Content Category
Literary Criticism
Abstract/Description
Zora Neille Hurston, Stephan Haynes, and Langston Hughes address African-American literature’s relation to traditional, Christian, white-American beliefs. Black literature consistently shows a deep distrust of Christian teachings due to the historic attempts to force blacks into an oppressive ideology of willing servitude. The pressure to conform to an antagonistic religion produced various reactions from African-Americans, including: assimilation, subversion, and even rejection of white Christian beliefs. These black authors struggle to come to terms with a seemingly empty religion thrust upon them by a hostile and oppressive racial force driven by a biased, white-master-favoring god (lower-case). They are unable to find solace in Christianity due to the poor performance of the believers; thus, racist white Christians made God bad because they rejected their own preached practices.
Copyright and Licensing of My Content
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Location
3082 JFSB
Start Date
19-3-2015 1:15 PM
End Date
19-3-2015 2:45 PM
Included in
Evil Deity: How White Racist Christians Made God Bad
3082 JFSB
Zora Neille Hurston, Stephan Haynes, and Langston Hughes address African-American literature’s relation to traditional, Christian, white-American beliefs. Black literature consistently shows a deep distrust of Christian teachings due to the historic attempts to force blacks into an oppressive ideology of willing servitude. The pressure to conform to an antagonistic religion produced various reactions from African-Americans, including: assimilation, subversion, and even rejection of white Christian beliefs. These black authors struggle to come to terms with a seemingly empty religion thrust upon them by a hostile and oppressive racial force driven by a biased, white-master-favoring god (lower-case). They are unable to find solace in Christianity due to the poor performance of the believers; thus, racist white Christians made God bad because they rejected their own preached practices.