Bishop Eddie Long: Molestation Charges Not the Main Issue

—Jeremiah Camara

Bishop Eddie L. Long, spiritual leader of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, Georgia, has been accused of sexually abusing two young men and possibly more members of his church. Overnight, the Black church has connected itself with the Catholic church, whose priests are often accused of the same crime. Many African Americans, especially members of New Birth, are quick to defend Bishop Long, refusing to believe the allegations but have never been as quick to reserve judgment for the Catholic priests.

The deeper issue at hand has to do with why so many so-called “men of God” are accused of sex crimes. In the Black church, homosexuality is not a new phenomenon—it’s just more in the open nowadays. Gay, Black men are often the most demonstrative in displaying their love for Jesus and are among the most dedicated members of their churches.

Why is the Black church comprised of 70 percent women and a large percentage of homosexual men? Is there something within the church or the tenets of Christianity that is attracting these two demographics of society?

Upon a closer examination of the Black church, it is easy to see why it is appealing to women and gay men. There are usually displays of beautiful floral arrangements near the pulpit, soft music is mainly played in minor keys, the choir is draped in long, flowing gowns, the pastor is typically a well-dressed man which attracts women and homosexuals, and the overall atmosphere exudes a safe, non-threatening, secure environment.

The church’s appeal to women and homosexuals is understood best, however, when considering the trauma that Black people experienced during their American enslavement period. Faith and hope in the prospect of one day obtaining peace were necessary defense mechanisms and Blacks were conditioned to be afraid. There was the constant fear of being beaten, getting caught trying to escape or family members being sold. These experiences, over time, have caused Blacks to develop a spirit of apprehensiveness. We witness this spirit playing out in our inclinations to seek comfort, security, protection and “shelter from the storms of life.” We have been trained to be afraid. These experiences have also created the perfect storm for religiousness which requires submissiveness, subservience and calls for someone else (Jesus) to get behind the wheel of our lives and do the driving.

Black men, heavily involved in the church and possessing a great love for Jesus are subjecting themselves to an effeminizing element of society. Jesus is often presented as a tender, sweet man in a long robe who’s forgiving and all inclusive. Ultimately, the underlying message in the Black church is to “lean on the everlasting arms of Jesus.” As a heterosexual man, it is challenging to commit to the idea of placing oneself in the arms of another man; even if that man is a perceived savior. Sometimes a man must go into the eye of the storm to solve his problems. Encouraging Black men to lay their burdens in the lap of Jesus has offered Black men an escape from the reality of their situations. Seeking comfort, shelter and protection from a mythological figure should be seen as a “turnoff” for strong men with lofty aspirations.

Black preachers, especially, are notorious for starting their sermons in dark, gloomy clouds, underlining the many problems that we all at some point experience. This storm-chasing tactic is used because it provides them with opportunities to rescue their congregations by offering them the shelter and comfort provided by their benevolent Jesus.

In the long run, Christianity is effeminizing the Black man. Preachers who espouse this lean-on-Jesus doctrine are doing a disservice to potentially strong men. The satellites orbiting the earth, oil rigs that run thousands of feet into ocean floors, the cell phone towers that reach the clouds, etc., exist because of brave men who view themselves as gods and are absent of fear and apprehension. Men who measure the thickness of ice in Antarctica, carve roads and highways through mountains or build dams to hold back mighty rivers are not churchgoing, Jesus-loving, shelter-seeking men. This is partly why Black men do not initiate in these fearless and courageous feats.

Loving Jesus and waiting on him to bring rewards is counterintuitive to a heterosexual man and has kept them in a child-like state. Also, Black believers do not love Jesus because he allegedly gave his life so that we may live. If giving one’s life was the measurement of one’s degree of love then we would love Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., more than anyone. Blacks love and accept Jesus as their savior because they have been taught that doing so will bring them favor and rewards. It is an act of selfishness.

Bishop Eddie L. Long is wrong; not just because he may be found guilty of sexual abuse but because he—like so many other mega church preachers—is helping to create a feminine environment for Black men. Not all Jesus-loving men who attend church regularly and love Jesus are homosexuals, but an atmosphere where men continuously seek Jesus’ love and shelter, certainly has the potential to effeminize the strongest of brothers.

