Easter Sunday has just passed, and many Christians are still celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The resurrection of Jesus is the basis for many Christians beliefs, but for young black millennials, some are calling Christian believer’s bluff. Black millennials are straying from Christianity for many reasons. One is because Christianity is the “white man’s religion” and was forced on black people as slaves. As many black people are learning more of their African roots, they are beginning to question the history of Christianity.
Most, however, don’t know Christianity was first brought to Africa before Europe. In the New Testament of the Bible, there is
a story of an Ethiopian Eunuch sharing the gospel with a queen of Ethiopia.
Most black people of this generation are still upset with the depiction of white Jesus.
During slavery, many slave
masters took the word of God out of context. Throughout the Bible, slavery is brought up. In
a particular verse, instructions are given for slaves to obey their earthly masters in the same way they would fear and obey God. Slave masters used that text to their advantage to make slaves more submissive.
There is also language in the Bible to enforce submission of women. With the commonality of strong, independent,
black women, that sort of submissiveness simply cannot apply.
Christianity with black millennials is a hit or miss; some black students identify with Christ and their relationship with Him, and others want nothing to do with him. A large portion of young black people were forced to go to church by their family and weren’t able to experience a genuine relationship with Christ.
This is what Minister Neeko Williams, senior professional theatre student, feels is one of the problems. Williams was called to be a minister a month before his
18th birthday. Before Williams was called to teach the word of God, he saw that some preachers were not speaking clearly to our current generation.
The current faith tradition does not always align with current millennials. This is another reason that black students stray from Christianity: millennials feel left out by the church and that they won’t be accepted.
At 22, Williams is simply concerned with what he calls a “culture of Christ-lovers.” People that love Jesus and what God has done for them, not necessarily all of the rules.
In the end, black people have shaped faith in God and Jesus in every part of their culture, because who can relate a black person relate to more than Jesus?
The persecution and hurt that Christ experienced is the same type of hurt that every black person has experienced time and time again.
