Refusing to Feed Others

"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."

I'm reading a book Discovering North Carolina which has dozens of stories, newspaper articles, and accounts about the state in which I've lived most of my life.  I found it at the twenty-five cent sale at Fifth Street Books in September, and started reading it in mid-October.  

It's divided into four sections: Environment (which includes things like how NC got its name, sailors' impressions, a visit by President Monroe, the Civil War on the Home Front, and so forth), People (an explorer-historian's description of "a well-shaped, clean-made people" i.e., the "Indians in colonial North Carolina"; Daniel Boone "who lived in North Carolina longer than he lived anywhere else"; several governors, Andy Griffith, Buck Duke, etc.), Events (the hanging of Tom Dula, visits from George Washington and Robert E. Lee, Walter Hines' attack on the "mummies" in the NC legislature, "The Camels Are Coming," and so forth), and Social Fabric ("Quarrels among the Baptists," life in the cotton mills, descriptions of a country church service, etc.)

Yesterday I was reading the latter part of the Events section about Greensboro, NC, where "The Sit-Ins Begin."  I grew up and still live about 30 minutes from Greensboro. I was there just last week when I took Zach to the Science Center where he likes seeing the aquarium, and we were able to see the tiger before his afternoon snooze.  We travel through Greensboro nearly every time we go to the North Carolina mountains, and our "local" news stations are from out that way.

I read this line in this Events story: "Still others pointed to a December 1959 episode when McNeil returned from a trip to New York and was refused food service at the Greensboro Trailways Bus Terminal." (pg. 275)

That made me so sad!  I want to think if I were a white Southerner back in those days (pre-Civil War, during the Civil War, and in 1959!) that I would treat people with respect and kindness despite the fact that they were black.  I don't see how people justified this racism. How some perhaps had the audacity to use the Bible to justify this.  Yes, quote me those verses about servants and masters. Whatever. But refusing to feed a paying customer? Making black people use separate water fountains?  Sit at the back of buses and theaters and churches?  Why?  Do you think they will give you cooties? 

Why do people who often say they love "the good Lord," go to church, think they are going to heaven because they are basically good or said a prayer, do these things? Do you just ignore all those teachings about loving others as you love yourself?  In honor preferring one another? washing others' feet as Jesus showed us? even loving your enemies (if you consider them such..guess what? you gotta love them if you follow Christ.)

I don't get it.

I had a very small taste of this when I went to Syria in early 2009.  We'd had a wonderful visit there, and were treated exceptionally well.  But one person - one friend who had joined us several days to walk us through Damascus neighborhoods - said something that hurt me. Even his Syrian friends looked at him like he said the wrong thing and somewhat scolded him.  I really don't think he meant to hurt us.

We'd met with several Syrians that week.  A couple had had us over to their houses or taken us out to eat. This particular guy had joined us many times, but unlike a couple of others, he'd not had us meet anyone in his family.  Apparently his parents were super-pious and American Christians would have contaminated them because one day towards the end of our visit B commented, "My parents would have liked to meet you...if you were only Muslim." 



On the other hand, I remember one specific instance where I know I hurt someone because he was different than I so I know I've hurt others, too.  Probably many more than I want to admit - or even realize.

Have you ever been shunned or hurt because you weren't the right gender, ethnicity, religion, political affiliation, or _______?  Even though you tell yourself so and so might not have meant it quite the way it came out, it still hurts a little (or a lot.) 

Anyway, this was just something I'd been thinking about.  I know we are in an election time when people are dividing and sometimes telling how stupid the other side is, but let's remember to be known for loving and serving others, fellow Christians, even if they differ from us.   Yes, even if they vote for that candidate you really, really don't like! 

Rethinking Hagar, Fearless Jesus, Chinese Women

Here are blurbs from books I've been reading in January.  I'd love to hear your thoughts on any of them.


In his book The Book of Books: The Radical Impact of the King James Bible 1611-2011  author Melvyn Bragg notes how different groups had read the biblical stories differently.  For instance Hagar was often seen much differently than this:


"In America, several black feminist historians have seen Hagar as someone with whom it is easy and important for former slaves to identify. She is seen as a slave forced into a pregnancy for the convenience of Abraham and the determination of Sarah that he should fulfil his dynastic destiny.  Then she is expelled for no fault of her own, out of jealousy and the possessiveness of the non-slave wife when she has no need for her. She is, like the African-American slaves, a thing, an object, to be used at will and rejected when the use is over and thrown out without a thought for her future life or that of her child.

'... Hagar, like many black women, goes into the wide world to make a living for herself and her child with only God by her side.'" (pg. 291)




In Jesus Before Christianity, Albert Nolan writes:

There are no traces of fear in Jesus.  He was not afraid of creating a scandal or losing his reputation or even losing his life. All the men of religion...were scandalized by the way he mixed socially with sinners, by the way he seemed to enjoy their company, by his permissiveness with regard to the laws, by his apparent disregard for the seriousness of sin and by what we would call a bad reputation: 'Look, a glutton and a drunkard.' ...In terms of group solidarity his friendship with sinners would classify him as a sinner....In an age when friendliness toward any woman outside of one's family could mean only one thing, his friendship with women and especially with prostitutes would have ruined whatever reputation he still had...Jesus did nothing and compromised on nothing for the sake of even a modicum of prestige in the eyes of others. He did not seek anyone's approval....His family thought he was out of his mind...; the Pharisees thought he was possessed by the devil...; he was accused on being a drunkard, a glutton, a sinner and a blasphemer but nobody could ever accuse him of being insincere and hypocritical nor of being afraid of what people might say about him nor of what people might do to him.

Jesus' courage, fearlessness and independence made people of that age ask again and again, 'Who is this man?'

(pg. 144)




And finally from the book I'm currently reading: Message from an Unknown Chinese Mother by Xinran

"Chinese women down the ages have never had the right to tell their own stories. They lived on the bottom rung of society, unquestioning obedience was expected of them, and they had no means of building lives of their own. So 'natural' had this become that most women wished for only two things - not to give birth to daughters in this life, and not to be reborn as a woman in the next."  (pg. 35)


This book is incredibly interesting though very sad and infuriating at times.  Can you believe a two thousand year old law which gives boys land and girls nothing has contributed to so many infant girls being "done"?  This is the country euphemism for smothering or strangling or dropping your newborn into the slop bucket so it would drown. 

How can people be so evil?!



Your thoughts?

The American Moseses

"The persistence of Mosaic imagery at nearly every major turning point in the country's formative century shows how clearly the themes of chosenness, liberation from slavery, freedom from authority, and collective moral responsibility had become the tent poles of American public life." (pg. 173)


In America's Prophet: How the Story of Moses Shaped America author Bruce Feiler, well, gives a lot of coverage to how the biblical story of Moses has played out in American history. I've still got about one hundred twenty five pages to go, but I've been keeping track of who all is compared to Moses.  Here's the list I've collected thus far.

