Norm R. Allen Jr

Humanist growth in the Black community

Humanism is crucial to the development of the Black community. And because religious fanaticism and pseudo-science are becoming increasingly prevalent and acceptable among many blacks, humanism must become a more attractive alternative.

According to a first-ever national survey of black churches conducted by Mark Chaves, a sociologist at the University of Notre Dame, and published in the Journal of the Scientific Study of Religion, the black church is still the core for social, economic and political progress in America's black community.

But black religion has always been a disturbing paradox. About two years ago, half of the members of the Branch Dravidian sect were black. Before the tragedy in Waco, Texas, in which more than 80 men, women and children died in a raging fire, an estimated 4O blacks out of 120 members were part of the group.

Nation of Islam leader Minister Louis Farrakhan repeatedly says that he will come to power one day because it is the will of Allah. He tells thrilled black audiences that when this blessed day arrives, all rapists will be put to death. He wholeheartedly endorses the Islamic practice of amputation for thieves, and has no use whatsoever for such pesky concepts as cruel and unusual punishment.

Pseudo-science is still gaining popularity in many black academic circles. Some Afrocentrists are promoting the idea that the Ancient Egyptians were able to move large stones for the construction of pyramids via psychokinesis Some also maintain that Ancient Egyptians were flying in airplanes.

Melanism -- or the belief that blacks are superior to whites because the former have higher concentrations of the pigment melanin - is popular among many Afrocentrists. Dr. Frances Cress Welsing, author of a collection of essays known as The Isis Papers, has developed the "Uri Geller theory", in which she argues that the alleged psychic Uri Geller's paranormal powers are due to the high concentration of melanin in his hair and eyes. And in The Isis Papers she writes:

In 1987, at the first Melanin Conference, I discussed the Cress Theory on the George Washington Carver Phenomenon, suggesting that the skin melanocytes of this very Black-skinned scientist {high level concentration of melanin skin pigment) enabled him to communicate with the energy frequencies emanating from plants. Thus he was able to learn their secrets and purposes.

For these reasons and more, humanism, with its emphases on free inquiry and critical thinking, must become better known in the black community. The good that comes from religion in no way nullifies religion's harmful ideas.

Fortunately, many black humanist/activists continue to make a positive impact on the lives of millions.

Faye Wattleton has dedicated much of her life to defending women's reproductive rights, despite the many death threats that she received while she was the National President of the Planned Parenthood Federation. And despite the claim that Planned Parenthood was set up as an instrument of genocide against black people, Wattleton performed her duties admirably and courageously.

Michael Zinzun is a leading grass roots activist in Los Angeles. He has steadfastly led the fight against police brutality in that city; and he has helped to ease tensions between the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) and the black community.

Norman Hill, a member of African Americans for Humanism, and head of the A. Philip Randolph Institute in New York City, is a leading human rights activist. In 1991, along with then NAACP executive director Benjamin Hooks, SCLC President Joseph Lowry, Congress woman Eleanor Holmes Norton and others, he helped organise the African American Leadership Committee for Workplace Fairness, to support African American workers.

James Forman, who will deliver the keynote address of the 15th annual Free Inquiry Conference to be held in Orlando, Florida in 1993, heads the Unemployment and Poverty Action Committee and the Black America News Service. During the 1960s he came to fame as the Executive Secretary of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), one of American's leading civil rights organisations. And on May 4, 1969, he went to a church service in New York's Riverside Church and read his Black Manifesto statement that demanded $500,000,000 in reparations for the racist practices employed in White Christian churches and Jewish synagogues. This incident was featured on the front page of The New York Times the next day.

But organised humanism is also making inroads into the black community. African Americans for Humanism (AAH) has been featured in over 100 newspapers and on scores of radio stations throughout the US, Africa and Australia.

The Harlem Atheist Association, headed by Eugene Charrington, has been featured in New York City area media. The group meets monthly, and membership is growing slowly but surely.

There are now humanist groups in Curacao, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Zaire and other predominantly black countries, There is even a group of Africans starting a humanist group in Croatia.

As we head into the 21st century, organised humanism will continue to grow among people of African descent; and religion and pseudo-science will be continually questioned and challenged.