Christianity will continue to appeal to women, gay men and the elderly population. Single women seeking a man sometimes find that man in Jesus. Gay men, because of the stigma attached to their lifestyle, find comfort in knowing that Jesus accepts them as they are. The elderly are set in their ways and are usually unwilling to entertain any criticisms of their church, pastor or Christianity. Heterosexual Black men represent the smallest segment of the church’s population—as they should. Maybe we can reduce this number to an even greater extent, and perhaps more Black man will begin to compete on a fearless and greater level in society.

 

Football… America’s (Smart) Game

—Jeremiah Camara

 It’s football season again! Testosterone and tailgating—beer and barbeque are back. Flat screens are flying off the shelves and it’s another opportunity to live vicariously through our favorite team. It’s all good right? Well, that depends on the size screen you’re watching the game from. Before we start crunching on pretzels, let’s crunch a few numbers; after all the game is about X’s and 0’s.

Black players represent around 70% of the NFL. This means that Black General Managers represent around 70% of the league—right? Wrong. Currently, there are only 3 Black GMs, no Black owners and Black NFL agents represent about 1 player out of every 150.

Now let’s call an audible at this point and do a hard count on the Black quarterbacks that will be starting for their perspective teams at the beginning of the 2010 season. Out of the 32 NFL teams there are only 6 Black head coaches and 3 Black starting QB’s.

Football, perhaps more than any other sport, has the best marketing campaign. Beer advertisers love football because of its machismo image. There is even a 24 hour, year round network dedicated entirely to football (the NFL Network). Football has managed to capture our hearts in ways no other sport has in recent years?

Football is the most corporately structured sport in America. The game of football, like the corporate game, has many levels of specialty. There’s the important sounding offensive and defensive coordinator, the special teams coach and the critically important coach who teaches the quarterback—who’s also a coach in his own right. Each coach is allowed to hire their own assistant. NFL playbooks are thicker and more complex than medical school textbooks and NFL coaches are often referred to as geniuses. Ever seen an NFL press conference? It’s as serious as a conference on foreign terrorism.

The real geniuses, however, of the NFL are the owners, agents, GMs and top level executives. Their uniforms stay clean on Sundays, and they rake in the biggest bucks. Granted, DeMaurice Smith, a Black man, is the NFL’s Union Executive Director but he’s a former trial lawyer with little experience for the position. Many believe the NFL put Smith out in front for image purposes. The NFL, like corporate America, will do anything to protect its image.

More than most sports, football mimics the real world. Outside of corporate America, football is the most visible example of the White brain/Black brute continuum. White quarterbacks represent the “overseers” barking out orders, taking charge and leading the field-hands into battle. Let’s be real—America is used to seeing Whites in such positions and Blacks seem to feel more secure with non-Blacks handling their money. Blacks continue to serve their original purpose—making money for others. On the plantation, when the Black man did something to please his owner, he danced, looked up and thanked the heavens. On the football field, when Black players please their owners by making it into the end zone, they do the same thing. The only difference is that the football has replaced the fiddle. It’s the same scenario—the players versus the prayers.

Perhaps, not all of this can be attributed to racism. Humans are a habitual species and perhaps the Black man is accustomed to thinking of playing the game first and owning the game second. Maybe it’s a combination of racism and cultural habits. But how many generations will pass before Blacks figure out that in the long run—our brains go a lot further than our bodies. We’re approaching another season of cameras zooming in on a Black player while the broadcaster shouts—“What a dumb, boneheaded play. Those are the type of things that drive head coaches crazy.” Ahh! Football is back.