President George Washington

"'Kind Heaven...pitying the servile condition of our American Israel, gave us a second Moses, who should (under God) be our future deliverer from the bondage and tyranny of haughty Britain.'"  (pg. 102)

Harriet Tubman "the Moses of Her People"

"The Founding Fathers chose the Exodus as their theme in an attempt to make their lives better.  The slaves needed it to make their lives worth living."  (pg. 107)

Uncle Tom, the character in Harriet Beecher Stowe's book

"On the page he may have been a Christian symbol of martyrdom, but once he entered the culture as the face of American slavery, Uncle Tom became a Mosaic call to action."  (pg. 152)

President Abraham Lincoln

For his part in freeing America of that "peculiar institution" of slavery.

Daniel Boone, the "Moses of the West"

Lead people further into the country so they could settle "the Promised Land" (pg. 148)

Lady Liberty

"'The Moses story is about the tension between freedom and law,' ... 'between the exhilaration of the Exodus moment followed by the constriction of the Sinai moment.  And it seems to me that you can see this tension in the Statue of Liberty, from the broken chain at her feet to the tablet in her right arm to the light around her head. She perfectly embodies the American story - and the Mosaic story.'" (pg. 187)

Emma Lazarus

A nonreligious aristocratic New York City Jew, she became interested in her faith when Jews from Eastern Europe fled persecution for the United States.  She penned The New Colossus as an expression of what the Statue of Liberty, what America should mean to oppressed people from other lands.

"A society must gauge its worth not by power, the statue insists, but by how it treats its strangers." (pg. 191)




You may find this next addition out-of-place on the list since he's not typically thought of as a religious figure.

Recognize the 'Moses' in this picture?

Jews "began converting Moses into a pillar of American identity" perhaps because their "'greatest fear was that America would become a Christian nation. ... By emphasizing Moses, they showed that Jews belonged here as well. Jews were fortunate that so many American Protestants were Old Testament-focused.'"

Some left-wing Jews even suggested Judaism change its name to Mosaism, "in part because Moses was perceived to be a more appealing figure to Christians.  Many Jews had a sense that the words Jew and Judaism had negative connotations.'"

Yep, it's Uncle Sam!

"Exactly when the United States was becoming more religiously diverse, Jews subtly redefined what it meant to be American. Instead of a Christian country, they insisted, America was a biblical country. Moses played a key role because he resonated with Protestants and Jews. Jews belonged to the United States, they said, because America and Judaism had the same source: Moses." (pg. 200)


Any surprises?  Which is your favorite?  Do you agree with these choices?  Which is most interesting to you? Who would you take off the list? Add to it? Any other thoughts or observations?

African American Muslims

So I'm moving on in the Journey Into America with Akbar Ahmed and his team. I found the chapter on the African American Muslim community of great interest.  I was struck over and over with how many of those interviewed initially were part of the Nation of Islam (NOI) joining Islam not for spiritual reasons, but political and social reasons as one man put it.  It was a joining of something to express their hate of their situation and the white people whom they understandably blamed. Often they saw Islam as the true, original religion of slaves forced to America from Africa and they wanted to embrace their historical religion and reject what they considered the white man's religion which was forced upon their ancestors. 

NOI, of course, doesn't embody the true teaching of orthodox Islam. They revere Elijah Muhammad way more than Muhammad the Arab prophet (or so it seemed to me!) and they didn't encourage any sort of understanding between the races. In fact Ahmed noted there was some talk that the KKK had actually funded some NOI stuff because of their shared common goal of keeping the races separate!  NOI and KKK...how's that for strange bedfellows?

Thankfully many NOI members initially became mainstream Sunni Muslims and sought to have better relationships with whites.  I'm glad. The NOI's Yakub - the mad scientist - was a little freaky, what with his tinkering with genetics and creating the devilish white race, those blue-eyed monsters! 

I enjoyed reading of the teams travels throughout the country especially to the coastal region of Georgia where a Christian lady told of her Muslim ancestor who was known as Bilali. He had come to America as a slave. Mr. Ahmed was able to tell her the story of Bilal the slave from prophet Muhammad's time so she would understand the connection to her own ancestor's name and story.  Many black people remembered grandmothers who would shun pork and cover their hair and wash their arms and feet and such that Muslims do before prayers.

The testimonies of how Islam saved many people made me feel glad for them.  It's no secret that the black community has its problems. Everyone does, but it seems disproportionately black youth and men especially are in prisons and children are born out of wedlock more than they are born to married parents.  This means many black children are raised in poverty and drug abuse and gangs absorb many of them.  Yet I saw where finding Islam helped many of them. With its rules and highly structured way of life, Islam told them to do this, do that, don't do this and it has essentially stepped into the parental role.

Perhaps in a way, God had become a Heavenly Father to them.  Something - a person, a system to give structure - they were lacking in their own houses.

Wherever they went throughout the country Ahmed and his team asked what was the greatest threat to America. He had shared in an earlier chapter that ignorance, lack of education and loss of civil liberties were the most common replies. When asking the black community, the greatest threats to America tended to be "white people" and issues pertaining to racism and the "unwillingness to part with the notion of white privilege."

I was introduced to many African American imams, the two Washington politicians (one reared Catholic, the other Baptist, but went to a Catholic school) and some entertainers. Must say that I never heard that Snoop Dogg was Muslim before this book!  Did you know Mike Tyson cleaned the prayer rugs at a mosque as an act of piety?

Later I will share the major differences Ahmed observed in the African American Muslim community and the immigrant Muslim communities.

information from chapter 4

Darwin or Jesus: Who Influences Americans More?

In chapter 1 of Journey Into America, Akbar Ahmed speaks of the way Charles Darwin's "survival of the fittest" has influenced American life.  Recalling to mind that it's not the most intelligent or strongest who survive, but the one who is adaptable to change, he reminds us "those who succeed in the competition to survive are said to be the 'favored races.' ... [and] if the favored races are defined by a certain religion, language, and culture these will be imitated, preserved, and passed on. 

Because in America the English - and later by extension the white race - emerged on top in the competition, their characteristics have become the standard. ... In time, all others- African Americans, Mexicans, Native Americans, and Asians - were forced to imitate the dominant ethos if they wished to succeed."  He uses President Obama as an example. Despite his "dark skin" and "Muslim father from Africa," he has for the most part sounded and behaved like "other politicians from the dominant white race."

"A DEBILITATING TENSION BETWEEN DARWIN AND JESUS"

Mr. Ahmed says this tension lies at the heart of what defines and motivates American identity. Since Darwinian thought and Jesus' teachings are "diametrically opposed," they "cannot coexist simultaneously in one society without causing severe friction."

