Church makes me sick: How Black Christians are stalling Black liberation
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I often take it upon myself to harshly criticize the faith I hold dear.
by Roni Dean-Burren, PhD
Church makes me sick. Christians make me sick. I really do mean that. They make me sick.
Wait. Let me reword that. We make me sick.
I regularly attend a church. I am a Christian, but there are plenty of days that I wish I didn’t identify as such. But I do. For that very reason, I often take it upon myself to harshly criticize the faith I hold dear.
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We, the Black church, often have an inability to be reflective. Too many of us get up on too many Sundays to bemoan the mass exodus of people from the church, but do not ask the right questions about why they leave. The reality is that Black people are leaving church for very specific and valid reasons, and loyal members of the church continue to act as if they cannot see or understand why that is.
Daily, we are witnessing and participating in increasing and much-needed conversations around Black lives, prison reform, the school-to-prison pipeline, LGBTQIA+ rights, sexual health and freedom in the Black community, and in society at large. The fight for the liberation of Black people presents the Black church with clear opportunities to partner with community organizers and activists to work towards our collective freedom. Instead, I have seen the Black church often act as an anti-liberation agent.
As I watch us operate, I have noted certain patterns of behavior from members of the Black
church when confronted with these aforementioned issues and more. These patterns cut across various denominations and they are some of the very reasons that Black people who are interested in working towards our liberation will not only continue to leave the Black church, but also actively shun it.
Respectability politics. We engage in them continually. So often, I see and hear pastors and church leaders spend an exorbitant amount of time extolling the virtues of presenting ourselves as respectful, especially to the white gaze. Stop telling young Black men: “If you’d pull your pants up, people (read: white people) would respect you.” This attitude is fully incongruent with reality. Dressing well has never and will never keep white supremacy from snuffing out the lives of Black folks. These politics are also heavily laid on the bodies of Black girl and women, often blaming them for the abuses that they experience living in the Black patriarchy system that the church so passionately upholds.
Children. We do not treat them well. “Children should be seen and not heard” is a prevalent sentiment in Black churches. They are not seen as free agents who have their own thoughts and desires. This is best exemplified in how we expect children to sit quietly during boring church services and never question any aspect of what they are being taught. This notion is the epitome of oppression. This is indoctrination, and many Black people invested in Black liberation are refusing to allow their children to be subjugated to such.
Faith. We tie Black folks’ liberation to it. The idea that our freedom is rooted in “more faith in God” is dangerous. This message removes responsibility from oppressors and instead tells the oppressed, “It is your fault that you are in chains. Just pray harder and believe more. Then, you will be free.” That message is flat out dangerous and will not being liberation to caged people.
Abuse. We do not take a hard enough stance against physical, emotional, or sexual abuse. The scripture that says, “All things work together for the good of them who love the Lord” is often used to help victims “understand” their abuse. The underbelly of that concept tells victims to see their molestation/rape/trauma as a blessing. Furthermore, we shun counseling and therapy as something for the faithless or weak-minded. Here again, we are pushing people away because they refuse believe that their trauma is somehow a blessing on their lives.
Mental illness. We either ignore it or try to pray it away. The church has quite literally made Black people sick, or at least aided in their sickness. Shunning counseling and therapy is not only a gaslighting tool, but it also keeps people in need away from helpful resources and forces them to rely solely on the church for their “healing.”
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While there are no quick fixes to the ways in which the Black church is failing the Black community, rectifying our faith and actions is a start. It’s past time we get real about harm that we have caused, and continue to cause, and fix do something about it. Black liberation cannot wait.
Roni Dean-Burren, Ph.D. is a lecturer at the University of Houston. Her scholarly research and community activism center Black women and Black children. Support her work at paypal.me/RoniBurren.
Why are you still part of the Black Church? is it in any way viable for our present and future?
Massa’s religion has been the most significant stumbling block for black intellectual development. It encourages us to seek the lazy comfort and camaraderie of group thinking as opposed to developing individual critical thinking skills. The literal shackles on our ankles are gone, but the one imposed on our brains during slavery remain for far too many of us.
And for far too long….Peace and respect brother. Very well put ?
While the criticisms in this article can be made of a many many Black churches, there is no monolithic Black church to which they can all be applied. Today, just as it is true in churches of all other colors, Black churches represent many different theological persuasions when it comes to LGBTQ members, women and Black liberation. The logic being expressed here is similar to the logic Black men who refuse to date Black women use to justify their self-hate. They say all Black women are this and all Black women are that and All White Women are this and All White Women are that and all Chinese women are this… and on and on. When, in fact, with respect to every trait that they name, there are women of every stripe who have it. So it goes with “THE Black church”. Check out churches like Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago. That church, and numerous other progressive and African-centered churches across the land, are clear exceptions to the rules laid down in this aritcle. Check out any of the sermons of Rev. Otis Moss, III on YouTube and I dare you to come away saying he, for one, is against Black Liberation. There are many more like him across the land.
A pedestrian critique of the Black Church which fails to move beyond the standard monolithic viewpoint. It also fails to explore why Black Liberation Preaches such as Jeremiah Wright and William Barber do not attract the support and attention that is given to prophets of materialism such as T.D. Jakes and Fred Price. The African American community generally has the churches and pastors they seek. Trust me, there are prophetically oriented pastors out there but as our community centers more and more on materialism, our clergy more and more reflects our priorities.
