By Naima Washington
I’ve spent several days thinking about Emily Brennan’s recent article on African American ‘unbelievers.’ As I understand it, the research for her article which ran on Sunday, November 27, 2011, began in 2010. I contacted Ms. Brennan but decided that I couldn’t really contribute to her work since she indicated that she was interested in interviewing African American non-theists who primarily network via Facebook and other social media outlets. I am amongst the eight or so human beings on earth who really doesn’t ‘book, ‘blog, ‘tweet, or ‘text. I do communicate via e-mail with people I’ve also taken the trouble to meet face-to-face. Nevertheless, I was happy to learn that someone would write an article which explores secularism and focus on African American religious dissidents.
Dissension—holding, and more importantly, voicing an opinion that differs greatly from the status quo—is probably as old as humankind itself, and is certainly not a new phenomenon to African Americans. James Baldwin, Harry Belafonte, Frederick Douglass, Angela Davis, W.E.B. DuBois, Morgan Freeman, Hubert H. Harrison; Flo Kennedy, Butterfly McQueen, Paul Roberson, Nella Larson; A. Phillip Randolph, Manning Marable, Bayard Rustin, J.A. Rogers, and Richard Wright represent only a few African Americans who have interrogated religious beliefs, some doing so during those times when any critique of religion would be met with serious repercussions. Our contemporaries who now question theism can more openly state their opinions, more readily access materials exploring religious beliefs through a critical lens.
Dr. Anthony Pinn, author and scholar at Rice University has been adamant in his assertion that dissent, atheism, and religious criticism are not new trends in African American communities. One of his books, By These Hands: A Documentary History of African American Humanism, chronicles dissent, particularly religious dissent, as a factual part of social and intellectual African American experience.
In 2009, Houston-based engineer Donald R. Wright wrote, The Only Prayer I’ll Ever Pray: Let My People Go. His life experiences as a former Baptist Deacon reveal what everyone who questions their own religious views wants to know: how and why a believer becomes an atheist. He has grounded his atheism in activism as the Vice President of the Humanists of Houston (a chapter of the American Humanist Association); founded the Radical Forum of Houston, and initiated the African American Non-theist Day of Solidarity [email protected] celebrated on the last Sunday in February.
In her latest book, Moral Combat: Black Atheists, Gender Politics, and the Values Wars, scholar and activist, Dr. Sikivu Hutchinson offers unique and thorough examinations of race, gender, glass, and religion as they impact on the communities of African Americans and other people of color while critiquing the roles and responsibilities of white secularists. As a social critic, she’s written articles for many publications, is the founder of Black Skeptics Los Angeles and mentors young women of color.
Recently, Ms. AJ Johnson was appointed as the new Director of Development for American Atheists as that organization continues to promote secular values and attempts to concretely address diversity within its ranks. Raised in the ‘Bible Belt,’ AJ has studied and taught abroad and brings a unique perspective to her appointment along with her interest in issues concerning religion’s impact on gays, women, and slaves. Continue reading “The New York Times: Unbelievable!” →