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The ability to reason and question is not in any effected by skin color. I suspect that there are many black atheists that due to pressures within their community keep that a secret. The same is true for many whites especially in the rural south, where religion probably has the same hold on the rural white community as it does in black communities.
I really hate to think how many times one of the first questions I get asked when meeting someone is "where you all go to church?" In the really rural areas it is almost a certainty that question will be asked.
The ability to reason and question is not in any effected by skin color. I suspect that there are many black atheists that due to pressures within their community keep that a secret. The same is true for many whites especially in the rural south, where religion probably has the same hold on the rural white community as it does in black communities.
I really hate to think how many times one of the first questions I get asked when meeting someone is "where you all go to church?" In the really rural areas it is almost a certainty that question will be asked.
Reason isn't effected by skin color but in the black community, revealing ones disbelief will result in a "loss of blackness" within the community. It's crazy, I know, but it's true. I know for a fact that there are many closeted black atheist that don't dare reveal their atheism. I think seeing more out black atheists may aid them in their coming out. There are also real life organizations that provide support beyond the one mentioned in the video.
Loss of cultural identity is often a problem with people, though I always thought the problem was perception of 'blackness', rather being the same as everyone else. Of course, it is perfectly possible to keep one's traditions and culture, - food often is the last to go, then language, traditions and the first to go is costume, except on special occasions. And that is fine, because the traditions and culture are open to all. I have appreciated being welcomed into a number of cultures.
Perhaps the problem with blackness is that they are otherwise rather integrated and the blackness is the only real difference from anyone else (and that's the fault of the pinkskins as the Andorians call us- Andorra is otherwise rather nice).
However, all that aside, hanging onto religion hardly seems to me to be very helpful to black cultural identity. No more than muslims climbing on the Southern Baptist Fundy Creationist bandwagon would appear to do much for theirs.
We have a thread going discussing the impact of the internet in producing more atheists, and in the OP linked video, the first speaker is crediting internet research as the vehicle of his transformation.
Thanks to the availability of information, god is shrinking. Every demographic will be feeling it.
On a side note, I hope more middle easterners can safely experience the coming out and become a strong voice in that region. No more taliban! No more sharia! No more extremist idiots!
Thanks to the availability of information, god is shrinking. Every demographic will be feeling it.
On a side note, I hope more middle easterners can safely experience the coming out and become a strong voice in that region. No more taliban! No more sharia! No more extremist idiots!
And with no more George Bushes we may actually see an end to the war against Islamic guerillas, or an end to their war against us.
We have a thread going discussing the impact of the internet in producing more atheists, and in the OP linked video, the first speaker is crediting internet research as the vehicle of his transformation.
There's no doubt that the internet is accelerating the death of religion. Anyone willing to question and willing to be honest about what they find have all the information in the world (literally) at their fingertips. The issue with the black church is that you're told from a young age that it's a sin to question god. It's hard to get those that want to question to do so because of that indoctrinated fear.
The issue with the black church is that you're told from a young age that it's a sin to question god. It's hard to get those that want to question to do so because of that indoctrinated fear.
I think that is standard m.o. for most religions. If you are promoting a doctrine which is incapable of withstanding rational examination, you need to make an effort to prevent any rational examination. Declaring such activity to be a sin or a crime is the first wall of defense.
There's no doubt that the internet is accelerating the death of religion. Anyone willing to question and willing to be honest about what they find have all the information in the world (literally) at their fingertips. The issue with the black church is that you're told from a young age that it's a sin to question god. It's hard to get those that want to question to do so because of that indoctrinated fear.
I am white and was also told it's a sin to question god. I don't think it's the taboos, so much as that the Southern Gospel-style church provides a cultural anchor for blacks more strongly than for whites, and the theology also provides more hope and comfort for the adversity of the black experience, such that the shared experience of blacks becomes an amalgam of circling the wagons against discrimination and celebrating the Promised Land of deliverance as inspired by faith. It seems to me very similar to cultural Judaism; even if a family is technically non-practicing, it still identifies with the cultural trappings of the religion, and to disidentify with it is a betrayal to family, hearth and home -- or at least to the hopes and dreams and aspirations of the family. In this situation, an unbeliever is otherized on a couple of additional levels than simply disagreeing on metaphysics.
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