American Exceptionalism and Christian Charity

BENEATH THE SPIN • ERIC L. WATTREE American Exceptionalism and Christian Charity Larry, I'm sorry if it's beginning to seem like every time you send me a piece of e-mail I always repond with something negative, but I've become very cynical over the years, and you're one of the few people that I like, so I want you to understand me. So the fact is, while I love the artistry of Sam Cook, I just can't stand most hymnals. They only serve to remind me of how thoroughly brainwashed our people have become. I'd like you to read a couple of things. The first is a response to a minister who invited me to become part of his Bible study, and the second is a little thing out of my book, "A Message from the Hood", about how Black people became Christians: Reverend, Thank you so much for the invitation to become a part of your Bible-study group, but I'm more spiritual than I am religious. I seek God from within. I consider religion - ALL RELIGION - a form of bigotry. The fact that the Southern "Bible Belt" is the most racist part of America is no accident. Religion is a form of mind control. Graphic evidence of that is that we were taught to love thy neighbor while they had us tied next to the mules. So I seek God from within, not from a user's guide - especially one written by man. I know God by what he has created, not by some nonsense about Moses parting the Red Sea. The creation of the universe is miraculous enough for me, so I don't require God to jump through hoops and do magic tricks (like bringing Jesus back from the dead) to get my attention. Thus, while the Bible might be a great book, I consider it the greatest work of pure fiction ever written. God made birds to fly, fish to swim, and man to think - not to simply "have faith" in the words of other men. When man asks us to have faith, he's not asking us to have faith in God, he's asking us to have faith in what he's telling us about God. The entire concept of faith is meaningless unless there's doubt, and I have no doubt about the existence of God. How can any man look out into the night sky, then have to rely on a book to confirm the existence of God? Based on that philosophy, the Bible should have been written in braille. From my point of view, there's a name for people who have to rely on a book written by man to know the existence of God - blind. They have to be blind, because they have more faith in what man says, than what God has done. Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.  Eric L. Wattree Wattree.blogspot.Com THE CONVERSION ACome here nigga and let me teach you=re crazy, animal ass about the Lawd. The first thing you got to learn is to Love thy NeighborBespecially me." AYes sir, Massa. Why would anybody not love you, Sir? You so good to me, Massa. Anybody don=t love you needs to have they ass beat real good, Massa.@ AShut up nigga. I'm talkin'." Listen, you been blessed already, and you don't even know the Lawd. The Lawd made it where you don't have to worry 'bout a thing. I feed you, I put clothes on yo nasty ass, and I give you a shed to sleep in, and all you have to do is what your told. Do you know how blessed you are?" "Oh yes in deed, Massa. You take good care of me. I's so happy." "Now, listen real good 'cause dis impotant. God said, thou shalt not steal from me, thou shalt not kill (unless I tell you to), thou shalt not stick another coon's wife (unless we tryin' to make some mo niggas), and nigga, whatever you do, thou shalt not even look like you want to stick a white woman, or we gon lynch you black ass. You here me, nigga?" "Oh yes, Massa. We know dat! But Massa, I thought you said thou shalt not kill?" "Dat means people, fool! Real people--dat don't go for niggas. God wants us to keep you in yo place." "Dat's right, Massa. We sho gotta keep niggas in dey place. No tellin' what a happen if we let these niggas git loose. God so smart." "I said shut up, nigga, and listen to the word." "The next thing you got to learn is, whatever happens on this plantation is God's will bein' done. And if you listen to me, you=ll get to live like I do, when you die and go to heaven.@ "Live like you, massa? A nigga ain't got no business livin' that good. What a Po nigga like me gon do with all this? You know I ain't got sense enough to run nothin like this." "Just shut up, nigga!" When you dead you gon get some sense - the lawd gon give it to you. The Lawd can do anything, even give sense to a nigga. And he gon give you all the other niggas you gon need to help you in the fields, too." "Massa, you so good to me! Thank you for tellin' me all dis. I'm gon be a good nigga - the best nigga you ever seened. Look, I'm gon pray for you right now, and thank the Lawd for givin' me so good a massa." "Shut up and get up off your knees, ya dumb nigga! The fields need tendin'! You pray to the Lawd on your own time. God don't won't you talkin' to him when you s'pose to be workin'." "A couse, Massa. What I been thinkin'? I's so dumb. I don't know why you put up with me, Sir." "How many times I got to tell you to I shut up, nigga!" "Yes Sir, I's a shuttin', Massa. I's a shuttin', right now." "Now get yo ass out there in that field and let's get some work done around here . . . Oh, and Toby, have yo woman meet me in the barn. I need to tell her 'bout the Lawd too . . . and since this is sorta like chuch, tell her to put on dat pretty dress I like." "Yes sir, Massa." "And another thing, Toby, if my moma come a lookin', tell her I'm playin' in my tree house." "Why you gon go fibbin' to yo moma, Mr. Tommy? She knows you like to sit wit Lou Ann." "Just shut up, nigga, and do what I said!" "Yes Sir, Mr. Tommy . . ." "Whaaaaaaat a friend we have in Jeeeeesus . . ." 　 "ONE NATION UNDER GOD, WITH LIBERTY, AND JUSTICE, FOR ALL." Hmmmmmmmm . . . No shit? Toby's dead, Homeboy.  Eric L. Wattree wattree.blogspot.com Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.