Humanism in the Black Community

Norm Allen

Very little has been said about how secular humanism pertains to nonwhite people. Few nonwhites profess to be secular humanists. Many would argue that

nonwhites have not been given a proper introduction to secular humanism and therefore obviously could not be attracted to it. But I contend that nonwhites in general and blacks in particular do not pursue secular humanism largely because it is rooted in purely Eurocentric thinking, which has consistently ignored and degraded nonwhites. Secular humanist authors write with an air of Western intellectual superiority. They often write about "Western" art, music, science, religion, and architecture as though white Westerners are nature's gift to humanity. They write history as though whites were the world's only true achievers. They write of the great accomplishments of man, but it appears that they really mean the white man.

One of the greatest frauds ever perpetrated by the white intellectual community has been the systematic "whitening" of the ancient Egyptian civilization. Egyptians regarded them-selves as black Africans. They referred to their land as Kmt (or Kemit), "the black land," and they referred to themselves as black people. Herodotus described them as a black, woolly-haired people; and Aristotle described them as "very black." And the way they portrayed themselves artistically proves their African ancestry. Representations of Menes, Imhotep, Queen Hatshepsut, Amenophis III, Queen Tiyi, Akenaton, King Tut, and other great Egyptian leaders depict individuals who were clearly blacks.

This brief reference to ancient Egypt is essential to our discussion of secular humanism because humanist authors assert that science, philosophy, and "true knowledge" began in Greece. But even in the Greek traditions, Africa is referred to as the oldest seat of learning, "the land where the gods used to dwell." The Iliad and the Odyssey trace the origins

of Greek civilization back to Africa. Secular humanism draws from some of Western history's

greatest thinkers, many of whom were directly or indirectly influenced by blacks. For example, the black anthropologist J. A. Rogers writes, "The influence of Aesop on Western thought and morals is profound. Plato, Socrates, Aris- tophanes, Aristotle, Solon, Cicero, Julius Caesar, Caxton, Shakespeare, La Fontaine, and the other great thinkers found inspiration in his words of wisdom. Socrates spent his last days putting his fables into verse." And, contrary to popular opinion, Aesop was a black African slave whose name in Greek means "Ethiopian."

Christians have their white angels, Christs, Madonnas, and patron saints, which perpetuate the myth of white superiority. And for the most part, secular humanists have white heroes and role models as well.

However, many white scholars have acknowledged the theft and destruction of history by both competent and incompetent historians. As Napoleon Bonaparte related, "History is a set of lies agreed upon."

As enlightened and open-minded as secular humanists pro-fess to be, they evidently have yet to free themselves from the confines of one-sided Eurocentric thinking. They are brilliant at exposing fraud whenever a paranormal claim is made, but despite their vast knowledge of history, religion, philosophy, and related subjects, they still give white Westerners credit for nearly every great contribution made to humanity. Their reason seems to fade when they are studying nonwhite or non-European civilizations. And even when they are studying Western civilizations they often ignore the roles that nonwhites have played in developing those cultures.

Many people seem to believe that intelligence is inextricably bound to open-mindedness and commitment to truth. But many people simply use their intelligence to support their blindly held convictions. The American historian and statesman George Bancroft once said, "The prejudices of ignorance are more easily removed than the prejudices of interest; the first are blindly adopted, the second willfully preferred." A man may have a great memory but it does not necessarily follow that he is also a great thinker. Learning is important, but perhaps it is even more important to think about what we learn. And much of what we learn we must unlearn or relearn.

The anthropologist Ashley Montagu has been a great pro-ponent of the idea that there is only one race: "I am convinced that when the intellectual history of our times comes to be written, the idea of race, both the popular and the taxonomic,

Norm Allen is a lecturer and freelance writer. In 1984, he and his brother, Jay Allen, formed the Eagle Publishing Company, which dissemi-nates art and literature by and for black people.

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will be viewed for what it is; a confused and dangerous idea which happened to fit the social requirements of a thoroughly exploitative period in the development of Western man."

People have been trying to classify human beings by race for three hundred years. Various scholars have suggested that there are as few as two and as many as two thousand different races. Peoples who are obviously black, such as the Ethiopians and Senegalese, have at times been assigned to the white race. Scholars have spoken of a Malay race, an Irish race, a Filipino race, even an American race. Many people speak of a Jewish race without realizing that Judaism is actually a religion practiced by peoples of different physical types throughout the world. There are those who speak of Aryan, Hamitic, and Semitic races, oblivious to the fact that they are speaking of languages, not races. Arthur Schopenhauer even regarded women as a race!