I see. Is that how we got MLK, Rosa Parks, SCLC and the Civil Rights Movement? Because of the black church blocking intellectual development and laziness? There is more nuance than what you portray. And we owe quite a bit to the black church, from slavery on.
It is my contention that the malady or illness that the author has attributed to the Black church is a malady or illness that inflicts not just the Black church as an institution but ALL of our institutions regardless of composition, faith, mission, or purpose. The cancer is not internal but external. It permeates our collective economic, political, and social fabric. Our internal environment or society is not organized for our liberation, but for our subjugation. All of the existing institutions in our community mirror our collective existence in our communities. Both are not determined by ourselves but by the supra-wealthy, ruling class of this country which currently holds our existence in their hands.
Therefore we must take control of these institutions away from the ruling class and its servants and place them squarely into the hands of our peoples. Our struggle must be institutionalized with permanence and resolve.
In the beginning of the 20th century, W.E.B. DuBois stated that the problem of that century is the problem of the color-line, in the 21st century the problem is the institutionalization of our struggle both here and globally with the proliferation of American fascism, imperialism, and the corporate state. The emerging corporate state must die if we are to live. We must take our lives in our hands. Let history be the judge!
Well, let’s be clear. “Massa’s religion” wasn’t Christianity if you actually study Christianity as the Bible describes the faith. Massa’s religion was capitalism and Eurocentrism. His “god” was his wealth i.e. he was an idolater. He kidnapped and enslaved Africans for his own benefit, which is a crime punishable by death according to the Old Testament (Exodus 21:16). Also, what would you make of Gabriel Prosser, Denmark Vesey, Nat Turner who used Christianity as the spiritual and intellectual framework for their conspiracies? What about Mama Tubman? Go back further. What do you make of the Coptic church that came about in 43A.D.? The Axumite Empire and the development of the Ethiopian church in the 4th century A.D. Look up the Donatists of the 4th century who created a form of African liberation theology to help resist Roman oppression. I hope this helps.
Ah, the no true Scotsman defense, It doesn’t matter that you don’t believe in the authenticity of the brand of Christianity slaves were forced to adopt as long as the plantation owners believed it. And because a few intellectually strong blacks were able to use Christianity to the advantage of black folks does not mean Christianity as a whole hasn’t been an intellectual stumbling block for both blacks and whites, for all, in fact, who eschew reason in favor bronze age fairy tales.
Even as a child, I had unsettling sentiments about what REALLY goes on in a church service. The Black church runs high on emotion, and low on making sense. I wasn’t raised in church, so when I started attending in my teens, I had an opportunity to be a little objective. It’s really bad. Many churches’ approaches are a slant in the direction of brainwashing, and the Black church is probably one of the worst offenders which is why the people ain’t goin anywhere fast. You have professional people… hypnotized, and clueless on how to get out.
https://michaelsherlockauthor.wordpress.com/2015/02/26/the-church-hypnotic-manipulation-sunday-morning-hypnosis/
AMEN!!
PREACH!!
TRUE! TWO GOOD EXAMPLES — REVS. JEREMIAH WRIGHT AND WILLIAM BARBER.
You’ll note, I didn’t say all of us I said far too many of us.
I have to agree with the first part of your comment. The ugly ugly truth is that Christians still sin sometimes (Solomon, David, Peter ..need I go on?). The process of sanctification is a long one. I am in no way saying that all the people who participated in or condoned the slave trade are in heaven, I am just saying that they are not all in hell. At the end of the day all of our righteousness is like filthy rags before God wether we are a slave owner or an abolitionist. But this is good news. It means that there is nothing we can do to separate ourselves from the love of God and if we confess and repent of our sins God will one day finish the work that he started in us (that work being sanctification not salvation, which we receive as soon as we accept Jesus).
Oh, please, Mary, spare me the I love you and if you don’t love me I’ll punish you forever b.s.
I agree, that is something that I am working out myself right now. I don’t understand how a God who says he loves us more than we can understand can allow even one person to be born who will go to hell. I can’t understand why He does not just destroy the souls who do not choose Him instead of torturing them for all eternity. It sounds unfathomably cruel. However, I also know that God hates sin more than anything we can imagine. He hates the destructive force it has on the world and we have to remember when we sin we are sinning against him and making ourselves enemies of God. In fact the Bible says that He loved us and sent His son to us even when we were His enemies. I don’t have it all figured out yet. It is very very hard to reconcile the fact that God is love with the fact that he will also allow the worst punishment I can imagine to be dolled out on the majority of humanity. I have faith and I am praying that God reveals himself to me so I can better understand this. I will pray that God revels himself to you too. If you ever want to talk I think Disqus has a private message feature and. would be happy to chat!
If he hates sin so much, why did he create creatures capable of sinning? Don’t tell me an all-knowing god didn’t know in advance he was about to release into existence something that had never existed before, something he claims to hate more than anything we can imagine. In fact, how can god hate something that doesn’t even exist until he allows it to come into existence? When it was just god, there was no sin. Sin only came into existence as a definite eventuality when he created creature capable of sinning. You strike me as a gentle soul, Mary. It’s a shame you’re doing your intellect serious damage by trying to believe something that makes absolutely no sense.
The writer of this article needs to meet individuals like Lisa Fields, Dr. Eric Mason, and others who are beyond the exceptions to this. Sure there are churches that are like this but are a growing number of individuals like this doctor that are now making this the norm as compared to a much larger group of nonbelievers doing worse.