The BN Village - View Single Post - The Afrocentric Atheist...Can it Exist???

Shemsi en Tehuti · (#5 (**permalink**))

Quote:

Originally Posted by Afriki

By Afrocentrism I'm assuming you mean one who is African-minded, as opposed to the original definition of the word which, ironically, happened to gain its inception in the Western world by blacks who practiced it as an attempt to interpret Western civilization through the eyes of Africans--as best they could considering that many of them were unable to trace their roots to a specific African group--and to artificially recreate an African viewpoint (allbeit out of a necessity of the times, so I am not downing Afrocentrism) without in depth interaction with continental African communities and especially to recreate it specifically as a response to Western thought leaves the authenticity of Afrocentrism itself indefinitely more suspect than atheism could ever be.

Your analysis of the authenticity of Afrocentrism is deeply flawed. Indeed, Afrocentric thought did a lot of maturing in the Diaspora, but Continental Africans (Nkrumah, Diop, Lumumba, Chinweizu, etc.) are integral to its development as well which made it a Pan-African endeavor. Even as early as Queen Nzinga Mbandi of Central Africa who fought undisputed and undefeated against the European enslavers (1582 - 1663) said:

"Being baptized into Christianity was surrendering your soul and body, not to Christ, but to the white man. A prisoners-of-war and the church were one and the same".

Then if you look at the stories of the Mossi Empire resistance to European and Arab cultural imposition, Yaa Asantewaa and the Asante tribe fighting against the British, amongst countless other testiments up to the end of colonization through today, one could only conclude that Afrocentric thought indeed started in Africa. We in the Diaspora were simply born into a more privileged position to further develop those ideas.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Afriki

You point out, as possible proof of your theory, that there are no founded African tribes that practice atheism. Well if you can show me an atheistic Western/European nation (either past or present) in which Atheism was the accepted societal belief (as opposed to the exception) steeped in tradition and embedded in the culture then I will accept your notion that the absence of an atheistic African tribe is unequivocal proof that atheism could only be a Western conception.

Sister, here is exactly what I said in the thread-starter:

"In professing this, a brother came to me and said I must be unaware of the Tiv tribe constituting 2-3% of Nigeria's population. I have been unable to find information on atheist African tribes, the Tiv or anyone else, but that doesn't mean it isn't out there."

So I didn't say the absence of proof means it doesn't exist. However, the cultural conception of God in Africa was that the One Supreme Being was all the combined energies in the Universe, which included the sun, plants, people, and so forth. Therefore, saying "There is no God" makes just about as much sense as saying "You don't exist", because man is intrinsically apart of God.

Oh, and by the way, Russia under Stalin was most pronouncedly an Atheist regime. Atheism, due to the Indo-European perspective of God outside of nature, was resident in Greek writing and as early as ancient India after the Indo-Europeans/Whites/Aryans invaded the Indus Valley to create the Hindu religion and caste system. Before that, India was settled only by migrant Africans out of East Africa where the Ganges River was named after an Ethiopian general.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Afriki

Just because one's society does not allow atheism to be defined, or does not make it conducive for a person to openly identify as such within their community does not mean it is not "logically possible" for one to believe in such a way...which is why I created the thread I did insinuating that it is less acceptable within the Black community for someone to openly identify as Atheist.

I think here lies your problem. It isn't about societal constructs, as Africa had many different societies, with different customs, therefore different societal constructs. However, there is an overarching culture in Africa, just as East Asians have an overarching culture, as do Indo-European peoples throughout Europe-proper and West Asia (Middle East). Whether or not something is "possible" lies solely in how it is defined.

If you define God outside of Nature, then yes, Atheism is a sound and logical conclusion one can come to. However, that particular definition of God is solely an Indo-European invention. At the same time, if God is defined as being One and the same with Nature and the Universe, then it is logically impossible to then say God doesn't exist. If God didn't exist, then you wouldn't even be able to make such a declaration, because you wouldn't exist either.

So yes, you would be a loon if you accept the traditional African definition of God, yet deny its existence. If so, then how are you talking to me right now then?