Christianity in systemic oppression
I was listening to music recently, (Tyler, the Creator's "MANIFESTO", specifically,) and one line stood out to me in the song. To paraphrase, the line was "That ain't yo' religion, you got that from your momma, she got that from your grandma, she got that from her master". That really stood out to me, so I did a little research; turns out, I share a lot of Malcolm X's early views on christianity in black communities. Essentially, he viewed it as blind to be a black person who followed christianity, a "white man's religion", (which I will now be saying without quotations,) which was used to systemically oppress African-American slaves. He said that enslavers and segregationists used the bible's teachings as a tool for brainwashing black people into submission (such as using the phrase "turn the other cheek" as a nicer way of saying "put up with it").
A little tangent, but I'll draw it all back together; it has been proven through archeological and historical research that there were christian communities in Northern and Eastern Africa circa 4th century. This is a main counterpoint to Malcolm X's views on christianity being a tool popularized as a tool for segregation, to which I say: that doesn't mean anything in this context. Whether or not there were African communities following god centuries before American slave-trading doesn't affect the truth about it; Christianity was used by masters and owners to maintain power over slaves.
It's quite interesting to me to note that the version of the bible that was given to slaves was a special one - not because of the fact that it was different, I would assume that any "version" of anything would differ from its original, but because of the fact that the only changes made were omitting certain verses and books (nearly 90% of the old testament and ~50% of the new testament). Those sections (the best example would be Exodus) were removed specifically to avoid even letting the slaves know that revolution was a possibility. Other verses, (take Colossians 3:22 - "Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to curry their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord.") remained for a few main reasons, all of which point towards the idea that these verses were written as a tool to oppress enslaved people. First, the verse (obviously) tells slaves to obey their masters, but the second part is what drives it home (in my eyes, at least); "do it, (not just when they're watching), but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the lord". That has one clear purpose in my eyes. I'll paraphrase in 21st century english - "Slaves, obey your masters; but don't just do it when they're watching you, but do it out of love and admiration for the Lord." What on earth do those two things have to do with each other? Sure, for an example, in ancient times, if farmers stopped farming, then a whole village would starve. But what does that mean today, or during the worst times of slavery in the U.S.? There are no lives on the line in cotton-picking, besides those of the slaves. There is no reason for, unconditionally and absolutely, the slavemaster to be listened to as god. And yet, the verse directly ties unconditionally listening to your master with loving god.
What I mean to say, through all this rambling, is that I belive that christianity was popularized and used as a tool by oppressors of all types - racists, sexists, homophobes, the list goes on - to instill fear in, and manipulate the target group. Malcolm X said it over 50 years ago, and I couldn't agree more.
What do you think?
(Sorry for rambling, I clearly don't plan out my words, and I also got a little heated.)