DarkStar Spouts Off

Pimp In The Pulpit?

[ 7/11/2007 ]

Is there a pimp in the pulpit?

I repeat, is there a pimp in the pulpit (another link for the details)?

Jamal Bryant, the pastor of Empowerment Temple, fathered a child out of wedlock. The same pastor, who bragged in an article about having 2 Bentleys, is trying to fight the mother of his daughter who is requesting an increase in child support payments.

There is more but I can't verify the rest so, given what can befall me for getting it wrong, I won't say right now.

[ 7/25/2007 Update ]

I spoke with a member of Empowerment Temple. Bryant admitted to fathering a child by a woman who is not his wife. By this I mean he admitted he cheated on his wife and fathered a child.

There is a pimp in the pulpit!

Romney And The Curse of Ham

The Hutchinson Report from Black America Web:

For more than a century, the Mormons clung tightly to their well–documented, race-tinged dogma that blacks were an inferior race, could not be priests, serve on missions or be married in the Temple. They repeatedly cited the Old Testament curse of Ham as a cover for their unabashed racial bigotry. Mormon church leaders didn’t budge from making pronouncements about God’s alleged curse against blacks even when other fundamentalist groups backpedaled -- at least publicly -- from using the Bible to justify racism. Sharpton may in fact have been moved to take his shot at the Mormons because he is a Pentecostal minister, and his church has at times been at odds with Mormonism. The Mormons finally backed away from their ban against blacks after church leaders claimed they got a revelation from God in 1978 that declared blacks were now equals.

That was a decade and a half after the great civil rights battles of the 1960s.

The Mormon leaders claim that they have convincingly junked their racist past. They tout their much-publicized genealogical research on African-American families, their aggressive missions in Africa, and the handful of blacks that serve in the important church body known as the Quorum of the Seventy to prove it. Yet, Mormon leaders have also have rejected calls for the church to apologize for its century-plus defense of Biblical-touted racism.

Nuff said.

2 Tales of 1 Poll

[ Update ] Reformatted

Young U.S. Muslims back suicide attacks

By Jennifer Harper
THE WASHINGTON TIMES May 23, 2007

The first nationwide survey of Muslim Americans revealed that more than a quarter of those younger than 30 say suicide bombings to defend Islam are justified, a fact that drowned out the poll's kinder, gentler findings suggesting that the community is mainstream and middle class.

"There are trouble spots," noted Andrew Kohut, director of the Pew Research Center, which conducted the survey of 1,050 adult Muslim Americans -- two-thirds of whom were foreign-born -- January to April. The results were released yesterday.

"We should be disturbed that 26 percent of these young people support an ideology in which the ends justify the means," said Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, chairman of the Arizona-based American Islamic Forum for Democracy.

Survey: U.S. Muslims Assimilated, Opposed to Extremism

By Alan Cooperman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 23, 2007; Page A03

Unlike Muslim minorities in many European countries, U.S. Muslims are highly assimilated, close to parity with other Americans in income and overwhelmingly opposed to Islamic extremism, according to the first major, nationwide random survey of Muslims.

The survey by the Pew Research Center found that 78 percent of U.S. Muslims said the use of suicide bombings against civilian targets to defend Islam is never justified. But 5 percent said it is justified "rarely," 7 percent said "sometimes," and 1 percent said "often"; the remaining 9 percent said they did not know or declined to answer.

A Proper Send Off

Cal Thomas wrote a proper send off to Jerry Falwell:

As a vice president of the Moral Majority from 1980 to 1985, I witnessed the rise of this movement from the inside. It had its positives, including a focus on "moral issues," such as abortion, same-sex marriage, a strong national defense and the cultural decline of the nation and the registering of many previously inactive people to participate in the political life of their nation. All of these remain hot-button issues.

The movement also had its downside, because it tended to detract from a Christian's primary responsibility of telling people the "good news" that redemption comes only through Jesus Christ. At times, this central message seemed to be replaced by one suggesting that a shortcut to moral renewal might come through Washington and the Republican Party.

The flaw in the movement was the perception that the church had become an appendage to the Republican Party and one more special interest group to be pampered. If one examines the results of the Moral Majority's agenda, little was accomplished in the political arena and much was lost in the spiritual realm, as many came to believe that to be a Christian meant you also must be "converted" to the Republican Party and adopt the GOP agenda and its tactics.

One had only to look at the history of the religious left to see the danger in a shotgun marriage between church and state. Most liberal theologians long ago gave up preaching about another king and another kingdom in favor of baptizing the earthly agenda of the Democratic Party. That too many conservative Christians followed their liberal opposites into the same error was to their shame and demonstrated they had missed an important lesson.

 

This was a good piece. Please read it all. You will find an interesting nugget.

Religious Beliefs or Politics?

