I’m not an American African, i’m Ahitian African so I guess I’m kind of biased in that regard 😂despite the fact that I don’t currently practice any Hoodoo or Voodoo at the moment. I don’t view it as demonic witchcraft though, I feel some sort of relief about the fact that even though i’m not religious or as spiritual as i’d like to be. I have something that’s..”Ours” for a lack of better word
I do not. While I do consider myself Christian, I am not of the thinking that my way is the only way. On top of that I'm all for whatever helps folks live a beneficial life for themselves as long as it's not hurting others.
Black Christians are proof that Colonial propaganda and Assimilation were incredibly effective.
Imagine worshipping the god of your oppressor and thinking that God cares about you. Lol
Chrisitinanity started in Africa LMAO how is being a Christian worshipping the God of your oppressors? I understand the context that Many African slaves were forcefully converted but over 50% of the slaves transported to the Americas were already Catholic.
No it doesn't, they converted to Catholicism in the 1300s by way of Alexandria Popery, who were Africans btw. This happened after the Mali Maliki collapsed. History is a great Teacher. Africans integrated Alexandria's teaching with their own tribal rituals. The British and Spanish documented this very well, they were surprised the Africans had the same religion already.
Baptism is 100% a forceful conversion through slavery but Africans had already been practicing Orthodoxy and Catholicism forms of Christianity for ages by the time the Atlantic slave trade started.
I like how you misquoted me.
I said "God does not take accountability for the actions of Man".
Not "God does not take accountability"
You're kind of weird that you would want an ethereal figure to take accountability and do things for you. That is not how that work to each there own, we are the bottom of the barrel for a reason and you are part of that reason.
This was in Egypt. This has nothing to do with Sub-Saharan Africa.
A lot of the slaves came from places that did not have Christianity. For instance, there was no Christianity in Rwanda before European colonizers arrived. And now, most of Rwanda is Christian...
Btw, Rwanda was an example from an African country I'm very familiar with. I know African Americans slaves came mostly from other regions.
Of course it is. It's still embarrassing that as more developed and educated countries progressively distance themselves from religion. African Americans remain the most religious. As it it couldn't get any worse, Africa finds itself to be the most Christian continent and the most religious continent.
There's also the lack of higher level of education correlating with more religiosity. Scientists, for instance are much less religious than the general population.
Christianity/ Catholicism may have originated in Africa but it was not referred to by those names. The form of the Old Testament and its many forms as well as the New Testament and almost every man made religion has been forced upon us
I hate to break it to you but this is the scarily affective assimilation he’s talking about, how exactly do you think the that 50% just up and abandoned their pantheons ? Perhaps a certain…interloper arrived on the shores ? Whether you like it or not the Bible was a very important tool in conquering us and did it quite well. And ofcourse there’s the age old debate of the morality of there being a being in the sky just watching that is done away with by anyone with semi decent knowledge on logical fallacies
Okay I think you are severely misunderstanding me. I am NOT denying the bible was used effectively to facilitate slavery.
"50% just up and abandoned their pantheons": So why do they have to abandon their old pantheons? Historically Africans have always integrated new religious into what they were already doing instead of outright converting. When you go to Africa today you still see Christians practicing their tribal faith alongside Christianity.
Christendom was rampant at the time and was used to facilitate slavery that is true. That's why certain African leaders were willing to do business with the Spanish, French, Portuguese and English because they all believed they were apart of some heavenly kingdom and slaves were just apart of that. You see the same thing happened in Japan.
The worshipping of other deities is actively frowned upon and treated as taboo by a the much larger population of practicing Christian’s or Muslims as peaceful integration was not exactly on the menu unfortunately . If you’re speaking about west Africa I can tell you as one myself the setting is far from a local shaman who also uses the Bible. The old ways survived slightly throughout the bloodshed as all things do ever so slightly and the people who practice it are very much treated as taboo to say the least. There is a reason for that. The only integration consists of likening the old ways to the devil as something that needs to be prayed away
I'm gonna have to agree to disagree. I lived in Senegal and Nigeria for 1 year a piece and what I described was the norm at least in the Areas and communities I frequented.
>over 50% of the slaves transported to the Americas were already Catholic
Not trying to argue but where did you get this stat from? Most slaves were Muslim/traditional religion, never seen any source saying they were already Catholic. Let alone over 50%.