Think about it.  And think about Native Americans and other groups as you compare the two.

Darwin "represents adaptability and survival" and "acknowledges that those who cannot adapt will not - indeed must not - survive."   It's a struggle to survive and "the ruthless will to succeed, strength, speed, stamina, and force determine success. In turn, success generates pride and arrogance, the chauvinism of being on top, and a belief in the superiority of the dominant group."

Jesus' teaching of compassion and love for neighbors and enemies should motivate true followers to reach out to all people especially the "least privileged members in society" who often need the most help. Think of the people Jesus came to serve: basically all types!  Tax collectors, women, soldiers, fishermen, prostitutes, religious men like Nicodemus, ordinary people, children!  Even nonJewish people were not excluded from his help!

Yet why do we - who sometimes insist we are a "Christian nation" - act more like we follow Darwin with all the pride and hurtfulness that purifying the world of all the "bad races" involves instead of Jesus? I always thought the "Christ" part of "Christian" referred to the Messiah celebrated in the New Testament.  So why the Darwinian outlook in keeping the land pure for white people- Christian white people - Protestant white people?

We purified the land so let's keep it that way, right?!

Ahmed observes: "I have always found American fear and anger surprising.Why should the most powerful people on earth be fearful?  And why should the richest people be angry? If there was more true Christianity and less Darwinian thinking, I am convinced, there would be far more calmness in American social life."

I read this and noted "pg. 26 AMEN!" on my notepad!  Exactly!  Why are we going around fearful and angry? Why do we not live as people of faith and actually do what Jesus did and stop being so afraid and suspicious of everyone?

Anger and fear are not good foreign policy motivators!



"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid."  ~ Jesus Christ (John 14:27)


TO BE CONTINUED ...


quotes from pgs. 24-26

Should I Encourage Revolution?

Ever have a conflict of whether you are right to encourage people to fight for their political freedoms?  I'm not speaking of people in America, but in a country where your President (for life) and the military are so entwined and most of the people weaponless so that any conflict will be vastly unfair.

I don't want to say "don't fight...you might be killed!" when they want change yet are frightened of the brutal response of the regime and its supporters.  I'm done with fear being the reason for doing or not doing anything.  Fear holds me back too often and I want to throw off that chain whenever it reaches out to hold me down.

On the other hand, should I encourage them?  I am pretty good at giving pep talks, urging people to remember God, not to fear and all that stuff.

But should I?  I realize I am thousands of miles away and don't have to deal with seeing my friends beaten, arrested and shot at. It's easy to be a cheerleader when you don't have to get in the game ... and possibly be hurt or killed.

I wonder what Jesus would tell me to do . . .

He didn't lead any revolutions against the Romans yet he was for righting wrongs.  And we Americans surely pride ourselves for rebelling against the British when they were heavy-handed.

Hmm, decisions, decisions.

Is God a Moral Monster? -- More Questions & Discussion

Is God a Moral Monster? Making Sense of the Old Testament God by Paul Copan


Before discussing some of those rather odd and difficult Old Testament laws, the author mentions how important it is to understand ancient Near Eastern culture and not judge their standards in the same light as our own.  In fact he states, "[R]ather than looking at Scripture from a post-Enlightenment critique...we can observe that Scripture itself acknowledges the inferiority of certain Old Testament standards."  (pg. 61)  Earlier he claimed that upon observing these people we would see "a culture whose social structures were badly damaged by the fall."

In the discussion section he asks:

1.  Is it useful to think of Israel's laws as realistic, "incremental" steps toward the ideal? Is this a serious problem?  Why or why not?

He gave the example of bringing democracy to Saudi Arabia and how perhaps many of the residents would balk if we suddenly brought tons of changes to the culture and social structure.  He argues that ancient Near Eastern society was brutal and, in a sense, God met the covenant people (i.e.,Children of Israel) half way by raising standards, but not in a drastic, ideal society way.  The author says the perfect world was before the fall, but after the fall it was characterized by patriarchy, misogyny, cruelty, slavery, inequality...you get the picture.

2.  How does Matthew 19:8...give insight regarding the less-than-ideal legislation in the law of Moses?

It reads:  "Jesus replied, 'Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning.'"


The OT record shows how Israel was told to do certain things in light of where God moved them.  For instance at one point they were used as tools of judgment and told to fight the native inhabitants and take the land of Canaan whereas when they were in exile for their disobedience, God told them to plant gardens, marry and prosper their masters so they,too,would prosper in this foreign place.  With that in mind, 3. Do you find the OT full of relativism or situational ethics? Is this a problem or just how life is? Should we live relativistically today or is there a set standard? 



The author also discusses how some New Atheists (and really there are many others; I know Muslims who would say the same thing) point out how awful some of the biblical characters are portrayed.  4. In light of this, how important is it to differentiate between is and ought as related to the OT?  Is meaning, yes, fallible human beings did this, but it does not mean we ought to live this way.  Honestly I feel anyone who reads the Old Testament would get the impression that just because something is recorded doesn't mean it's the right thing to do. The Bible simply shows human nature, warts and all.  It's not white-washed history such as I'd expect a proud Jewish nation to record if they were the ones writing their own history and speaking of their national heroes!  Perhaps God was behind what was recorded for posterity. We can learn from their mistakes and know not to repeat those awful deeds.


Thoughts?


Bonus note from a previous chapter:   The author uses Moses and Abraham as examples of faith. Moses as a negative example of one who was given the Law yet failed to demonstrate the kind of faith Abraham displayed without the Law.  Moses is a "sobering reminder to legalistically minded Jews that having the law and keeping it scrupulously are inadequate for being right with God.  Rather, we're to approach him trustingly, depending on his grace and sufficiency rather than putting confidence in our own sufficiency."  (pg. 45)

Any thoughts on that?

Taboos, Superstitions, The Evil Eye: "To Dismiss or Not to Dismiss?" - That is the Question!

"Step on a crack and break your momma's back."

How many of us chanted this little jingle growing up as we deliberately stepped so as to not touch any parts of our feet on the offending cracks in sidewalks?  

Admit it...you did this too, right?

My friends and I would do it for fun, for a few minutes, and then it was back to normal walking and who really cares if we stepped on or over cracks in the sidewalk because we did not believe the ways we stepped would affect our mothers' backs in any way.

Not that this book, African Notebook, is huge or anything, but the author, Albert Schweitzer, devoted a full chapter to Taboos and Magic.  As I was reading it last night, thoughts of American Bedu's recent post concerning "Does the Evil Eye Really Exist" came to mind. I know Saudi Arabia is very cultural and sometimes the culture gets mixed up with the national religion and people fault Islam for things that are not in Islam.  They are simply cultural traditions predating Muhammad's religion.  Evil eye talk exists in even predominantly Catholic Latin American countries from what I understand.

