Religious Racism: Texas Church Argues There's a Biblical Precedent for Strict Racial

[kudzu]

Religious Racism: Texas Church Argues There's a Biblical Precedent for Strict Racial Segregation


The curse of Ham,” an old-time Biblical (mis)interpretation used to vilify black people and justify slavery and laws against racial intermarriage, is still alive and spreading bigotry in the United States.

The Appleby Baptist Church in Nacogdoches, Texas, is among this country’s scattered, independent fundamentalist churches still openly promoting the idea that the Biblical Noah pronounced a curse on descendants of his son, Ham. Ham had sexually molested Noah as he slept in a drunken stupor, and Noah realized it, the story goes.

The curse ultimately fell on Canaan, Noah’s grandson, whose descendants were black and fated to be an underclass of slaves, according to this version of the Bible, which has been widely discredited by mainstream religious scholars.

But the canard is trumpeted loud and clear in an online statement of conviction by Appleby leaders. The East Texas church, 90 miles from Shreveport, La., is “a bit of a throwback, but these people are still out there,” Rachel Tabachnick, a fellow at the think tank Political Research Associates, told Hatewatch. She researches the impact of the religious right on politics and society.

For hundreds of years, the so-called curse of Ham was frequently taught by religious leaders as the source for racial differences, and in more recent times was seized on as a Biblical excuse for segregation and slavery, said Tabachnick. “There’s been a shift, and you don’t often see churches that are this forthright now, but the underlying theme is still there in fundamentalist holdout churches.”

The Appleby church, whose pastor could not immediately be reached for comment, proclaims a litany of racist beliefs on its website: The black descendants of Ham like fair-skinned women, of course. And “the proof of the presence of God among the Israelites was the absence of the black skinned folk of Canaan … It is obvious God is a separator, not a mixer. It is God who set the boundaries.”

And who’s in favor of the races mixing? The church knows: “Satan wants to eliminate color by interracial marriages. Someone will ask why do we have to see color when we look at one another? Why can’t we just see each other as people? The same reason you see a Poodle, German Shepherd, Beagle, etc. God made us different and set the bounds. You don’t get thoroughbreds by taking the fences down. You get thoroughbreds by putting the fences up.”


In case you don’t get the meta-message about thoroughbreds versus mongrels, the church’s statement mangles a Biblical passage in Matthew in which a Canaanite woman pleads with Christ on behalf of her daughter, who is assumed by the Appleby church to be black. “Christ terms her people as dogs,” the church says. “‘It is not meet to take the children’s bread and cast it to dogs.’ … Unlike modern day blacks yelling about equal rights, this woman humbles herself and says ‘Truth Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from the master’s table.’”

continued

https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-po...-strict-racial

[kudzu]

The bottom line: Why don’t blacks know their place? Read the Bible!

Hewing to an extreme fundamentalist principle, Appleby condemns ancient Hebrews for “immorality, idolatry, and interracial marriages.” We’re seeing the punishment to this day, it insists. “Interracial relationships bring much heartache. … Before the coming of Christ, there will be many more half-breed producing marriages that will, in turn, produce more hate and envy against what the Lord has commanded.”

In case you wondered where the love of Christ fits in with all this, the church has an answer: “In Salvation, ‘There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.’ In salvation, there is no difference, but when it comes to marriage, there is.”

Finally, for proponents of our 13th Amendment, the church helpfully reminds us that slavery is fine with God. “The New Testament does not condemn slavery,” it says. “What it does condemn is the misuse of a slave.”

Although such overt racism is certainly waning in fundamentalist Christianity, especially in the Southern Baptist Convention (which now has a black president for the first time), Tabachnick worries about remaining outposts.


And there’s great concern about the increased teaching of Biblical literalism to thousands of U.S. children. Homeschooling is on the upswing, and public dollars are flowing into private schools through vouchers and corporate tax credit programs, she points out. In textbooks used by students in these programs “some of the foundations for the Biblical justification of racism and slavery are still being widely taught,” Tabachnick said.

So the same seeds of hatred proudly displayed by Appleby and an unknown number of other independent fundamentalist churches are scattering, planted to grow in coming generations.

[Grugore]

Perhaps you could point out the Scripture that supports such an argument. I assure you it does not exist. People can say what they want. But if it is not supported by Scripture, it should be ignored.

[kudzu]

Perhaps you could point out the Scripture that supports such an argument. I assure you it does not exist. People can say what they want. But if it is not supported by Scripture, it should be ignored.

You have never read the Bible, have you?

Gen. 9:20–27

[evince]

read the red words


what Jesus is claimed to have said

Its second hand so care must be taken

read at least most of what he is purported to have said

then use the brain that exists in your head

and the Love that you can muster for others


Jesus was all about love and fairness


Jesus would be very upset with someone USING his intent to harm others

[kudzu]

read the red words


what Jesus is claimed to have said

Its second hand so care must be taken

read at least most of what he is purported to have said

then use the brain that exists in your head

and the Love that you can muster for others


Jesus was all about love and fairness


Jesus would be very upset with someone USING his intent to harm others

Genesis 9:20-27 King James Version (KJV)

20 And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard:

21 And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent.

22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.

23 And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness.

24 And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him.

25 And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.

26 And he said, Blessed be the Lord God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.

27 God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.

[evince]

Genesis 9:20-27 King James Version (KJV)

20 And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard:

21 And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent.

22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.

23 And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness.

24 And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him.

25 And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.

26 And he said, Blessed be the Lord God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.

27 God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.

creepy stuff

[kudzu]

creepy stuff

Well, yes, but in fact all three Abrahamic religions thought that blacks should be enslaved.

[evince]

one of the many reasons organized religion was never appealing to me

[jimmymccready]

I know Appleby well, and I have known some of the folks there for thirty years.

Nice folks until you talk about religion and race. Then their voices go up and squeak and their eyes role in their heads.

Many of them are End Timers. They are fanatical about Revelation and study it as fervently as the kooks who used to listen to Beatles songs backwards and derive certain meanings.

The best way to handle them is that when the loony talk starts is to drive into Nacogdoches and get a beer.

[kudzu]

I know Appleby well, and I have known some of the folks there for thirty years.

Nice folks until you talk about religion and race. Then their voices go up and squeak and their eyes role in their heads.

Many of them are End Timers. They are fanatical about Revelation and study it as fervently as the kooks who used to listen to Beatles songs backwards and derive certain meanings.

The best way to handle them is that when the loony talk starts is to drive into Nacogdoches and get a beer.

Wow.. and in this day and age......

[jimmymccready]

Hey, they are nice people, but . . .

[Mott the Hoople]

Hey, they are nice people, but . . .

When I was in high school I never could get my head around the holocaust. How could a people lay down common sense and murder millions of innocent people? I just couldn’t get my head around that.

Then in the middle of my senior year my father moved us to a rural county in Ohio. The area is mostly populated by German Catholics who immigrated to the region in the mid 19th Century. After getting to know them for a year I understood how something like the holocaust could happen.

[PostmodernProphet]

You have never read the Bible, have you?

Gen. 9:20–27

atheists and extreme fundamentalists have a lot in common when it comes to interpreting scripture......

[PostmodernProphet]

Well, yes, but in fact all three Abrahamic religions thought that blacks should be enslaved.

slavery was the birthchild of god-deniers.....