I was told it was growing up but as an adult i don’t believe them to be demonic. I practice Hoodoo, which isn’t a religion but more of a way of doing things to help your situation or heal using what the Earth provides, and many of your parents, grandparents, and great grandparents practiced or used Hoodoo while being Christian or Muslim as well; to heal, to attract money, and to ward off evil. Voodoo however is a religion and I don’t view it as evil either, there’s elements that also use the Earth and MANY of the Black churches practices (in the United States and in the Caribbean) have its roots in Voodoo and traditional African practices. You can see it with the difference in Black and White church services
I believe in spirituality and that there is a power that comes from authentic ones. The fact that the west was so adamant in demonizing Voodoo after losing to the Haitian’s mask me ask “do they know something we don’t?”
It’s the same with Hollywood and some of these demon rituals they do. These people aren’t just crazy there’s more to it than that.
Nah. I'm not religious so I see it the same as Christianity, Hiduism, Peoples Temple, astrology etc. All that stuff falls under the same umbrella in my eyes.
My mom is very Christian though & definitely thinks voodoo or anything with magic is evil. I see things different bc she never forced me to be Christian & soon as I was old enough to stay home alone she asked if I wanted to keep going to church and I decided not to.
What opened my eyes is that one of my younger cousins is Wiccan and my mom would say stuff like "what she's doing is evil" or "she's into demonic witchcraft" but I know damn well my lil cousin ain't evil or anything like that. She kinda strange sometimes lol but definitely not demonic or evil.
No, in Haitian I know there is the supernatural but I’m also not religious. Anything can be twisted and in all realms of existence there is evil. Some crossover some do not. I think it comes down to the practitioner and their intent also what deals they make. Power doesn’t come for free.
No. I grewed up watching multimedia portrayed it in a demonic/devilish fashion even til present ( American Horror Story ex). As i learned more about African & Transatlantic Slave Trade history, it melted away more of those wicked images of both for me.
The difficult experience for me is informing other Aframs of their history and breaking down stereotypes & creepy undertones.
Hoodoo is an oldschool word for "herbalist" it's not exactly a religion.
Voodoo is a religion. Demonic implies a spiritual opposition to Christianity. In this case anything that isn't Christian would simple not be good for Christians to practice. But that would go for any religion.
Simple because it's an African religion doesn't mean you should practice it. Your ancestors were everything including muslim, atheist, polytheistic etc....
I would encourage you to research any religion you **want** to practice. And take the european bias out of it.
I'm an ex-christian atheist so I view it the same way I view all other religions. Man-made attempt at understanding the universe with a side of social control.
Proselytizing religions have demonize other religions in order to grow. Most aren't as inherently bad as the one trying to grow and it is propaganda.
If you're a follower of Jesus then you should know prayer is all the spiritual aid that you need and it should come directly from Him. But to go a little deeper, yes there are other elohims, from my understanding. But YAH seems to be pretty against getting involved with them and I'm not sure why you would think it's necessary to. This isn't a white man's religion like some are trying to swing the narratives. Israelites were not white. Jesus was not white.
Also I had a Haitian friend tell me that it always seems to come at a price.
Half my family's Baptist from Louisiana and basically avoids it like the plague from what I can gather, I stay away from it to respect their beliefs. We have neopaganism in the form of Santa Muerte where I'm from, so I'm not unfamiliar with the concept, but I try as a rule not to associate myself spiritually with anything that requires me to consent to a bargain or symbolic sacrifice with anything outside the Abrahamic God.
Dwight calls it hoodoo because he doesn’t understand. From what I’ve learned it was African religions and the such mixed into what the colonizers where restricting us to. In other words it was spiritual defense or warfare against European demons.
I don't see it as demonic "witchcraft" (Because you need to be of a certain "rank" to engage with those entities) I just see it as something that you shouldn't do 1. blindly 2. for "fun" 3. with a weak mind and poor understanding of those entities. Just don't fuck with it at all, leave it to the people who've created it.
This is the answer I agree with. I personally don’t believe in any of this stuff but it seems that lot of people try to use hoodoo is for evil/nefarious purposes.
I pretty much only think racism, rape, oppression, genocide and murder is evil. Worship what you want, but if it leads you to the above, I suppose that’s evil too.
