RELIGION + HISTORY

Religion and Anti-Black Racism are Like Two Peas in a Pod

And colonialism, Christianity, and racism are the unholy trinity.

Meeting of the KKK, probably in Portland, Ore., in the 1920s. (Oregon Historical Society)

Don't worry Christians, I come in peace. But I also come with receipts for the way Christianity perpetuates anti-Black racism right here in America. Christianity, which began as a small group in the 1st century Roman Empire, has become the most practiced religion worldwide. Currently, over 2.3 billion people practice Christianity and. But, here's the problem — "racism among White Christians is higher than among the nonreligious. That's no coincidence."

We cannot separate anti-Black racism and Christianity because we wouldn't have Christian White Supremacists enslaving Africans without Pope Nicholas V's papal bull, which encouraged the enslavement of non-Christian people. In other words, as a Black American woman, I am the living byproduct of the chattel slavery system. And it would be unlikely that I would be living in America or speaking English if it weren't for the simultaneous spread of white supremacy and Christianity. “White Supremacist ideas have historical roots in U.S. Christianity.”

I. Permits the exercise of the Roman Catholic creed only. Every other mode
of worship is prohibited.