Booker Rising provides a quote from Harry Jackson, Jr.:

"I want to call on all African Americans of faith to go the polls in two weeks and vote their values and their faith. Your vote will determine the moral direction of the nation for the next few years. We cannot sit back and wait for others to do the right thing or make the right move. It is time for blacks to take a leadership role in the nation. We must recognize the unique position to which we have been called by God. We can no longer be guilty of following blind men. Instead, we must cut a new path. With God on our side, we are not a minority; we are a majority! If men like Martin Luther King, Jr. had not dared to speak out as prophets of God against an evil and corrupt system, life for many of us would be unbearable today. The evils of pre-civil rights America would still be in full force. The courage needed today is a little different than the courage it took to stand up to dogs and fire hoses. Our civil rights heroes needed the courage to die for the cause. Today we must have the boldness to endure being misunderstood while we rebuild America’s moral core. We all know the issues that are of concern to the black community in this election. First of all, we are concerned about the war simply because so many of our family and friends are in the military. Yet, I cannot vote out one party because they 'started the war,' while condoning the genocidal murder of black babies within our borders. A little more than 2,000 people have died in Iraq and we don’t take that lightly. But what about the millions of black babies sacrificed on the altar of personal convenience? The most recent statistics say that 36% of the babies aborted in the U.S. are black babies---that amounts to 12 to 14 million casualties in America’s war on life since Roe versus Wade. Second, immigration reform is important to African Americans. The current liberal amnesty and porous borders approach to immigration is a part of what I call, 'The New Slavery.' Hispanic workers are taken advantage of by corporate employers and subjected to unsafe work environments and poor wages because of their current illegal status. This has directly affected black employment opportunities at the lower end of the employment spectrum. The result is a black unemployment level of over 10% versus a national unemployment level which is under 5%. We should advocate closing the borders, encouraging immigrants to obey the laws of the land, and refuse blanket amnesty. In addition, wealth creation (home and business ownership), education reform, criminal justice reform, health care access, protection of marriage, and promoting a culture of life are all hot buttons for thinking African Americans who embrace a biblical worldview."

Here is a point I think I have to make.

Immigration, employment, wealth creation, education reform, etc, are political stances not religious stances. So, what is the point of bringing those issues to the table? I'm not saying they should not be addressed, but why use the cloak of religious values, when they are not?

Here is something to think about: since "we" are having more abortions, proportionately, than others, than how does anyone expect the appeal to "pro-life" values to hold sway, unless the disproportionate number of abortions is done by a very small minority within the Black community?

Maybe it's just me, but I don't see the genocide angle being any good. Now, if people showed a growing baby...

Faith and Forgiveness

Imagine that you sent your child off to school for the day.

Imagine that a mad man comes into your child's school, enters your child's class, and then executes all of the children before killing himself.

Would you be able to imagine forgiving the killer?
Would you be able to imagine going to the killer's family to express your sorrow for THEIR LOSS?
Would you be able to imagine setting up a fund for the killer's family?

That is what the Amish are doing and they are doing so because of their faith.

That is living and demonstrating your faith by how you live.

Random Edness

Some random thoughts, based on religion and morality:

• In my life so far, only one televangelist has said something that hits my heart so that I tune into the show on a regular basis. That televangelist is Joel "The Smiling Preacher" Osteen. His message hits me where it needs to hit me. He delivers in a manner that draws me in, catches my attention, and keeps my attention.
• Let's say someone is watching Joel Osteen and the person accepts Jesus as The Savior. One of the last thing that Joel Osteen says is to join a good Bible based church. The reason for this is that "new Christians" need education, mentoring, and encouragement along the path of being a Christian, living as a Christian, and spreading of The Word.

Now compare that to how public "intellectuals," both left and right, treat Blacks and "Black issues" in the media.

• "Shame needs to be restored in the Black community" to reverse the problem of out of wedlock births. The question I have about this is simple. Are the church programs that help unwed mothers sanctioning out of wedlock sexual activity? If celebrating out of wedlock children by having baby showers for the unwed mothers is wrong, then isn't the support of these mothers by churches wrong? Is it wrong for grandparents to claim their out of wedlock grandchildren? Or am I missing something?

Just some thoughts I had while driving today.

This Should Speak For Itself

OK, this is from the Weekly Standard. This should speak for itself. Enjoy.

Strange Allies

George Michael's "The Enemy of My Enemy" details the unlikely alliance between militant Islam and the extreme right.

The extreme right and militant Islam now possess the same enemies. They both loathe the Jews and believe that the American government is controlled by a shadowy Jewish elite. Both movements also have revolutionary aspirations, seeking to replace the existing order with "monocultural states built around racial or religious exclusivity."

While both sides began to recognize these ideological similarities in the 1990s, 9/11 hastened the convergence of interests. After the Twin Towers collapsed, many far-right leaders exulted at both the punishment inflicted on the United States and the courage displayed by the hijackers. As National Alliance organizer Billy Roper said shortly thereafter: "The enemy of our enemy is, for now at least, our friends. We may not want them marrying our daughter, just as they would not want us marrying theirs. . . . But anyone willing to drive a plane into a building to kill Jews is all right by me."