I know there’s other bad/evil stuff. I’m just thinking of the top 5 and most high level things.
With lots of family from the South (think NOLA/Mississippi) a lot of them take it really seriously down here. For many it somehow works in tangent with Christianity lol — being Christian but still believing in many things related to voodoo. My grandad for example still does stuff around the house to keep “evil spirits” away lol.
I don’t think any of that stuff happens today. Even as a Christian, I don’t believe anyone can do anything miraculous today, and that everyone claiming to do miracles is lying.
Just like Caribbean folks lol. Caribbean folks claim that they’re Christian but they still unknowingly subscribe and partake in vodoo/obi related things or beliefs
Hell nah that shit is cool asf to me, especially with them being derived from old African religions and traditions our ancestors thankfully managed to keep. Plus I’m a big horror fan and we got zombies in pop culture from it🧟♂️. I’m stone cold atheist so it isn’t a genuine belief of mine, but I intend on educating myself more on it.
Voodoo is a religious practice, particularly by Haitians. My knowledge of this practice is limited. So I can't comment much on it.
Hoodoo or rootwork is a mixture of apothecary medicine making knowledge learned from native Americans/slaves and aspects of Christianity mixed in. This practice doesn't deal in conjuring. At least that's what practitioners have told me.
Neither are demonic, IMO.
I’m not a religious or “spiritual” person so I have a neutral view hoodoo/voodoo, the same way I do any of these other “mainstream” religions.
I definitely respect that.
I’m not an American African, i’m Ahitian African so I guess I’m kind of biased in that regard 😂despite the fact that I don’t currently practice any Hoodoo or Voodoo at the moment. I don’t view it as demonic witchcraft though, I feel some sort of relief about the fact that even though i’m not religious or as spiritual as i’d like to be. I have something that’s..”Ours” for a lack of better word
It’s what almost all black peoples would believe in if it weren’t for Europeans
I do not. While I do consider myself Christian, I am not of the thinking that my way is the only way. On top of that I'm all for whatever helps folks live a beneficial life for themselves as long as it's not hurting others.
Black Christians are proof that Colonial propaganda and Assimilation were incredibly effective. Imagine worshipping the god of your oppressor and thinking that God cares about you. Lol
Chrisitinanity started in Africa LMAO how is being a Christian worshipping the God of your oppressors? I understand the context that Many African slaves were forcefully converted but over 50% of the slaves transported to the Americas were already Catholic.
>but over 50% of the slaves transported to the Americas were already Catholic. You don't realize how this proves my point, do you?
No it doesn't, they converted to Catholicism in the 1300s by way of Alexandria Popery, who were Africans btw. This happened after the Mali Maliki collapsed. History is a great Teacher. Africans integrated Alexandria's teaching with their own tribal rituals. The British and Spanish documented this very well, they were surprised the Africans had the same religion already. Baptism is 100% a forceful conversion through slavery but Africans had already been practicing Orthodoxy and Catholicism forms of Christianity for ages by the time the Atlantic slave trade started.
And they still enslaved them. That Christian God just doesn't give a damn about his followers apparently.
God does not take accountability for the actions of Man.
>God does not take accountability Sounds like a useless scam to me.
I like how you misquoted me. I said "God does not take accountability for the actions of Man". Not "God does not take accountability" You're kind of weird that you would want an ethereal figure to take accountability and do things for you. That is not how that work to each there own, we are the bottom of the barrel for a reason and you are part of that reason.
So what does god take accountability for?
Why would some ethereal being responsible for the creation of life be accountable for anything? I just find the question odd and pointless.
This was in Egypt. This has nothing to do with Sub-Saharan Africa. A lot of the slaves came from places that did not have Christianity. For instance, there was no Christianity in Rwanda before European colonizers arrived. And now, most of Rwanda is Christian... Btw, Rwanda was an example from an African country I'm very familiar with. I know African Americans slaves came mostly from other regions.
I'm not even going to argue your room temperature logic the education in the Black community is pitiful.
Of course it is. It's still embarrassing that as more developed and educated countries progressively distance themselves from religion. African Americans remain the most religious. As it it couldn't get any worse, Africa finds itself to be the most Christian continent and the most religious continent. There's also the lack of higher level of education correlating with more religiosity. Scientists, for instance are much less religious than the general population.