And we all know of superstitions such as the bad luck that follows breaking a mirror, spilling salt, seeing a black cat, walking under a ladder or the number 13.  By contrast a rabbit's foot and four leaf clovers are supposed to bring good luck.


You may recall from the Old Testament that the Israelites used the Ark of the Covenant as somewhat of a good luck charm believing if they took it into battle, they were assured of victory over their foes.

How much stock do you put into such things?  Are they nonsensical or do they have some supernatural value that people who only believe what they see should note? Is there some element of the supernatural out there that we should take seriously?

In this book, Schweitzer notes how strongly taboos influenced the people of (now) Gabon, Africa.  Some were more general: men whose wives were pregnant could not drive nails, eat meat that had begun to smell (despite most of the times their eating meat that was "already almost putrid"), touch a chameleon, step over a procession of driver ants, fill a hole with dirt and have anything to do with a corpse.  

Some taboos were very specific and "at the birth of a child the special taboos affecting it as an individual [were] usually disclosed by the father."  When the child was old enough to learn to count to five, he was taught his particular taboos.  For one woman it was that she never sweep with a broom. Thus she always used her hands for this task. For a young man, it was that he never be hit on his right shoulder.  Yet another was prohibited from eating plantains or even from the same pot where plantains were cooked immediately before. (When he accidentally ate fish that had plantain remains in the pot, he immediately got a cramp and died after a few hours!)

Can you imagine having to sweep with your hands due to a taboo?

When people died, the villagers often looked for reasons. Instead of attributing death to natural causes, they were quick to consult a witchdoctor who would inform them of the person who had practiced magic or called down a curse on the one who died.  In one sad recollection, a French-American observer, du Chaillu, watched with horror and helplessness as the village gathered round and executed quick "justice" over three women who supposedly had caused a young man's untimely death.  One of the victims' brothers was forced to participate in this beheading and hacking up of the bodies and throwing them into the river to avoid suspicion.  It was not allowed to show sympathy for those accused...even if you knew they were innocent and the one being killed was a close family member!   This distraught young man "compelled not only to join in witnessing the murder of his sister, but to shout with the mob in the chorus of rage, [was full of] frightful suffering.  [du Chaillu] endeavored to comfort him. He spoke to him of God, Who loathes all cruelty.  'Oh, Chally,' said the poor African, 'when you go back to your country, tell the people there to send people to teach us poor ignorant beings the words that come from the mouth of God.'"  (pg. 77)

Apparently some of the natives did believe God freed them from these taboos.  I especially enjoyed this recollection:

Nyingone's taboo was that she "must never see her reflection either in glass or metal or water."  This was especially hard when trying to cross streams by tree trunks because when she happened to see her reflection in the water, she fainted, fell in the water and nearly drowned.  (She'd been rescued from drowning several times.)

In despair over what she had already suffered from this taboo, she came to Monsieur Lavignotte.  "This taboo," she said, "is a dreadful force. I can't help being afraid of it.  But I know too that God, Whom you know and preach, is stronger than Satan, in whom we have hitherto believed.  So with your help I hope to get rid of my taboo.  When you have prayed with me, I shall fearlessly turn round the mirror I hold in my hand and look at myself in it." 

After the prayer, she had courage to do as she had said.  She looked in the glass for a long time glowing with happiness because nothing happened.  When at last she raised her eyes, she said to Monsieur Lavignotte, "And to think I never knew how beautiful I am ...'"  (pg.62)

The truth will set you free!

Maybe I'm wrong, but I tend to believe that Jesus would have appreciated the faith it took for this lady to overcome this strong cultural superstition.


Twins were often considered halves of the same whole.  If they were allowed to live, mothers had to treat them exactly the same, give them the exact same amount of food, dress them alike and even twins were forced to marry at the same time.  Often when one twin died, the other hid because tradition held that the other half (since s/he was not a whole person) needed to die as well.


What do you think concerning this post?   Do you take evil eyes, superstitions, taboos, magic seriously? Why or why not?  Do you believe your holy book supports your position or is it more cultural for you?  Did any of the stories above interest you?  Does the story about the young man dying after eating out of a pot with plantains prove to you that some spiritual force is behind these taboos?  What did you think of Nyingone's declaration that God is stronger than Satan when she wanted to be free of her taboo? Other thoughts or impressions?

Want to read more tidbits from this book?  Check out this post with more interesting cultural observations from African Notebook.

"African Notebook"

Since I'm reading The Orthodox Church rather slowly, I decided to pick up a couple shorter reads at the library today. I was totally looking for another book, but got stuck in the Africa section and brought home African Notebook which is copyrighted in 1939 and sold for three bucks!  It seems to be observations from Albert Schweitzer and people he knew. It kind of just jumps right in with little explanation.  It's more like reading someone's notebook (*ahem* the title) than a fabulously-written book. But I am enjoying the cultural stuff quite much!  It's funny because he notes 'white person' or 'black catechist' and refers to 'my Africans' as well as 'savages' when speaking of the people of this region (now Gabon).

I was just reading about marriage in the chapter titled - get this - "Differences Between White People and Black People."   He said the Africans wanted to know how the Europeans differed from them and they were incredibly shocked to hear that some of them row (as in canoes) for fun!  In Africa so much of their life involved physical activity that the thought of 'sport' for fun was a bit mind-boggling.

Another shocker was the fact men didn't have to pay for their wives!  In their culture the men often started working at age 16 in order to buy a bride.  Daughters were prized because they brought wealth to their families. When a white woman had twin daughters one of the Africans declared her rich! 

The families begin calculating the cost of their daughters and when the young men want to marry, they pay an initial installment (sometimes borrowing from family or friends), and then continue paying installments.  Sometimes they start "buying" their brides when the girls are mere children.  Later they marry and continue paying to her family. Two problems: they often don't know the set price to begin with (and I got the impression the woman's family milked the young husband for all they could get by with).  So the guy may stop making payments only to go home and find his wife gone.  Yup she was stolen by her family until he makes the next payment!  The women are fine with this as it's all they know.  They willingly go back with their family realizing this is the way it works. 


The author says for about a third of the year his male nurses are "grass-widowers" and grumpy to boot having to cook for themselves and all. 


Children belong to the mother and her brothers. They will always find protection from them.  Divorces are rare. Husbands don't want to divorce usually because their wives were so costly.  Wives rarely seek divorces because then her family (brothers and uncles) have to repay the money which is often already spent.  Fascinating, huh?



Other interesting facts:

The importance of rubber to the economy as it was sought after by the Europeans. The trek through the jungle to obtain it was awful.

