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(Editor´s Note: This is part four of an article refuting the destructive lie that Christianity and Islam are essentially the same religions.)
Black Muslims/Black Christians Continued
"The Prophet" vehemently spoke out in opposition to the Christian religion of whites. He offered a return to the black man´s "natural religion." This struck a responsive chord in the hearts of men who felt victimized by a religion that seemed to only support white men even in their most brazen acts of terror against blacks. "The Prophet´s" offer included a black identity and religion independent of whites that appealed to these victims. Since blacks were gods in their own religion, they did not need to bow to the white man´s god anymore. 16
Black Muslims On Christianity
The Honorable Elijah Muhammad and his Ministers ably took up "The Prophet´s" bitter assault on Christianity of the Bible and as practiced by professing American Christians white and black. C. Eric Lincoln quotes Mr. Muhammad as scolding black Christians, "God is here in person; so stop looking for a dead Jesus and pray to Him…who is alive and not a spook.´" 17 In a university speech, Malcolm X said, "As ´Negro Christians´ we idolized our Christian Slavemaster, and lived for the day when his plurality of white gods would allow us to mingle and mix up with them." 18 In a May 2, 1959 article in his Mr. Muhammad Speaks Newspaper, Mr. Muhammad is quoted as saying Allah has revealed that Jesus "´was only a prophet and not the equal of Moses and Muhammad and that his religion was Islam, not the Christianity of the Pope of Rome.´" 19
Mr. Muhammad believed and taught his followers that the Christian religion was a "master stratagem for keeping the so-called Negroes enslaved." 20 He believed whites had corrupted the Bible and that it was untrustworthy, a book of poison to blacks. There was some truth in the Bible he felt, but whites had tampered with it to make it suit them. Passages that gave support to slavery were the most suspect in his eyes. The Bible even taught blacks to his displeasure "that it is God´s will that they be slaves of the whites." 21
Black Muslims assailed the Black clergy with equal fervor. Mr. Muhammad taught that the black preacher "is the white´s most effective tool for keeping the so-called Negroes pacified and controlled." 22 Malcolm X is reported to have said, "´The black clergy, in trying to ingratiate itself with whites, will deliver their people up wholesale.´" 23 The black clergy were also seen by Muslims as selling themselves in living out Christian principles more eagerly than whites to gain their approval. Mr. Muhammad saw black preachers as the greatest hindrance to the progress of blacks.
Black Muslims In The 21st Century
Even before Mr. Muhammad´s death, The Nation began to moderate its acidic anti-Christian assaults in search of wider acceptance and respectability in the black community. Under Minister Farrakhan, Jesus Christ is now quoted freely as a great "Islamic" prophet and teacher24 and the Bible is a relevant holy book "when interpreted correctly." 25 However, as with Mr. Muhammad, every black Christian who converts to The Nation is still considered to have been rescued from his miserable existence in the white man´s religion.
Though fractured and relegated to the extremist fringe in mainstream black society during much of the past 30 years, The Nation´s message of black unity, restoration and self-sufficiency under Minister Farrakhan is now receiving a fresh hearing. Since his "Million Man March" which tapped into a hunger in all segments of black America for helping our men and families, a new generation of black business and churchmen are inviting Mr. Farrakhan to address them and they don´t care who knows.26 Racial unity, immediate practical and financial results are of more concern to them than faithfulness to Christ and biblical doctrine.
An Acknowledgement Of Failure
It is painfully apparent that The Nation is a product of the bitter disillusionment of many black males with America´s racism and the historic failures of Christianity as practiced among whites and blacks. Without the special help that comes through faith in Jesus Christ as the risen, Son of God, these men reacted to the harsh realities of their world by making their own religion with tragic, eternal consequences.
I have previously written about Christianity as a religion among white and black Americans.27 Blacks should have historically found love and moral advocacy by white Christians, but instead found the many practicing racism! Also, it is true there has been much men rather than God pleasing going on among black Christians. The American Church, therefore, has failed to properly represent Christ (Romans 2:24) and souls are lost because of it!
16 Lincoln, The Black Muslims, op. cit., pp. 68-69.
17 Ibid, p.182.
18 Ibid, p. 65.
19 Ibid, p. 70.
20 Ibid, p. 73.
21 Ibid.
22 Ibid. p. 74.
23 Ibid, pp. 74-75.
24 Minister Louis Farrakhan, "No Discipline, No Love," The Final Call, May 7, 2002, p.20-21
25 Lincoln, The Black Muslims, op. cit., p. 207.
26 "Farrakhan to Organize New March," The Portland Skanner, March 30, 2005, p. 15.
27 "The White Man´s Religion" and "The Black Man´s Religions" are available in the Newsletter Archives at the top of this page.
To Be Concluded Next Issue
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