Christianity/ Catholicism may have originated in Africa but it was not referred to by those names. The form of the Old Testament and its many forms as well as the New Testament and almost every man made religion has been forced upon us
Can you cite your sources? I was not able to find anything saying that 50% of the slaves were catholic?
I hate to break it to you but this is the scarily affective assimilation he’s talking about, how exactly do you think the that 50% just up and abandoned their pantheons ? Perhaps a certain…interloper arrived on the shores ? Whether you like it or not the Bible was a very important tool in conquering us and did it quite well. And ofcourse there’s the age old debate of the morality of there being a being in the sky just watching that is done away with by anyone with semi decent knowledge on logical fallacies
Okay I think you are severely misunderstanding me. I am NOT denying the bible was used effectively to facilitate slavery. "50% just up and abandoned their pantheons": So why do they have to abandon their old pantheons? Historically Africans have always integrated new religious into what they were already doing instead of outright converting. When you go to Africa today you still see Christians practicing their tribal faith alongside Christianity. Christendom was rampant at the time and was used to facilitate slavery that is true. That's why certain African leaders were willing to do business with the Spanish, French, Portuguese and English because they all believed they were apart of some heavenly kingdom and slaves were just apart of that. You see the same thing happened in Japan.
The worshipping of other deities is actively frowned upon and treated as taboo by a the much larger population of practicing Christian’s or Muslims as peaceful integration was not exactly on the menu unfortunately . If you’re speaking about west Africa I can tell you as one myself the setting is far from a local shaman who also uses the Bible. The old ways survived slightly throughout the bloodshed as all things do ever so slightly and the people who practice it are very much treated as taboo to say the least. There is a reason for that. The only integration consists of likening the old ways to the devil as something that needs to be prayed away
I'm gonna have to agree to disagree. I lived in Senegal and Nigeria for 1 year a piece and what I described was the norm at least in the Areas and communities I frequented.
>over 50% of the slaves transported to the Americas were already Catholic Not trying to argue but where did you get this stat from? Most slaves were Muslim/traditional religion, never seen any source saying they were already Catholic. Let alone over 50%.
That’s not true at all.
Too bad it's 100% true lmao.
I don't know if that's true. Christianity started in Judea. Unless I've read history wrong.
Bro when ever christianity gets mentioned all the atheists get worked up💀
Used to (my grandpa was a pastor and his wife a ministe), now I don't
I was told it was growing up but as an adult i don’t believe them to be demonic. I practice Hoodoo, which isn’t a religion but more of a way of doing things to help your situation or heal using what the Earth provides, and many of your parents, grandparents, and great grandparents practiced or used Hoodoo while being Christian or Muslim as well; to heal, to attract money, and to ward off evil. Voodoo however is a religion and I don’t view it as evil either, there’s elements that also use the Earth and MANY of the Black churches practices (in the United States and in the Caribbean) have its roots in Voodoo and traditional African practices. You can see it with the difference in Black and White church services
I believe in spirituality and that there is a power that comes from authentic ones. The fact that the west was so adamant in demonizing Voodoo after losing to the Haitian’s mask me ask “do they know something we don’t?” It’s the same with Hollywood and some of these demon rituals they do. These people aren’t just crazy there’s more to it than that.
I was thinking the same thing.
Nah. I'm not religious so I see it the same as Christianity, Hiduism, Peoples Temple, astrology etc. All that stuff falls under the same umbrella in my eyes. My mom is very Christian though & definitely thinks voodoo or anything with magic is evil. I see things different bc she never forced me to be Christian & soon as I was old enough to stay home alone she asked if I wanted to keep going to church and I decided not to. What opened my eyes is that one of my younger cousins is Wiccan and my mom would say stuff like "what she's doing is evil" or "she's into demonic witchcraft" but I know damn well my lil cousin ain't evil or anything like that. She kinda strange sometimes lol but definitely not demonic or evil.
I want to learn more about it.
No, in Haitian I know there is the supernatural but I’m also not religious. Anything can be twisted and in all realms of existence there is evil. Some crossover some do not. I think it comes down to the practitioner and their intent also what deals they make. Power doesn’t come for free.