Salt was the prized currency for those living in the interior.  Money was useless unless they happened to live near a trading post.

Many Europeans took advantage of the Africans' love of alcohol and one person was given possession of an island in exchange for a bottle of brew.  Later the Europeans saw the error of giving the Africans alcohol and it was prohibited for use in trading.

Coastal Africans would often enslave those from the interior to work on their plantations. Some went willingly because the interior didn't have native fruit trees and therefore lack of food was common. Some parents gave up their children with hopes they would be taken to places with plenty to eat. Some slaves were offered freedom yet preferred to work for their masters in order to have food and shelter. But for many it was traumatic to be taken forcefully from their families.  Slave trade to the New World was especially harsh as the Africans feared they were to become food for white people!  They thought those tins of food were their destinies! 

The first time one European played a gramophone, the natives stomped it and went for the man (who had to flee for his life) thinking it contained the voices of their ancestors' spirits "which the white man had imprisoned in the box by magic."  (pg. 41)  Later they came to accept the gramophone and you would find them in nearly every village.  "The Africans do not worry about how it can be possible that speech and music come out of a box.  This is for them only one of the many incomprehensible things achieved by the white man.  'The white man is an artful fellow,' my Hospital assistant Joseph used to say in regard to machines and such things." 

Writing was seen as a form of magic partly because they saw how a written order for supplies (in trading) was filled at the post. They wanted to be able to write something that would "magically" get them salt and pots and cotton cloth and weapons.

I liked the story of when someone at the Mission Station at Lambaréné was showing images from the Passion during Holy Week by a "magic lantern."  Schweitzer writes:  "When Judas first appeared on the sheet among the disciples, there resounded cries from the background, 'Look out!  He will betray you!' When he kissed the Lord in Gethsemane, the onlookers could no longer control themselves. They jumped up, clenched their fists and shouted imprecations and threats. The missionary had to calm them down before he could go on with the display."  (pg. 40)

What was the most interesting fact that I recounted? Your thoughts?

Religious Rituals, Feasts and Pilgrimages and Becoming Part of the Story

"Only by entering the story ourselves can we truly understand its meaning." (pg. 420)

"Let my people go!"

Remember the story of Moses and the Pharaoh and how it finally took ten plagues - the last one truly awful - for the Pharaoh to allow the Israelites to leave Egypt?   While discussing how many people try to explain the ten plagues by natural reasons (e.g., it wasn't really blood, but an unusually high flood caused more topical red soil to color the water so it only appeared as blood),  Bruce Feiler admits he often read the Bible this way. He wanted natural explanations for things claimed by the Bible writers to have happened supernaturally.  He enjoyed the history, the places, the characters, but not the deeper thinking about the characters like what they meant to the story and what they meant to him.  As he began reading Exodus while Walking the Bible, Bruce finally realized how futile this deliberate attempt was and how he was missing a "principal storyline of the Bible: the relationship between humans and the divine."

"As it happens, the text itself reveals precisely what causes the ten plagues. God caused them. To miss that point is to miss the essence of the tale, the battle between the god of the Israelites and the gods of the Egyptians, the battle that Eliezer Oren referred to as 'My god is stronger than your god.'  Biblical storytellers clearly understood this struggle, because the plagues expressly attack the things that Egyptians held most sacred: the sun, the animals, the river.  As the Bible says, summing up the experience, 'The Lord executed judgment on their gods.'"   (pg. 183)

The author then goes on to show how this judgment of God upon the Egyptians and the Israelites escape from slavery was "a significant break" in the Bible.  "Up to now, the Israelites have been wandering, from Mesopotamia, through Canaan, to Egypt, and absorbing elements from all these places.  They are now ready to break away and begin forming their own culture, their own empire.  They must now become active participants in their own story: actors, not just reactors."


God declares what the Israelites must do in order to escape the final plague that He was going to mete out on the Egyptians: the killing of the firstborn!  Each family had to sacrifice a lamb and put the blood over the doorpost of their house. 
 When the Angel of Death came through, he would pass over* each home where this blood was present.  God instructed the Israelites on what to eat and how to prepare it.  He also set up this reenactment for the Jewish people to do each year as a remembrance.   Each generation would  now remember what God did to save their nation from slavery and make them a people prepared for Himself.  This is how the Israelites of old and Jewish people today keep in mind the faithfulness of God in delivering them from their oppressors.  (see page 184)

So entering the story - being actors - is helpful in understanding. I suppose this is why Muslims perform hajj and reenact many events that Abraham, Hagar and Ishmael experienced according to the Islamic faith.  And by sacrificing the lamb they are remembering God's provision to Abraham so Abraham wouldn't have to sacrifice his son.


* Thus the Passover is remembered each year.  Also in the Christian faith, we see this as a type of Christ.  Christ is the perfect Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John the Baptist's words in John 1:29). Sin brings death, but when we accept Jesus' work for us on the cross and trust him as opposed to our own good works for salvation, we in a spiritual sense apply the blood of Jesus to our lives and when the "angel of death" sees us, he passes over us. No spiritual death for the one wearing the blood of Jesus Christ.  (Think spiritually here not literally.)

Thoughts?  If you are Muslim, what do you think is the significance of reenacting the events of hajj or Eid Al-adha?  If you are Christian, do you celebrate any reenactments? I know some churches have Palm Sunday and do Easter plays and Christmas plays in order to reenact some of the events of Jesus' life. And also there are baptism and the Lord's Supper which we do in remembrance of Jesus. Do you think it's important to become part of the story rather than merely read about them or observe from hundreds of years later?

Pyramids, Prejudices, Egypt..oh my!

So I mentioned that I was reading Walking Through the Bible by an American Jew named Bruce Feiler.  The subtitle is "a journey by land through the five books of Moses" and so far I've traveled with him and his archaeologist friend Avner Goren through parts of Turkey, Israel, the Palestinian territories and Egypt. Currently I am in Cairo getting ready to head to Goshen.  (Isn't it great how I said that as if I'm actually traveling with them?)   I love all the historical tales meshed with modern times plus the archaeological stuff!  I've read 164 pages out of more than 400 so I wanted to jot down a few notes thus far. Most of these are just amusing descriptions or thoughtful observations of the author in his travels.

But first did you know that the largest pyramid has 2,300,000 limestone blocks that if you lined end to end could pave a single-lane road from San Francisco to New York?!  (pg. 157)    Woooooooooooow!  They sure must look bigger in person than they do in picture books!  ;)

So, yeah, I find stuff like that fascinating!  And here are just a few other things so far that have taken my attention.



Upon meeting one of Avner Goren's colleagues and being invited into the historian and "patriarch of biblical scholars," Avraham Malamat's house:

"'Welcome to my home,' he said gesturing grandly and noting that he had 10,500 books in his personal library.  'How many about the Bible?' I asked.  He seemed surprised by the question. 'Ten thousand five hundred.'"   (pg. 94)

Of course!  What other kinds of books are there, right? 