Since then, here have been intensified efforts to build bridges between radical Islam and the extreme right. Ahmed Huber, a Swiss convert to Islam who is a self-proclaimed admirer of both Adolf Hitler and Osama bin Laden, jubilantly declared that 9/11 would help align the two movements: "The eleventh of September has brought together [the two sides] because the new right has reacted positively. . . . They say, and I agree with them 100 percent, what happened on the eleventh of September, if it is the Muslims who did it, it is not an act of terrorism but an act of counterterrorism."

In the United States, late National Alliance founder William L. Pierce praised Osama bin Laden prior to his death. The Aryan Nations established a Ministry of Islamic Liaison, and the group's head August Kreis declared his solidarity with Osama bin Laden during an interview with CNN. Kreis even advised bin Laden that his followers were willing to fight on al Qaeda's side: "They might not be cells of Islamic people, but they are here and they are ready to fight."

Tithing, Prosperity Ministers

The Washington Post has an article on Blacks and tithing. This is an interesting read, in general, and gives glancing coverage to the issue of "prosperity preaching."

LaVonne and Bernard Snowden have three children in private school, two flourishing careers and an elegant house in Mitchellville. As thanks for those blessings, the Snowdens say, they give 10 percent of everything they make to their church.

Carla Brooks, a Howard University graduate student, doesn't bring in much except her financial aid and what she earns working part time. Even so, she puts 10 percent of her money in an envelope marked "tithes."

"Anything that I get, I tithe," Brooks said. "It's not a hardship at all. It's like when anyone else gets their check. They see what they have, they pay their bills and live on what is left. I tithe, and I live off the rest."

Tithing, an ancient practice described in the Bible, is particularly strong in African American communities, where it is reinforced by centuries of family tradition. That has helped propel Prince George's into the top five counties in the nation for charitable giving, as documented by a Chronicle of Philanthropy study based on donations as a percentage of income.

A Washington Post analysis using the same data found that 14 of the top 20 Zip codes for per capita giving in the region were in Prince George's.

Across the spectrum of faiths, religious institutions draw much of the nation's charitable money, accounting for three out of every four dollars given, the chronicle's study of 2002 IRS data found. In African American communities, the figure is closer to nine out of every 10 dollars.

...

"What we are seeing is more giving, but I wouldn't attribute it only to people adhering to the principle of tithing," said the Rev. Bucas Sterling, pastor of Kettering Baptist Church in Upper Marlboro. "There is also an increase in what is called 'prosperity ministry,' the approach that says the intention of God is for all of his children to be financially well off. Materialism is being promoted, in a way. The whole idea is that God wants them to have money."

"The hook that this ministry is promoting is that you must give a lot to receive a lot. You put money in, you get money out. Almost like an investment, whereas the principle of tithing is that you should give to be obedient to God."

The issue of prosperity preaching is one that is in serious debate in the Christian church, as well as it should be. I have to admit that it makes me uncomfortable because the idea of Rev. Ike pops into my mind.

And, as "fate" would have it, today I received the May 2006 edition of Black Enterprise and guess who is on the cover? Pastor Kirbyjon Caldwell, Bishop T. D. Jakes, and Bishop Eddie L. Long.

I haven't read that article yet, but I have read a good portion of this edition. As always, it's a good read.

Defending "The Black Church"

On a web forum, the comment "I can't but help thinking that the Black church is failing" was made.

That got me to "go off" and defend "The Black Church". Here is how I responded:

This is what I am going to do:

I'm going to state a moral truth.

I'm going to state a statistical truth.

I'm going to state a social fact.

I'm going to use an associative relationship between the moral truth and the statistical truth to make a corollary.

I'm going to use the corollary and the social fact to provide a hypothesis.

I am going to ask if the hypothesis is valid.

Moral truth: Those who engage in premarital sex are committing a sin.

Statistical truth: 65-70% of the white population has engaged in premarital sex.

Social fact: Sunday is the "most segregated day" in the U.S. Most of the white population goes to a "white church".

Corollary: If engaging in premarital sex is a sin, then 65-70% of the white population are sinners, then most of the white population are sinners.

Hypothesis: If most of the white population attends a white church, yet most of the white population engages in premarital sex, then the white church is failing the white population.

True or false?

 

Question of the Day: Revised

How many people would be Christians if it weren't for Christians?

How many people have the following turned off?

• Jesse Jackson, Sr.
• Pat Robertson
• Al Sharpton
• Robert Fawell
• Jesse Lee Peterson

[ Update ]

After thinking about it more, I'm sure many more people are turned off by the Christians they know "up close and personal":

• The newly Born Again Christian.
• The long time "Born Again" Christian who curses up a storm, drinks, gambles, etc, and says, "I'm born again, so I'm forgiven" or "I may sin, but I'm forgiven". With that type of attitude, I could do anything and blow it off by saying, "I'm forgiven".
• The pastor/preacher/deacon/elder who is "cuttin' up".

The spirit of condemnation and retribution seems to reign supreme instead of the spirit of love regining supreme.