Texas’ Appleby Baptist Church Pushes Racist Doctrine

[Phillip McCleod]

http://www.splcenter.org/blog/2013/04/25/texas-appleby-baptist-church-pushes-racist-doctrine/

“The curse of Ham,” an old-time Biblical (mis)interpretation used to vilify black people and justify slavery and laws against racial intermarriage, is still alive and spreading bigotry in the United States.

The Appleby Baptist Church in Nacogdoches, Texas, is among this country’s scattered, independent fundamentalist churches still openly promoting the idea that the Biblical Noah pronounced a curse on descendants of his son, Ham. Ham had sexually molested Noah as he slept in a drunken stupor, and Noah realized it, the story goes. The curse ultimately fell on Canaan, Noah’s grandson, whose descendants were black and fated to be an underclass of slaves, according to this version of the Bible, which has been widely discredited by mainstream religious scholars.

But the canard is trumpeted loud and clear in an online statement of conviction by Appleby leaders. The East Texas church, 90 miles from Shreveport, La., is “a bit of a throwback, but these people are still out there,” Rachel Tabachnick, a fellow at the think tank Political Research Associates, told Hatewatch. She researches the impact of the religious right on politics and society.

For hundreds of years, the so-called curse of Ham was frequently taught by religious leaders as the source for racial differences, and in more recent times was seized on as a Biblical excuse for segregation and slavery, said Tabachnick. “There’s been a shift, and you don’t often see churches that are this forthright now, but the underlying theme is still there in fundamentalist holdout churches.”

[SpartanDem]

1. Not surprised there has long been a strain of racism and bigotry in fundamentalism

while most churches are not this racist there still major issues lurking. You just have to look at some of the most popular homeschooling curriculums they're at minimum very patronizing to non white European cultures to . When you read in a "history" book that colonialism was a good thing and slavery in America wasn't that bad, it goes a long way in explaining these peoples politics. The fundie view of history is one that basically designed to defend white christian privilege.



http://wonkette.com/482983/fun-with-christianists-things-you-can-learn-in-a-christian-world-history-cultures-textbook-part-1

http://leavingfundamentalism.wordpress.com/2012/05/04/accelerated-christian-education-and-racism/

[Phillip McCleod]

2. yeh they've reformulated protestant theology..

..in such a way that white americans are somehow the 'chosen people'. even when it's not explicit in the dogma, like it is with this vile bunch, the dog-whistles are often there and sometimes pop up in the oddest places.

i've had liberal new agers tell me that aliens put each race on each continent, and didn't understand why i was offended by their childish woo.

it runs the gamut. some people use religion and it's mercurial moralism to justify their in-group, others like to use it to condemn the out-group. some do both.

[okasha]

3. It occurs to me, rather belatedly,

that one of the white fundamentalists' reasons for opposing evolution is that our mitochondrial DNA tells us that we all came out of Africa, and not too long ago.

[Phillip McCleod]

4. ooooh.. bet that *burns them up*.

explains a lot.

[skepticscott]

6. I'll wager that

at least 99.9% of white fundamentalists haven't the first clue what mitochondrial DNA even is, let alone what it shows. Their thought and understanding does not go that deep, on anything, frankly. They oppose evolution because it contradicts a literal interpretation of Genesis, or because someone a few IQ points higher has told them it does, and that accepting evolution is sinful and godless.

[struggle4progress]

5. Those who want to enjoy retching and puking can find some of these nitwits' views

on the church website, notably Interracial Marriages in Light of the Scriptures in the "Articles" section

I won't link to it, but I'll provide some illustrative emetic quotes:

... Bible boundaries include faith as well as race ... From Shem descended the Jews, from Japheth the Gentiles, from Ham the servant class ... Science recognizes three classes as Mongoloid – Jew, Caucasian – Gentiles and Negroid – Ham. All other races come from crossbreeding between these three, as well as a mixture of crossbreeds among themselves ... In fact, the proof of the presence of God among the Israelites was the absence of the black skinned folk of Canaan ... Satan wants to eliminate color by interracial marriages. Someone will ask why do we have to see color when we look at one another? Why can’t we just see each other as people? The same reason you see a Poodle, German Shepherd, Beagle, etc. God made us different and set the bounds. You don’t get thoroughbreds by taking the fences down. You get thoroughbreds by putting the fences up ... Interracial relationships bring much heartache ... Before the coming of Christ, there will be many more half‐breed producing marriages that will, in turn, produce more hate and envy ... There are many who believe the curse upon Canaan did not affect all blacks. If that is true, someone needs to inform the Black Religious Leaders of America, they certainly do not know it. Someone needs to inform the Black celebrities of the entertainment world, they do not know it. The Black athletics of the pro‐ball world do not know it. The Black politicians do not know it. The common working class Blacks certainly does not know it ...

[LuvNewcastle]

7. I heard that shit in church when I was growing up.

Deep down, most of them know that racism is wrong, so they pick out verses in the Bible to justify their bigotry. The same goes for gay people and anybody else they don't like. If there's anything I've learned over the years about people, it's that they'll go to incredible lengths to justify things that they know are wrong and they are incredibly loyal to those who tell them what they want to hear. That is at the root of America's problems today.