Religion and Gate Keepers—not Pastor Terry Jones at Fault

— Jeremiah Camara

Imagine a molehill becoming a mountain overnight. Not very likely is it? That is, unless you’re talking about something with other worldly powers ensuring that possibility—like the media. Thanks to our fine gumshoes, we found a dust particle in the name of Pastor Terry Jones of Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Florida, who once promised to burn a bunch of Qurans. How did a 25,000 world circumference of people set their coordinates on 29.67°N 82.33°W (Gainesville) and how can a man preaching out of a shoebox have the power to ruffle the feathers of people 8,000 miles away? To pull off a hoax of that magnitude, one needs an established accomplice. In one stroke of a notebook key, we were able to witness the irony in how something so weak and insignificant has the ability to garner the attention of the President of the most powerful country in the world. The world actually paid mind to a man who says that Jesus would do the same thing [burn the Qurans], God told him to…burn the Qurans, and unless God told him not to do it, he would carry out his mission. Jones later decided (sorry…God changed his mind) not to carry out this amateur hour stunt. This was a great time for non-believers! Not only were we free of religious lunacy but we also had the added bonus of having what religious extremists could have used at the time—a sense of humor.

Leave it up to the ol’ Bible and Quran and people having heart-to-heart talks with their trusted sky-daddies to start our hate engines roaring. Pastor Terry…what’s his name? Oh, yeah, Jones, being a man of God, of course, must have known how God often changes His mind after sending His prophets out on news-worthy missions. God did the same thing with Moses. He sent Moses, in a sense, to burn up Egypt but later—changing His mind, becoming angry with Moses for reasons not fully explained—as in Pastor Jones’ case. Luckily, Moses’ wife Zipporah was able to restore the mission of her husband by cutting the foreskin off their son’s penis and throwing it at Moses. I don’t get how this appeased God either but the point is, however, that Terry Jones is not delusional. Because of God’s capricious nature, we can assume that Jones was indeed communicating with God, and God did change His mind. Because the mission to burn the Qurans was aborted, we can also assume that Pastor Jones’ male supporters were already circumcised.

Meanwhile, Allah was telling His people of the world to defend the Quran and kill Terry Jones. It’s hard to tell who’s more culpable—the religious fanatics with too much time on their hands or the media being their usual slutty selves— prostituting to the hopelessly bored amongst us. Whether it was God vs. Allah, Jesus vs. Muhammad, Jones vs. a billion believers or CNN vs. CBS, they all managed to almost put young soldiers in combat, in even more danger. But, in all fairness, the world’s inhabitants were just being their usual religious selves.

The reporter who first put this grain of sand (Pastor Jones) under a microscope and the keepers, who opened up the gate, should all be prosecuted. File this one under incendiary journalism and inciting human annihilation. We can’t continue to use MP 7’s to squash fruit flies. Throw the rotten fruit out (religion) and the Gainesville-like pests will disappear into obscurity.

 

  Is Honesty Really the Best Policy?

We live in a culture of disingenuousness. It seems that we have trouble with being totally honest about so many aspects of society.  Let’s look at the two taboo topics many vow to never discuss−religion and politics. Maybe we avoid these subjects because we are the most dishonest toward them. Let’s start with politics.

President Obama is not African- American—he’s biracial (and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that). Obama’s father was a Black man born in Kenya. His mother was a White woman born in the United States. Obama was born over 2,000 miles from the mainland. Neither Obama nor his father ever served in the United States military, experienced American segregation, or can trace their roots in the United States to slavery. Neither Obama’s mother nor his grandmother did domestic work for Whites or Jews and his core values were given to him by his White grandparents who lived in the heartland of Kansas. What part of that speaks African-American? Let’s be honest.

President Obama’s slogans of “It’s time for change” and “Yes we can” were inspiring. But Obama would have never made it to the White House unless big money was poured into his campaign. Many African-American leaders are disappointed with Obama because he does not have a “Black agenda.” Why would he? It was not Blacks who paid for his presidency. Obama’s largest financial contributor was Goldman Sachs. Obama’s speech at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), showed his commitment to Israel, not Africa or African-Americans. Our president is indebted to Jews not Blacks. Let’s be honest.