The author's image of archaeologists:  "grown-ups playing in the sand. They're adult versions of sandbox architects, taking materials they find in the ground, arranging them in a certain coherent order, and sprinkling in their own imaginations to create a thriving reality where the rest of us would see nothing, or worse, pave it over and build a mall. They're squabblers at times; absentminded often.  But, at their best, they're sort of inverted prophets. If prophets foretell the future, warning of what might come, archaeologists foretell the past, warning of what already happened."  (pg. 104)

That mall thing kind of got to me!


The author met another archaeologist, Gabriel Barkay, and they discussed the time when biblical archaeology became popular.   When asked how does proving the Bible help faith, Barkay replied:

"'I'm a local Jew,' he said. 'I don't care whether this or that detail is incorrect in the Bible. It doesn't change my attitude toward the Bible, toward religion, toward God. Or toward myself.  But in America there was an idea that the Bible is a kind of machine; if you prove that two of the screws really existed, then the whole machine existed, and if you take out two screws, the whole thing collapses.  But the Bible is not a machine. It doesn't have screws.'" (pg. 106)

Gabi continues, "'Serious people know that some parts of the Bible go well with archaeology, others do not.  So what? I'm not going to find in archaeology, ever, a business card that says "Abraham, son of Terah."  But it doesn't matter. It's not a book of history. It's a book of faith.'"  (pg. 107)

Now that card would be an awesome find! :-)


When he first arrived in Egypt the author admits to his dread.  Growing up Jewish, he had a thought of Egypt being an enemy country. Not because of current events, but rather because of the biblical account from Moses' time when the pharoah enslaved the Israelites.  So he first thinks he is being heckled by people on the streets until he realized the teenagers were offering him cigarettes and asking if he knew Michael Jordan.  He felt so comfortable by the next night that he used public transportation and when he asked for directions, the fifteen people in the van all joined in the conversation and half of them got off the van early in order to walk him to where he needed to go.  "'The biggest surprise about the Middle East,' I declared to friends, 'is how friendly the Arabs are.'"  (pg. 124)

I can so relate, Bruce!  The Syrian Arabs I met were oh-so kind!


While traveling on the famous, life-giving river, the author speaks of his "aversion to the Nile.  This feeling, I was beginning to see, like many I unknowingly carried around within me, stems largely from the Bible, and the deep cultural prejudices I inherited from it as a child.  The Nile may have given rise to the greatest civilization of antiquity, but that civilization, in turn, almost annihilated the Israelites.  In my mind, Egypt was the adversary, the aggressor, the other.  And before I could embrace - or even appreciate - this part of the Bible, I first had to overcome any latent hostility to Egypt."  (pg. 136)

Wow, I wonder how many of us carry around cultural prejudices we maybe developed as children. I know at one time I didn't really care for Germans because I thought of evil Hitler and images I had of Germans being OK with killing Jews simply because they weren't white, blond or blue-eyed.  I wasn't even taught to be this way, but just kind of picked it up somewhere in my mind while reading about Germans and maybe watching The Sound of Music where those evil Germans were after the captain to come fight in their war!  It's amazing how prejudices can form even without us realizing it!



Later in the book the author and his friend Avner were talking after having visited the Egyptian Museum where they saw the wonders of Tutankhamen's tomb.  Bruce asked Avner what made him the most excited about all that they had seen buried with the Egyptian ruler.  Avner didn't say the gold or mask or anything about the artifacts, but "the human touch."  "'This was designed by people, it was built by people.'"

I told him about my conversation with Basem [a Muslim tour guide who had his degree in Egyptology], in which he said he felt distant from ancient Egyptians because they had different beliefs.

"I believe that if I were to come back in that time," Avner said, "I would be able to bridge the gap.  I feel they were people like us, despite their beliefs.  It's like coming to Egypt today.  People in Israel think Egyptians are different from them. Still, it was fun to talk to the driver on the way from the airport. He was very curious about Tel Aviv. He had heard it was a great city.  What is the cost of living there? How are the people there? In spite of the gaps, which are big, we're much closer than people think."

"But what makes you think that?" I said. "In Exodus, Egypt is the enemy."

"Not so fast," he said. "Egypt is not a bad place in the Bible. It's the pharaoh, he's a bad man."

"But I thought you said those were the same thing."

He smiled. "The pharaoh of Joseph was not a bad man. Remember, he saved Joseph from prison and invited his family to live in Goshen.  It was a different pharaoh, four hundred years later, who put the Israelites into bondage. That's when the Bible changes its mind.  That's when Egypt becomes the enemy."  (pgs. 154-155)

And although these Jewish men didn't probably continue with this train of thought,  I can't help but remember the angel of God instructing Joseph to take Mary and Jesus to Egypt in order to avoid Jesus' death after Herod's decree that all baby boys be killed in his attempt to get rid of this new Jewish king the wise men were searching for.  (see Matthew 2)



After giving description of the congestion in Cairo and the traffic, the author records Avner's take on the taxis:  "'The only reason these cars have steering wheels is so they have a place to put their horns.'"   (pg. 148)

I can only laugh at this because I remember the horns of Damascus!  I've never heard so much honking!  And I hear Cairo is waaaay worse!



Speaking of their visit to the Egyptian Museum, the author says, "Founded in 1858, the museum outgrew its current facility within months and has never recovered. Allowing one minute for each object, it would take nearly nine months to view its 136,000 artifacts. Forty thousand more objects lie crated in the basement, where many have sunk into the ground, requiring excavations.  Egypt:  where even the museums are archaeological sites."  (pg. 148)

Ha! Loved that last line!


Did you find any of these interesting, impressive, noteworthy, troubling, amusing or do you now know for certain that I am warped and find the weirdest stuff to take the time to share?  Do tell!

Relating Hagar to Jesus' Birth

The last two days I've written excerpts from The Woman Who Named God by Charlotte Gordon, and have greatly enjoyed the comments left on yesterday's post about "Rape In The Palace."

First let me say that I did not realize Hagar "has come to be seen as a sort of guardian angel for African American women." (pg. 122) I reckon that shows how out of touch I am with black culture. Hmmm. Did you know this?

Finally I got to the chapter that explains the title of the book. I could have figured it out sooner if I'd just reread the Biblical account of Hagar in Genesis chapter 16. Hagar had been given to Abraham so that he could have an heir, she'd become pregnant and Sarah started mistreating Hagar. So Hagar fled into the desert. And an angel of the Lord spoke to her there by a spring.