Scholars who classify human beings by race often are not sure of where one race ends and another begins. And how a group of individuals is to be classified is often the result of political necessity or advantage. Albert Einstein was well aware of this: "If my theory of relativity is proven successful, Germany will claim me as a German ... should my theory prove untrue ... Germany will declare that I am a Jew."

But there is no need to classify people by race. Dogs and horses are classified by breeds, but this is done by human beings who are interested in using them for specific purposes. The animals themselves obviously show no interest in maintaining the "purity" of their breeds. Race helps to identify people, but this can be done without making a fetish out of the accidental physical differences that exist among them.

It is highly unlikely that a pure race exists anywhere in the world. The various peoples of the earth have intermixed for countless millennia. We humans beings are more alike than we are different. A belief in the bogus concept of race is far more trouble than it is worth. Properly speaking, there is only one race—the human race, and we should not feel obligated to accept any other.

A1980 Gallup Poll rated American blacks highest in reli-giosity among the peoples of twenty-three countries; a

1986 a Gallup Poll revealed blacks to be the most religious people in America. Five surveys were conducted that showed 74 percent of black Americans to be very religious, while only 55 percent of all Americans were considered as such. The evangelist Billy Graham has publicly stated that black Americans are the best Christians in the United States, and many others share this belief.

The black syndicated columnist and television commentator Tony Brown once remarked, "If not for the black church, black America wouldn't have had a prayer." But he also could have added that if not for European Christianity and the evils of slavery and racism that it fostered, there would have been no need for the black church. Christianity has caused more problems for blacks than it has solved.

Christianity as taught to blacks by Westerners was a tool of racist oppression. In 1455, prior to Columbus's European "discovery" of the New World, the Roman Catholic pope issued a bull that gave Portugal the moral right to enslave

Summer 1989

all "infidel" peoples in foreign lands. In 1457 the Council of Cardinals met in Holland and agreed that it was their moral duty to enslave Africans and convert them to Christianity. The pope agreed and Christians throughout the world, in-cluding Protestants, gradually accepted the idea. In the fif-teenth century the papacy dominated the minds of most Westerners where morality was concerned. Eventually, most of the nonwhite world was conquered by men who used Christianity as their moral stamp of approval.

After Christianity was forced upon blacks, they began to formulate their own ideas about God and religious faith. A system of beliefs evolved around the story of Moses leading the Israelites to the Promised Land. Many blacks believed that one day God would directly or indirectly lead them to the "promised land" of freedom.

Although blacks came to adapt many of their own religious ideas to Christianity, they were still largely brainwashed by the racist beliefs forced upon them by a hostile white society. The positive religious images that black people had been exposed to (the angels, the prophets, Christ, Mary, and so on) were white. The negative images (Satan and his angels) were black. They learned that Ham, the son of Noah, was cursed by God. He was turned black and his descendants were doomed to serve the white race.

Despite the many negative aspects of Christianity, it helped blacks to survive slavery; many people are impressed by the overwhelming strength of black spirituality despite the horrors of slavery. But there is no reason to be impressed. Blacks had tremendous faith in God, not despite slavery but because of it! Throughout history poor people have tended to be deeply religious; their beliefs have often made them apathetic to their plight and easy for the rich to dominate. This was the case with blacks during slavery.

Christianity was not taught to blacks for their benefit; it was taught to them for the benefit of their masters. It was not taught to help them succeed, but to assure their survival as productive slave laborers.

Attempts have been made by various black religious leaders and organizations to espouse Afrocentric religions. But these religions have never really appealed to the black masses. Blacks have been subjected to Eurocentric religious ideas and images for so long that most attempts to teach them the true African origins of their faith have been in vain.

Some blacks have embraced Islam as an acceptable alterna-tive to Christianity. Others have accepted their own brand of the Hebrew faith or various other religions, though most blacks still prefer the essentially Eurocentric Christian faith. And the fact remains that all religions suppress thought.

Blacks are very proud of their deep religious convictions, but convictions are usually obstacles to new and productive ideas. The ultimate value of a religion is not how long it has helped a people to survive, but how far it has helped them to advance. Although blacks are the most religious Americans, they are among the least prosperous. This is probably because too much emphasis has been placed on spirituality and not enough on rational thought in dealing with the problems that confront black people.

Many black Americans are still looking for another Martin

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Luther King Jr. or a Moses to lead them to freedom, justice, and equality. They point to "prophecies" that demonstrate how God will lead them to freedom one of these days.

Most black leaders throughout American history have maintained that religion or spirituality should be the basis around which to build any black movement. Malcolm X correctly pointed out that blacks did not suffer religious persecution, but racial persecution, and maintained that religious beliefs are irrelevant to the struggle for black progress. Though he was a theist, he realized that because Eurocentric Christianity was largely the cause of the racial problem, it could not be the solution.