Now let’s look at religion. God allegedly promised Abraham a homeland. What does this allegory have to do with Black people when Blacks have never been homeless. What about the story of Exodus? Why would Blacks have to flee Black Egypt? There are no historical records of an exodus out of Egypt. Our religious affiliations are the products of our conqueror. If those who kidnapped and enslaved Africans were Hindu, Blacks would be Hindu. If they were Buddhists, we would be Buddhists. We are what our conquerors told us to be. We worship Jesus because we were made to worship Jesus. Our faith is not of our own design. The players who shaped Christianity such as Tertullian, Irenaeus, Constantine etc., were not Black. It was a Roman thing not a Black thing. Let’s be honest. 

“The truth shall make you free” we’ve all heard. Well, I guess we really don’t want freedom or perhaps the freedom we seek has not been clearly defined. Maybe the truth hurts too much and dishonesty makes us feel better. Whatever the case may be, disingenuousness seems to be the path of least resistance.

We have all heard the expression that the kingdom of God is within or that we, ourselves are gods and goddesses. Every time we use the words God, He, The Man Upstairs, Father, The Lord etc., we are expressing a monotheistic idea which was introduced to the world by the Ancient Egyptian King Akhenaton. This idea or concept of one god has ultimately become a global consensus. This, however, does not make monotheism true. Had not Akhenaton introduced a one supreme being concept, we may still be under a polytheistic religious construct, which preceded monotheism.

In Ancient Egypt, prior to King Akhenaton, there existed a god pantheon which consisted of various gods and goddesses which were “responsible” for various assignments. For instance, the goddesses Maat was the goddess of rulership of the pharaohs, Osiris ruled over death and rebirth, Thoth was the god of wisdom and writing, Septu resigned over war, Nun over water, Khonsu was responsible for travelers etc.

In the United States (a world within a world), we also appoint a pantheon of “gods” and “goddesses” for various responsibilities. For instance, our farmers are the gods of agriculture, those in the pentagon are our gods of war, doctors represent the gods/goddesses of medicine, teachers and  professors are responsible for being our gods/goddesses of education. We are essentially gods and goddesses responsible for our own procreation, self-preservation, and self governorship. So, who made us? The answer is the Sun. That’s right, the Sun is why we’re here. Consider the following facts:

The Sun is 4 ½ billion years old and it is the product of the gasses and dust of stars that lived and died billions of years ago. It is the debris from many generations of stars. We live inside the Sun’s atmosphere and all life on earth exists because of it. The Sun is 93 million miles away, yet we feel and see its effects all around us. Despite the Sun’s great distance from earth, it only takes eight minutes for its life-giving properties to reach earth. The great Sun is approximately 900,000 miles across and it could hold around 1.3 million earth-sized planets inside of it. Our great Sun represents 99.8% of the entire solar system and it weighs 300,000 times more than the earth. The Sun is 400 times larger than the moon and its core is estimated to be 27 million degrees Fahrenheit. Every second, the great Sun releases the amount of energy equivalent to 1 million H-Bombs. The elements that make up the Sun, the earth, and all of humanity, comes from the same source–star dust–the remains of stars that lived billions of years ago. Essentially, we are all the substance of stars; made in their image! The calcium in our bones, the iron in our blood, the carbon in our bodies, the oxygen in our lungs, are all elements created deep inside stars through nuclear reactions. Every atom in our bodies was produced by nuclear fusion in stars that died long before the earth was born. The Sun is responsible for everything we know. It gives us life and on the eve of its retirement (approximately 6 billion years from now) it will take life away. The Sun gives up its energy so that we may live. This last fact alone, is behind the very concept of the Christian Jesus (a man-made personification of the Sun)–who gave his life, so that we may live.

It’s easy to understand why the Sun was worshipped by just about every culture on earth. It is our real monotheistic supreme “being.”  The only reason why the sun is not honored as it once was is because there was no money to be made from it. Every one could see it, feel it and depended on it. In religion, a man-made institution where man puts himself in control, there are priests, symbols, doctrines, creeds, laws etc. Religion simply personified the Sun by creating characters with life-giving, and life-sustaining attributes. There was and still are huge profits to be made from religion. The Sun, however, cannot be placed under anyone’s law or control. Although we are blessed by the Sun, one cannot join it or tithe to it.