The author writes that when Hagar named God El-roi (according to Hebrew scholar Reuven Hammer it could mean, "God of seeing, that is, the all-seeing God. Also, God of my seeing, that is, whom I have seen; and God who sees me"), she did something "unique." Although we are familiar with a God who sees and hears all and is involved in our lives, "in ancient times, that God could "see" Hagar -- take note of her -- was a revolutionary idea, as it demonstrated that He was unlike the other deities of the ancient world, who routinely ignored their followers unless they were coaxed and fed expensive delicacies by specially trained priests. [Elijah vs. the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel anyone?] Hagar's God...was actually concerned about a poor woman."

Remember also that Ishmael means "God hears." Contrast these names El-roi and Ishmael and their meanings to "other deities 'with [their] mouths that cannot speak and eyes that cannot see.' (Psalms 115:6)." (pg. 140)

The author concludes this chapter by saying,

Hagar's relationship with God is one Abram and, for that matter, any of God's chosen might well envy. With her, God was direct, clear and highly detailed, and most of what He foretold happened without delay. He even gave a specific reason for His actions: He had seen her suffering and was now comforting her. With Abram, God had offered no such guidance. His chosen man would never know why God selected Him, nor could he predict when God would finally enact His promises.

Indeed it would be much later that angels would announce to Abram the imminent birth of another child - information Abram could have used much earlier on. Hagar, not Abram, receives the first divine annunciation of a son's birth. Conventional hierarchies are overturned. The slave woman gets to hear the news her master has been waiting for all of his adult life. (pg. 143)

When I read this last line I couldn't help but think of this time of year and how when Jesus came to earth, the Bible records that lowly shepherds in the field were contacted. His birth wasn't announced to the important government officials or the Head of the Religious Establishment for all to celebrate. Instead the angels told shepherds, the common, blue-collar workers of that era. Makes me think of Paul's words where he declares there is no difference between Jews and Gentiles, men and women, those who are slaves and those who are free. (Galatians 3:28). The same Lord is rich to all who call upon His name (Romans 10:12).

Your thoughts?

Rape & Homosexuality in Saudi Arabia

This post is somewhat a follow-up of the children and veiled women post from yesterday especially the part about Naser's adventures in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. But first, here is an interesting tidbit which includes KSA. The other day I saw a Yahoo news story about switching countries. Seven hundred million people worldwide (that's roughly the adult population of both North and South America) would move to another country if given the opportunity. Those in sub-Saharan Africa (38%) were the most likely to want to switch while only ten percent of Asians would move. Top places people want to move to are as follows:

The United States - 165 million -- one fourth of those surveyed
Britain, Canada and France - 45 million each
Spain - 35 million
Saudi Arabia - 30 million
Australia and Germany - 25 million each

I just find things like that interesting. :)

Now on to Naser's story . . .

When his uncle is unable to pay the fee that the Saudi sponsor requires, Naser, aged 15, is requested to meet with this man. His uncle was told the sponsor was willing to wait for the money so Naser headed to the sponsor's house in order to get the renewal information taken care of. Instead the sponsor shares that Naser can settle the debt ... and it doesn't require any money. His body will do just fine.

So is there any wonder this young Eritrean man is trying to numb his pain by drinking perfume and sniffing glue?

And later when his uncle kicks him out of the house for being a "bad Muslim," Naser is at the mercy of his friend Jasim who owns a café where men go to meet other men! And I don't mean just to smoke shisha and play a game of chess! Remember this is Saudi Arabia where the men and women are not allowed to mix.

Jasim gave Naser a job in his café and wanted him to wear tight cotton trousers under his thobe.

"Look, Jasim, I can't wear this to work. It is bad enough wearing a thobe. I can't imagine what it will be like wearing something as tight as this. I'm tired of customers pinching my bottom all the time and promising gifts if I agree to their propositions." . . .


"Don't worry, you will wear it under your thobe. But can you blame them, Naser?"

"What?"

"My dear, in a world without women and in the absence of female glamour, boys like you are the perfect substitute. Why hide your attractiveness and your tender physique like a veiled woman? You are the closest my customers have to a beautiful and sensual person roaming freely in their world. So why sit on your beauty like a bird without wings, when you can fly?" . . .

"Naser, I want to make my café like a paradise, where everything one desires, one gets. They can lock women away, but they can't cage our fantasies. I want to find other ways to set passion free."

For a while, we didn't say anything to each other. And I did what I always did in Saudi when there was nothing else I could do. I closed my eyes.

So while waiting tables Naser realizes Rashid wants an inappropriate relationship with him. He storms to his room and his friend meets him there.

"Naser, it is hard for me to ask you to do this not least because ..." He paused, sighed deeply, and then said, "Naser, Rashid likes you. He said he must have you because he wants you to . . . "

"Let me guess. He wants me to be his boy until he gets married. I have heard it many times before but I am not going to do it."

"Naser, we can't refuse Rashid. He might not look it, but he is a very important man for this café. I didn't tell you this before, but for me to keep my business open, I have to do certain things, obey certain rules. I am a foreigner like you; I could be kicked out from this country any minute if I don't follow the rules. You are very dear to me, I will only ask you to do things for a reason. If this shop is shut down, where will you go? Who will open their house to you?"

Quotes from pages 56 and 59 from The Consequences of Love by Sulaiman Addonia

He is the Savior!

"He lifted me out of the slimy pit,
out of the mud and mire;
he set my feet on a rock
and gave me a firm place to stand."
Psalm 40:2

Quite often when I think of the unsaved and myself prior to God saving me, I mentally picture someone in a mud pit literally caked so heavily with mud that there is no way she can free herself. So she just sits there, possibly struggling against this miry prison, possibly enjoying it at times as pigs do. I visualize things like this as I realize we cannot save ourselves. Our attempts to clean ourselves while in the mud pit are futile -- amusing, in fact! Logic dictates that first we must be out of the mud in order to be clean!

The last day or so I have been burdened about a few people very dear to my life. I weep over lifestyle choices they have made. Though they were brought up to honor the Lord, now they have allowed their minds to be corrupted by worldly influences. They are wallowing in this mud pit likely oblivious to their conditions.

And that breaks my heart.

It always saddens me when I think along these lines.

So this morning I was reading through Isaiah as I sat on the porch in my rocking chair. I read a while and then got to thinking of these precious people and was crying out to God for their souls. As I mentally pictured them in this dirty pit and in no way able or even realizing they needed rescuing, I reminded the Lord that I could not save them. Although I might be standing just outside the pit wishing I could help, I am not anyone's savior.

I reminded the Lord that this is not about anyone deserving anything from Him, but simply because of Who HE is. He is the Savior. He's the only one who can reach into that pit, lift them out, cleanse them and set their feet on the Rock.

