When did Christianity become "White"?

I thought I already mentioned The Talmud...

Actually, each the major sects also have a set of Hadiths.

...I...like...The...what book Muslims use? That's...no one is even arguing that.

Seriously? We're condensing what cultures made up of millions of people to a word each?

edited 31st Aug '11 8:33:55 PM by Justice4243

I would like to apologize to anyone who feels offended at the stuff I say. I sometimes act like a real jerk, and just wanted to let you all know that I think you all are great people, and I enjoy getting to argue with people as intelligent as you guys.

going to bed now

edited 31st Aug '11 9:04:51 PM by Jimmmyman10

I don't want to interrupt your conversation, but please stay on topic, and make a new thread for comparing/contrasting the Abrahamic beliefs. It's an interesting topic and I would prefer that it has its own place for it.

And for the record, I'm not saying Christianity is white; it shouldn't be. I'm talking about what's up with the historical (and possibly ongoing) invocation of "white Christian" or "white Protestant" culture.

I think it's ongoing only in the sense that the idea that America may not be a mainly white nation scares some people, and it just so happens that these are the same people who are the quickest to throw Bible verses around to support their views. Also, it should go without saying that they're predominantly white. If I where to make an educated guess it's probably coming from the largest Protestant group in America whose had a history of not really having many black members cause blacks probably didn't want second class worshipers. Considering it became "Southern" Baptist Convention after it split with the "North" over issues of slavery, this really isn't that surprising. However, recent trends point towards the group apologizing for their racist background and attempting to diversify.

So, to answer the question directly in terms of Protestant America. It's not so much that Christianity became "White", it's that that racist members of the largest Protestant group in America splinted off into their own "club" circa the time of the civil war and had the most members (partially because the group had started in the south anyway). They're now trying to distance themselves from that view and now have boost 20% membership of ethically diverse people. Somewhere around half of that is black. People supporting a "white, Christian nation" are likely going to find it harder to get popular support as the groups who original support this idea get smaller and smaller.

Other fascinating facts I found:

Second largest Baptist convention in the country? Mostly black. Blacks are also WAY more likely to be Protestant than whites. The whites still tend to go Protestant in this country over Catholic.

edited 31st Aug '11 11:29:29 PM by Justice4243

1. Muslims believe he is prophet and messiah.

2. Christianity is mostly based off the new testment while Judaism is based off the Tanakh, Talmud, Mishna, and etc.

3. No offense but the whole culture thing was just stupid.

4. Different religious ideas about the same god not ideas about differnt gods or as a wise man once said two people have the same boss just because they disagree as to the plans of the boss doesn't mean that they have two different bosses. And just because perhaps they disagree as to the boss's will doesn't mean that they each work for different bosses. Disagreements as to the plans, desires, or doings of the boss doesn't equate to disagreement as to the essence of [the mahut of] who the boss is.

Sorry for this quick derail

It never did become EUROPEAN, just ask the ethiopians(seriously, they made a huge, awsome chruch in the ground, about a thosand years ago). Some people just think of it that way, but its wrong. every ethnic group has some Christians, be there Europeans, Africans, Chinese, Arab, ect..

I don't think anybody ever denied the existence of Arab, Asian, Ethiopian Christians, etc. This topic is asking why Christianity is mostly associated with white people.

Uh is it really that difficult? White people have been very influential so the white versions of Christianity are often promoted. Also white people have done the most active proselytizing.

I think its because of American Media as most US Christians are white.

They seem to be be the most numerous AND most vocal. Save the occasional Reverend Al Sharpton (also Baptist).

And if only they realized that you generally need all three for it to work properly...

Yeah, Christianity = white in the US because that's what the media tells us it is. No more, no less, at it's most basic...

I concur with the media POV. Most Jesus movies I've seen had an All White Cast.

Outside America, I think most people have two notions of what Christianity is like in the states. On one hand, there's the mostly white televangelist sort, who is more interested in fleecing their congregation and regurgitating rightist rhetoric than spreading the gospel. On the other, there's the black Baptist churches, which are usually lead by an insanely passionate minister and filled with singing, dancing and general leaping about (see The Blues Brothers for an example).

That's just the media stereotyping thing. Foreigners aren't dumb, we know that American churches are pretty much the same as our own.

The fact Christianity is white lead/leads to attempt to make Islam black. The whole black Muslims issue. There's also black "everything but Christianity": Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Humanism, etc.

Indeed!

Do you mean race-wise or Black-and-White Morality-wise?

Because this thread is about the former. It’d be pretty hard to paint most non- Christian religions as “black” given the diversity of racial make-up.

edited 3rd Sep '11 2:49:39 PM by Justice4243

Black Muslims is a common expression.

Ah, So you did mean race.

I think America has a bigger problem with assuming all Muslims are Arab as opposed to thinking they’re all black.

The “white” Churches are already having to publically distance themselves from racial segregation that’s happened in the Churches’ past, so I don’t think the attempt would be a very well received one outside of the smallest of sects.

Now if, for whatever reason, we wanted to talk about "White" Christianity in Europe and say, how this way of thinking is being used against Muslims in France , I'd be all for it.

Though I may not have as much to contribute given I'm not as familiar with the goings on in Europe.

Since when was Islam seen as a black religion? IIRC, Arabs and Muslims in particular dont like Black people.

In America it's primarily seen as being populated by Arabs, but looking at a map◊ of it's spread, we see a sizable portion of the Muslim world is in Africa.

It's probably down to Malcolm X.

Predominantly black Muslim groups in America definitely are of that variety, but I think the groups have largely been forgotten or aren't payed attention too because Americans are much more focused on the middle-east and Muslims from that part of the world. Black Muslims make up at most around a quarter of the Muslim population in America.

This can be considerably different in some European countries where Muslims have immigrated from Africa because of work opportunities.

^ Malcolm X was an iconic historical figure, though. And of course, he didn't stay Nation of Islam all his life, since he converted to the more mainstream Sunni Islam later in life.

I think American black Christian churches are more iconic than black Muslim Americans, though. Not sure.