Now, the question becomes, “who” made the Sun; a very ordinary, average sized star amongst billions of galaxies consisting of billions of stars in each. The answer is beyond our cognitive reach–for now. Time is what essentially created the Sun and that’s the closest we can get to answering such an otherworldly question (again, at this time). Time is a dimension in space and it creates everything–in space-time. But it’s impossible to attempt to go back to a “beginning” of time. It is beyond our ability to imagine, perceive or comprehend something that happened billions or trillions of years ago. Therefore the religious/biblical claim of “In the Beginning” becomes a moot assertion. Beginnings and endings are concepts that exist within the constructs of our human ways of perceiving things. There are beginnings and endings to the books we read, the movies we watch etc. There are some things we don’t know and may never know (in our lifetimes). That’s what makes life so beautiful and mysterious. Life gives us the thrill of having imaginations. Never allow religion to manipulate it.

When I began to read the bible with a keener and more objective eye, I didn’t have to read too far beyond the first book of Genesis to realize that what I was reading was the stuff of make-believe. I wondered why so many intelligent people took these stories seriously. I then realized that it probably had less to do with one’s level of intelligence as it did with one’s tradition and fear. Many are simply comfortable believing the stories they were introduced to as children.

Konrad Lorenz, an Austrian zoologist divided two groups of geese eggs by placing them into separate incubators. When one group of eggs hatched, the geese were placed with their mother and naturally began to learn and adapt her behavior.  The other group of eggs were absent from their mother and upon hatching were exposed exclusively to Konrad Lorenz. The geese identified Lorenz as their mother and began following and treating him as a parental bird. Some of the geese even courted Lorenz in preference to other geese. This classic experiment was called imprinting.

This is what has happened to African-Americans as far as religion is concerned. Blacks are Christians by default, being introduced to Christianity during their American enslavement period. Jesus was the first religious image that was seen and consequentially, Christianity became the first “mother” that was followed.  Blacks have been imprinted upon religiously. Imprinting is very powerful and tends to stay with one for a lifetime. It takes an open-mind, fearless heart and trusting spirit to question or doubt certain “truths” about our traditional religious convictions.

Shortly after Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning,” we are bombarded with far-fetched, chimerical stories that only those who have been imprinted upon could accept as true. The following stories would have no place for an otherwise healthy-minded, intelligent and reasonable thinking human being.

God made the grass, flowers and trees on the 3rd day but the Sun on the 4th. 
God made “Adam” from dust and “Eve” from his rib.
A serpent tempted Eve in the garden of Eden.
A flaming sword prevented Adam and Eve from going back into the garden of Eden.
God and Cain had a conversation.
Methuselah lived to be 969 years old.
Noah spent 120 years building an ark.
Noah loads predator and prey side by side upon an ark.
The door of Noah’s ark shuts by itself.
Noah was 480 years old when God told him to build an ark.
God sent a rainbow as a promise that he would  never destroy the world again .
People attempted to build a tower of Babel to the sky and God became threatened by it.
God stopped the work of the tower by causing people to speak in different tongues.
God promises Abraham he would save Sodom if there were 10 good men there.

Now, let’s be completely honest with ourselves. Do not justify these absurd stories by claiming that we don’t understand the mind of God or that “God works in mysterious ways.” Take a hard look at what you’ve just read (and this is only in the first few chapters of the first book of Genesis). These stories were written in a time when humans were in their elementary stages of intelligence and people expressed themselves in very exaggerated ways. How long do we want to stay in elementary? We “study” from the same book (the bible) our entire lives but never actually graduate. It’s time we realize that we have been religiously imprinted upon. We are simply believing the stories we’ve heard after “hatching” in the Christian “incubator” called America.

Many may wonder why I’ve included music on a site primarily dedicated to matters of religion. The honest answer is that I just couldn’t resist sharing  a little information about this incredible art form we refer to as Jazz. When one thinks of Jazz, there are the usual images which comes to mind such as an old African-American man wearing sunglasses, puffing a cigarette, speaking in a cool dialect with a scratchy voice and “jiving” his way through life. Hollywood has managed to create warped depictions of Jazz music and Jazz musicians.  Many cities in the U.S. have “smooth” Jazz radio stations that also help distort what Jazz is really about. In fact, the vast majority of people have never really been exposed to real Jazz or attended a real Jazz concert. Because our ears are not yet trained to appreciate the vibrations of Jazz music, real Jazz may sound, out-of-order, chaotic, or like a bunch of wild horns blowing without purpose or structure.