After my prayer time, I resumed my reading in Isaiah and was encouraged a short time later by this verse. Mainly because it was so much like the conversation I'd just had with my Lord. It reads:

"I, even I, am the LORD,
and apart from me there is no savior."
Isa.43:11

Exactly!

I am eager to see how the Savior saves! I want to see these people out of the miry pit, washed clean and serving the Lord with gladness.

I look forward to that day, trusting that God is mighty to save (Zeph. 3:17), not willing that any should perish (2 Peter 3:9) and whatever we ask according to His will, He will do it (John 14:13).

The Slave Is Our Brother

While still in the Christmas spirit, I wanted to reflect on a verse from “O Holy Night” that really spoke to my heart yet again this year. It’s especially meaningful to me since becoming further aware of the starvation and terrorism taking place with my American tax dollars. Makes me sad. Especially when I see these pictures and many more like them. No matter what you think of Hamas’ tactics, you cannot starve the children. Only if you have a hard heart. Jesus would feed the children.

Come on, Israel! Come on, Egypt! (These are our allies, Americans!) OPEN THE BORDERS! Let the people eat!

Truly He taught us to love one another;

His law is love and His gospel is peace.

Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother;

And in His name all oppression shall cease.

Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,

Let all within us praise His holy name.

Christ is the Lord! O praise His Name forever,

His power and glory evermore proclaim.

His power and glory evermore proclaim.

Jesus said to feed your enemies not starve them!

Obey your Lord!

Slavery -- me

I thought I'd take a few minutes to write this morning. Our new church building is complete, and our first joint service is at 10:30. Instead of 3 morning services, there will be only one. We had been going to the 9:45 service.

While searching for something about the UN the other morning, I came across the slavery article (previous post) written by Thomas Sowell. I have read articles from Sowell and Walter Williams since my high school days. In a country where 90+% of the black people vote for the same candidate, I like to read from black men who have a different viewpoint than the masses. I also read Leonard Pitts who is much more liberal than Sowell and Williams, but I find he makes a lot of sense quite often as well. At least his arguments seem sensible. He has helped me understand the "African-American mind" a bit better.

Personally I never owned a slave nor do I know an actual slave or former slave, and I live in the South. From all I know, my ancestors were poor, white folks, and I know my dad worked with black people in tobacco fields in Caswell County when he grew up in the 1950s and '60s. For me, reparations would be taking a step backwards in race relations. Why punish people living today for something their ancestors did? And why reward people living now who never were slaves? I believe reparations would cause a lot of hard feelings. I am tired of "white guilt" and "American guilt." I'm tired of guilt period. I agree that slavery was a shameful part of America's past, but, thank God, it is in the past! Let's leave it there. I was glad to find Sowell's article and see that the African nations were much to blame for the slave trade. Reading on Wikipedia, I found that slavery is practiced in some African and Asian nations EVEN TODAY! The white Americans did not invent slavery nor have we continued with it. Let's get over it and move on. You don't make much progress while looking behind you.

Philippians 3:

13 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, 14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
15 Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you.

Slavery - Thomas Sowell

The United Nations of Reparations Hypocrisy

by Thomas Sowell (September 7, 2001)

Perhaps Secretary of State Colin Powell's decision to pull the American delegation out of the so-called U.N. World Conference Against Racism in Durban, South Africa, will be just a footnote in history. But we can at least hope that it may be a turning point toward a future time when "racism" will no longer be a magic word used to gain money or political concessions.

Within the United States, Jesse Jackson and others have repeatedly scared millions of dollars out of big corporations, just by threatening to use the magic word "racism." Even the police have sometimes turned a blind eye to violations of the law, lest they be tarred with that magic word that will bring the whole liberal media crashing down on them. But letting criminal activity go on unimpeded and unpunished has hurt minority communities most of all.

Against this background, it was to be expected that some African and Arab nations would hope that invoking this magic word might scare some money out of the United States as "reparations" for slavery and get some kind of United Nations condemnation of Israel as a bonus. But this time the magic didn't work.

Singling out Israel to blame for the Middle East's problems was probably the straw that broke the camel's back, leading both the U.S. and Israel to withdraw their delegations from the conference in Durban. Arab caricatures of Jews with big noses and bloody fangs were hardly a way of being against racism.

The real world-class chutzpah, however, was the demand of African and Arab nations for reparations of slavery. Just who do you suppose enslaved the millions of Africans who ended up in the Western Hemisphere? It was the Africans. And who enslaved the even greater number of millions of African slaves who ended up in the Islamic world? It was the Arabs.

During the era of African slavery, Europeans died like flies in tropical Africa, where diseases flourished for which they had no biological immunity and for which medical science had yet to devise a cure. Capturing people to sell into slavery was the work of Africans in West Africa and of Arabs and Africans in East Africa.

Europeans came in their ships, bought slaves from the Africans, and then left the scene quickly before they fell sick from African diseases. Even so, many white crewmen on the ships bringing slaves from Africa to the Western Hemisphere died on the way. The notion that it was white people who introduced slavery to Africa, or who captured most of the slaves themselves, may fit the mindset of those who thought that "Roots" was history, but this myth will not stand up to facts, logic or economics.

Since it was the Africans and the Arabs who actually caught and sold slaves, do the African and Arab nations plan to send reparations over here to the descendants of enslaved Africans living in the Western Hemisphere? Of course not. They want the United States to lay some of those American dollars on them! We have fallen for so many other sucker plays in the past, why not try this one on us?

When slavery is mentioned, too many people automatically think of whites enslaving blacks. That is not even one-tenth of the story of slavery, which existed on every inhabited continent. The very word "slave" derives from the word for some white people who were enslaved on a mass scale -- the Slavs -- for more centuries than blacks were enslaved in the Western Hemisphere.

Moreover, slavery existed in the Western Hemisphere before the first black or white person ever set foot on these shores. The indigenous peoples of this hemisphere enslaved one another, just as Asians enslaved Asians, Europeans enslaved Europeans, and Africans enslaved Africans. Attempts to limit the discussion of slavery to slavery in the United States or in Western civilization make sense only as a strategy to get money or political concessions.

Western civilization was the first civilization to regard slavery as morally wrong and it is the civilization with the most sense of guilt about it. To this very moment slavery continues in parts of Africa and the Islamic world. Very little noise is made about it by those who denounce the slavery of the past in the West, because there is no money to be made denouncing it and no political advantages to be gained.

If the American delegation walking out of the U.N. Conference Against Racism represented a belated waking up to the scams being played, that could be a very healthy sign for the future -- not only on the international scene, but within the United States as well.

COPYRIGHT 2001 CREATORS SYNDICATE,

Thomas Sowell has published a large volume of writing. His dozen books, as well as numerous articles and essays, cover a wide range of topics, from classic economic theory to judicial activism, from civil rights to choosing the right college.