Christianity has helped to bring about much positive change for blacks, but it has failed to advance them to their much beloved "promised land"—for the bottom line is not positive change, but real progress.

I t is highly unlikely that most people will abandon religious faith altogether, at least in the near future, but with logical

persuasion they may be willing to subordinate their religious beliefs to rational thought much more often.

Several moral dilemmas can arise as a result of repeated attacks on religion. For example, although religious texts are full of the inconsistencies, contradictions, absurdities, inac-curacies, and blatant lies that promote immoral behavior, a lot of theists have managed to reject many of the immoral aspects of their faiths and lead exemplary moral lives. Many of these kind, modest, generous, tolerant human beings will obviously be hurt by a devastating rational critique of their religious beliefs. And many of these individuals would lose faith in life, humanity, and themselves if they lost faith in their God. It is unfortunate that religions do not acknowledge the existence of moral dilemmas—absolute morality is the nonsense religions are made of.

But moral dilemmas will not disappear simply because we refuse to acknowledge them. The humane rationalist does not create these dilemmas, but feels morally obligated to face and correct them. If we are willing to identify a problem we must not be afraid to identify the cause of the problem, which could be even more controversial than the problem itself.

There is no easy way to reveal a brutal truth. It is a popular misconception that the truth is always beautiful and desirable. If we are honest with ourselves we know this is simply not the case. People do not necessarily accept what they believe to be true; they often accept what they want to be true. The truth can be beautiful, but lies can be even more beautiful to those who fear the truth. Simply put, it is often better to tell a lie to protect someone's feelings or even one's life than to tell a truth that could cause that person great emotional pain or worse. If some truths were known by the wrong kinds of people the only possible consequences would be destructive.

When we are faced with moral dilemmas someone inevita-bly gets hurt. This is why we must learn to value truth not for its own sake, but for its usefulness in humanely advancing happiness, whenever this is possible.

It is for this reason that secular humanism has so much potential for improving the human race. Civilizations have advanced by abandoning bad traditions and maintaining good

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ones, but many nations have advanced despite bad traditions. It is in our best interest to make human advancement as easy and painless as possible. To fear new ideas is to fear progress.

Secular humanism is vastly superior to religion because it allows us to think seriously about our problems rather than blindly put our faith in mythological beings who have often failed us miserably. Rational thought is not infallible, but it is the best guide we have for succeeding in life. If it is not restrained by humane ideals, however, it can be just as destructive as religion, if not more so.

Jean Toomer wrote: "We have many reformers, few trans-formers." This applies to life in general and to the struggle for black liberation in particular. Movements with strong religious themes have brought about many reforms for blacks, but there has been no major transformation in the overall status of blacks anywhere in the world during modern times. Religion is a well-dressed foolish idea that unfortunately will continue to have much influence over the lives of many people.

No one is as open-minded as he or she believes. Even the wisest and most logical among us are often more superstitious than we know or will admit. We all have some irrational beliefs. Therefore, it should not be surprising that using reason against religion will often prove futile.

Though many confused theists will inevitably come face to face with uncomfortable truths that disprove their religious beliefs, this need not be a terrifying experience for those who have learned to think pragmatically.

People are attracted to movements that reflect their values, culture, and history. There are those who believe that if non-whites want to join the humanist movement they must volun-tarily come forth and submit their views. But generally, non-whites must feel as though they are wanted before they will come forth. Humanists must demonstrate their commitment to and respect for the contributions of all peoples by attempting to attract profound nonwhite thinkers, just as their religious counterparts have done throughout history. The police, business, the armed forces, institutions of higher learning, and various political parties often direct their messages specifically toward minority groups. Even the Republicans, most of whom have been regarded as racists by black Americans, have done more to recruit blacks to their ranks than have the humanists. For example, conservative magazines throughout the United States have featured articles by black conservatives; how many black humanists write for humanist publications or publishing companies? If humanists tried hard to recruit nonwhite thinkers, they would greatly increase the size and influence of the humanist movement.

Humanism has great potential. Unlike the Catholic church, dissent is not only allowed withi?i the humanist philosophy, it is encouraged. But I cannot in good conscience encourage black people to join any movement that continually denies their contributions to the world. Unless humanists are willing to acknowledge the worth of all peoples, humanism will not—and should not—grow into a popular philosophy.

If secular humanists—and their religious counterparts—have the courage to examine history in a rational and unbiased manner, secular humanism will attract more rational people of color. •

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