactly the same thing! I cannot imagine what a black nonbeliever feels like being raised surrounded by devout churchgoers. I like your idea of supporting non-religious blacks as a good way to help.
I’m so frustrated not being able to have a discussion about my nonbeliever status! I can’t talk about this with anyone! I live in the Spring/ Woodlands area and would love to meet like minded folks! I am afraid to share on Facebook, twitter, or Instagram.. I fear being isolated and ostracized from family, friends, coworkers etc! Please send info on other African American free thinkers! Thanks Sophia
Coincidentally, I am from that area originally. I recommend hooking up with Houston Oasis, and The Humanists of Houston. Although the mission isn’t specifically African American, they are friendly to your concerns and they may be able to point you to an organization in the area that has that mission. In Dallas, we have the newly formed Black Nonbelievers of Dallas. You are lucky in Houston, there is a robust secular movement. I am sure you will be able to find others like yourself.
Hey I know this post is old but if your still looking for someone to chat with that shares common ground contact me as I am also looking for others to converse with.
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