Source: www.skepticsannotatedbible.com
Bible: Intolerance-Long List-Short List-In the Old Testament-In the New Testament-In the Quran-In the Book of Mormon-Intolerance SAB DB Forum
Intolerance in the Bible
Religion in
General
What is religion but the deification of ancestors, the making
sacred of traditions within the context and history. How can we honor
any god who was used against us? The only people who accept alien gods
are defeated people all others honor and accept their own name for the
Almighty. We must learn to appreciate ourselves and our traditions. What
is wrong with the African God?
Isaiah 43:3-4)God makes Egypt, Ethiopia, and
Seba pay for Israel's sins. He says that he likes Israel better than
any other country so he's willing to sacrifice other countries for
the Israel's sake. 43:3 For I am the LORD thy God, the Holy One of... Israel,
thy Saviour: I gave Egypt for thy ranso...m, Ethiopia and Seba for
thee.43:4 Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been
honourable, and I have loved thee: therefore will I give men for
thee, and people for thy life.
We Africans have always believed in a
supreme deity whether the name was Nyame, Oludumare, Abasi, Nkulunkulu,
Woyengi, Chukwu, Mawu and Lisa. This is true although others have said
we did not.
They have confused a lot of us.When the white
missionaries translated the bible in our languages, they asked our
ancestors for the name of the Almighty and they used the names our
ancestors had always used for the Almighty and then told us that we did
not have a belief in the Supreme.
But we now know that our
priests were no less wise in their observations than the Greek sophists,
the Hebrew prophets, the Arab ulema, or the Chinese literati.Our
ancestors believed in pluralism without hierarchy --- many expressions
of God without saying mine is right, or the only one, and yours is bad,
pagan, and heathen.
Perhaps had we done that we would have stopped the
alien religions at the shore, but we are the world's first humanists and
we allowed others to come with their goods and their gods.They
came with a political ideology in the name of religion. It was
imperialism. Imperialism brings destruction, obliteration.
How could we
fall for it for so long? The introduction of a book or a gun caused us
to lose our footing, to stumble on our way, to denounce our fathers and
mothers.There are no other people on the earth who have had to
denounce their ancestors in order to become better people.
Is it because
our ancestors are so strong that we are forced to denounce them before
our conquerors? This is one thing you shall never find me doing because I
know too much about my African contribution to history.
ConclusionsI recognize that
humans cannot advance without answering some basic questions like, Who
Am I? Why am I here? What is the purpose of existence? Who are we as
humans, Africans, Ghanaians, Gas, Ewe, Guans, Akans, African Americans?
Religion provides compelling answers and often small communities of
others who believe like we do.
African deities and the Almighty God of
Africa do that for us. They give us identity and direction. We are the
children of the Supreme God sustained by our ancestral connections,
formed to glorify the best values of Maat, encouraged to assume
responsibility for each other in a community of consciousness. Failure
to do this is a deviation, an abomination and we can only re-connect
through rites of ablution--- making, doing or sacrificing time, money,
energy in the name and interest of Africa. The concept of the gift is
the idea, not what we give.
This may change given education, science,
sensibility, scarcity, etc., but we need to sacrifice for Africa. But
our God must not be one of exploitation, egocentrism, conservatism and
westernization. If so, we shall go to hell. We must create our African
personality and identity in art, dance, medicine, education, science,
and religion and if we cannot do it here in the land of Okomfo Anokye,
Nkrumah and Du Bois, then it cannot be done in Africa.
If we do not do
it here in the land of Yaa Asantewaa, then we can never be the hope of
the hopeless. If Africa cannot find its way, then I fear the prospects
of the world. But Africa will rise to throw off the vestiges of mental
enslavement and there shall be rejoicing among the Nananom nsamanfo.
The
ancestors will say: Rejoice! Rejoice! Let the Gods of Africa Rejoice!Note:Molefi
Kete Asante is the author of 42 books, more than 200 articles, the
father of Afrocentricity, and the creator of the first doctoral program
in African American Studies.
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