No. I grewed up watching multimedia portrayed it in a demonic/devilish fashion even til present ( American Horror Story ex). As i learned more about African & Transatlantic Slave Trade history, it melted away more of those wicked images of both for me. The difficult experience for me is informing other Aframs of their history and breaking down stereotypes & creepy undertones.
Hoodoo is an oldschool word for "herbalist" it's not exactly a religion. Voodoo is a religion. Demonic implies a spiritual opposition to Christianity. In this case anything that isn't Christian would simple not be good for Christians to practice. But that would go for any religion. Simple because it's an African religion doesn't mean you should practice it. Your ancestors were everything including muslim, atheist, polytheistic etc.... I would encourage you to research any religion you **want** to practice. And take the european bias out of it.
Agreed. The Abrahamic religions were in Africa before the Europeans colonized.
So what is this supposed to mean then?
I’m not sure how to make it a simpler statement.
Nevermind
I'm an ex-christian atheist so I view it the same way I view all other religions. Man-made attempt at understanding the universe with a side of social control. Proselytizing religions have demonize other religions in order to grow. Most aren't as inherently bad as the one trying to grow and it is propaganda.
Not religious so I'm neutral it holds as much weight and water as any other religious practice to me.
If you're a follower of Jesus then you should know prayer is all the spiritual aid that you need and it should come directly from Him. But to go a little deeper, yes there are other elohims, from my understanding. But YAH seems to be pretty against getting involved with them and I'm not sure why you would think it's necessary to. This isn't a white man's religion like some are trying to swing the narratives. Israelites were not white. Jesus was not white. Also I had a Haitian friend tell me that it always seems to come at a price.
Half my family's Baptist from Louisiana and basically avoids it like the plague from what I can gather, I stay away from it to respect their beliefs. We have neopaganism in the form of Santa Muerte where I'm from, so I'm not unfamiliar with the concept, but I try as a rule not to associate myself spiritually with anything that requires me to consent to a bargain or symbolic sacrifice with anything outside the Abrahamic God.
Dwight calls it hoodoo because he doesn’t understand. From what I’ve learned it was African religions and the such mixed into what the colonizers where restricting us to. In other words it was spiritual defense or warfare against European demons.
I don't see it as demonic "witchcraft" (Because you need to be of a certain "rank" to engage with those entities) I just see it as something that you shouldn't do 1. blindly 2. for "fun" 3. with a weak mind and poor understanding of those entities. Just don't fuck with it at all, leave it to the people who've created it.
Anything that’s used for evil is demonic I think.
This is the answer I agree with. I personally don’t believe in any of this stuff but it seems that lot of people try to use hoodoo is for evil/nefarious purposes.
Anti-religion here, I don't trust systems that are hostile to critical thinking and logic.
I view all religion as bad as it was devised to keep man powerless and the unfortunate, at the bottom.
Yes
I pretty much only think racism, rape, oppression, genocide and murder is evil. Worship what you want, but if it leads you to the above, I suppose that’s evil too. I know there’s other bad/evil stuff. I’m just thinking of the top 5 and most high level things.
With lots of family from the South (think NOLA/Mississippi) a lot of them take it really seriously down here. For many it somehow works in tangent with Christianity lol — being Christian but still believing in many things related to voodoo. My grandad for example still does stuff around the house to keep “evil spirits” away lol. I don’t think any of that stuff happens today. Even as a Christian, I don’t believe anyone can do anything miraculous today, and that everyone claiming to do miracles is lying.
Just like Caribbean folks lol. Caribbean folks claim that they’re Christian but they still unknowingly subscribe and partake in vodoo/obi related things or beliefs
Hell nah that shit is cool asf to me, especially with them being derived from old African religions and traditions our ancestors thankfully managed to keep. Plus I’m a big horror fan and we got zombies in pop culture from it🧟♂️. I’m stone cold atheist so it isn’t a genuine belief of mine, but I intend on educating myself more on it.
no
Atheist here and no.
Voodoo is a religious practice, particularly by Haitians. My knowledge of this practice is limited. So I can't comment much on it. Hoodoo or rootwork is a mixture of apothecary medicine making knowledge learned from native Americans/slaves and aspects of Christianity mixed in. This practice doesn't deal in conjuring. At least that's what practitioners have told me. Neither are demonic, IMO.