Ask someone to name a few Jazz musicians and they are likely to name musicians who are not really “Jazz” musicians but are in fact, pop or R & B instrumentalists. So-called “smooth” Jazz stations play artists such as Boney James, Bob James, Paul Hardcastle, Kenny G, Dave Koz, Alex Bugnon, The Rippingtons, etc. Although these are fine musicians and groups, they do not always play “Jazz.” Many “smooth” Jazz musicians/groups use drumbeat machines to keep time. Jazz without a real, live drummer is like a car without an engine. The term “smooth” Jazz is only a marketing tool. There is fusion, bop, hard bop, straight ahead, acid, avant-garde etc., but no such thing as “smooth” Jazz.

In every art form there is a central element that makes that art form what it is. In Jazz, this element is known as swing. Jazz is a performing art; meaning it’s important at the moment. Jazz, however, is mainly characterized by the creative process known as improvisation. Improvisation is the art of creating on the spot! This is very challenging and takes a tremendous amount of skill to master. The above artists do not always emphasize improvisation in their sound. Most “smooth” Jazz we hear is neatly organized into very palatable introductions, repetitive hooks and basic rhythmic patterns. Nothing’s wrong with that; it’s just not always Jazz.

Satellite radio has a few Jazz channels but all they seem to play is the usual “smooth” or classic Jazz. As far as classic Jazz, I love Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Charlie Parker, Bud Powell etc., but the listener often gets the impression that Jazz is not progressive and hasn’t advanced beyond the 1960’s. No wonder so many are turned off with Jazz music. To make matters worse, step into any Borders, Barnes & Noble, Best Buy or any other establishment where music is sold and you will usually find an extremely pitiful collection of Jazz. This is precisely why most of us are ignorant to this life-changing art form. One must seek real Jazz artists but most people only listen to music that is provided to them. Many people erroneously think the only people playing Jazz today are old, outdated musicians who are out of touch with reality. One would be surprised to know that many young artists are swinging their butts off and paving new and exciting roads in the world of great music.

On a Bernie Mac Show episode, I once heard Bernie Mac say that “Jazz enriches the mind and feeds the soul.” Mr. Mac was absolutely on point! Jazz is America’s only art form. Its story is replete with giants, geniuses and interstellar figures. I was very fortunate to have been exposed to Jazz at a young age. I have never (could’ve never) looked back. Do not be afraid to open your senses to a whole new world of sound. Search, research, subscribe to Jazz magazines, read the liner notes of the recordings and most of all keep an open mind. I promise that you will not be disappointed. Once you’ve been bitten by the Jazz bug, it will be hard to exclusively return to lesser enriching forms of music. In a time where mediocrity rules, Jazz will take you into the world of excellence. Don’t get me wrong,  I appreciate and have collections of just about all styles of music. But there is a special place in my heart for Jazz music; probably because of its depth and introspectiveness. but do not think you have to be a rocket scientist to understand Jazz because that’s not the case. Jazz, in many ways, is very sophisticated blues. It’s toe curling, chills on the back of your neck beauty. Jazz will enlighten you and take you on journeys you’ve never dreamed possible.

I have included only a few great geniuses (past and present artists) in Jeremiah’s Jazz but what you’ll find will inspire you to dig deeper into this amazing genre. For the beginning listener of Jazz, I would recommend starting with a few selections on the album Kind of Blue, by the great Miles Davis. Kind of Blue is perhaps the most famous Jazz recording of all-time. It’s organic, beautiful and transcending. Even though it was recorded in 1959, it’s still amazingly relevant. Why? Because true Jazz is like a great work of art. If one creates a beautiful painting last century or earlier, it will still be beautiful today. Van Gogh’s, Picasso’s or Henri Matisse’s artwork are just as beautiful today as they were in the day they were created. Thank you and enjoy these beautiful works of musical art!