The commenter below made a comment on the post, “Is God Smarter Than A Fifth Grader?” that needs highlighting:

“Furqan

I think that the very root of the problem being analysed is the very history of the religion itself! What the world knows and calls “Christianity” has very little to do with the historical personage known as Jesus who some called “Christ”. What has been sold to the world is a Western creation/corruption of the message brought by the prophets (including Jesus) to mankind for the purpose of power and control over the masses in the name of white supremacy. This is historical fact, not fiction such as much of what the so-called Christian churches are teaching the masses of people. Study the HISTORY of christianity and how it came to be – the Eastern versus the Western Churches and the very, very different views. Especially the history of the Roman Catholic church and why all of these breakaway sects that now compose the worlds of chrisitianity. Maybe, just maybe you’ll learn something that even your own preachers don’t know! Peace!”

I have been trying to express this idea and struggling to find the words. My brother inspired me, named for me the frustration that I have with black people who are addicted to Jesus – the version of Jesus that we have been sold.

I was reading a fantastic book called “Accessories After The Fact.” It is a classic deconstruction of the Warren Report, which purported to prove that Lee Harvey Oswald was the lone assassin in the murder of President Kennedy. It didn’t and the author, very methodically, dismantled it, demonstrating the lies, distortions and agenda of the Report’s authors.

Ms. Meagher made it plain that the new President and several government agencies had decided from the moment the shots rang out, what the outcome of any investigation would be – damn the facts!

I mention this because the Bible is like the Warren Report: it is a document that must be taken on faith alone. No rational thought, that points out contradictions, unholy or authoritarian attitudes in the Great Book, etc, is allowed. Or at least acknowledged.

There is a masterful book by a black woman, Marimba Ani, “Yurugu,” that to my mind destroys the Bible and Christianity and Islam for that matter, just as thoroughly as “Accessories” dynamites the Warren Report.

The history of and the imperial project that is Christianity, how it rose in the white West, how it eliminated the “competition” – the other minor sects and folk religions with imperialistic efficiency. The language used in the religion itself which essentially boils down to:

“IF YOU DON’T BELIEVE IN ME – YOU WILL DIE!!!”

How spiritual is that?!

No, I struggle reading here the repeated references on this blog to folks needing to “turn to GAWD, turn to Jesus.” Where has that gotten us after 400 years?

How do Jesus or the Bible help us see reality when too many of us, like the Warren Commission members, are bent on bending facts or reality to fit a preconceived notion, rather than seeing what the facts are and going where they lead – no matter WHAT?!

No, the brain is turned off a bit too much with this religion stuff for my liking. When we have to return over and over and over again to a book, one book of uncertain origin; and when one man, one path, one way is promoted as not a way but the way, which if not believed in or followed, will result in eternal, fiery damnation.

In order to move from blind faith to spiritual rationality, we must ask questions:

Who taught us this religion? And why?

Does this religion tend to make us more or less critical thinkers?

What is the history, the real history of Christianity? What was the purpose of its authors? Was it to rule the world?

Who is Jesus? Did he exist – or is he a composite figure, borrowed, created, tailored, stolen – and used to enslave rather than liberate?

The conflagration that kills first is the one that scorches the gray matter.