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What is the role of religion in the formation of cultural identity?

In this essay I will show that African culture was the foundation that provided the key components for not only the formation of all five of the worlds’ major religions but also the formation of all subsequent cultural identities based on, or influenced by, these religions.

In order to answer such a complex yet simple question thoroughly & comprehensively, it is essential to look at not only the words and phrases used, but the inferences they induce. Without doing so, one may be enticed to over- simplify the situation because the question does not provide a context. In order to apply that context, further questions must be asked, answered and unfortunately, assumptions made. These are questions such as; what is religion? What is culture? What is identity? How and why are “race”, “ethnicity”, religion and culture interlinked? Maybe the most crucial question of all is: what was the role of cultural identity in the formation of religion, as hue-man identity and culture, obviously pre-date all of the current 5 major world religions?

To answer this question truthfully one must also have knowledge of the true and un-biased story of world religion. The question does not clarify what religion and who (which social group) is using the religion? Many inferences are made such as “ethnicity” and “race” being inextricably linked to, or, synonymous with, culture although this is completely inaccurate as can be easily shown with the example of the popular notion or ideology maintained of “British culture”. It is in no way correct to equate the “multi-cultural” melting pot of global customs, lifestyles and produce that make up, yet circumscribe, life in Britain as a British culture. Yet British culture is sold the world over as an Anglo-Saxon, or British creation. In fact, in light of recent projects to decode the human genome and DNA structure, many academics like Craig R. Prentiss (CP) have gone so far to say that “the classifications that are popularly referred to as “races” are rendered almost meaningless .” This is particularly relevant as he goes on to note that although “most scholars have long recognized” this fact, leading to calls for, and in some academic disciplines, notably anthropology, an “elimination (of race) as a category of analysis.” However the reality has been nothing but a shifting of the goalposts. That is, to say “race is not a scientific category, it’s a cultural one.” like-wise religion, many scholars such as Dr. John Henrik Clarke have pointed out that all 5 of the Worlds’ major religions found their ideological and “spiritual” foundations and myths in Ancient Kemet (currently known as Egypt) where, importantly, there was no formal “religion”.

Due to the scope and extent of the crimes against hue-mankind committed by, in the name of, and/or for religion it will not be possible to go into any kind of depth regarding these issues, but in order to honestly and accurately answer this question it must be done. What is also required is an in-depth examination of the perspectives in which religion is bought and sold, explicitly the complex socio-political reasoning behind a social group accepting or rejecting a religion. In doing so it is also necessary to look at religion as a weapon. One must investigate religion’s use as a form of and/or method to morally justify and to enforce the de-humanization of one social group by another. One must take the time to look at, evaluate and question the validity of the insidious pretext of “Jihad”, “crusades” and “missions” to “save souls”, as tantamount to the type of “help” and “aid” offered to the so called “third-world” by the World Bank, IMF, G8 and other supposedly “developed” nations. The direct link between the moral justification of slavery, slaves, their masters and world religion must be exposed.

With all that said it is also clear that all of these issues cannot be tackled thoroughly in an essay of such limited words. For this reason I will make the following assumptions and consider the following points exclusively at this moment in time. Firstly I will assume that in answering this question we are to scrutinize the role of religions in Africa and amongst the Africans in the Diaspora. Secondly I will assume that we are to focus on the cultural identities formed as a result of contact with the various invaders in the recent historical incursions that provide the base for the subsequent religious impositions, regulations and institutions dispensed throughout Africa, beginning with the invasion of Kemet by Alexander the Greek. At this point I must make it clear that for many reasons what many others refer to as “African religions” or “pagan religions” such as the Yoruba & Akan philosophies and knowledge systems, or the incredible symbology, cosmogony and social organization of the Dogon are not in fact religions but different forms of the ancient knowledge of self. These systems are variations and derivatives of what was taught in Kemet as Kaba . I will deal specifically with, the two most influential and, in my view, destructive, religions brought to Africa and Africans; Christianity and Islam.

What is religion? There have been numerous attempts made by academics worldwide to attempt to answer this question conclusively; however, none of them are “totally satisfying .” My definition is: Religion is an organised source of evil authority intent on controlling the individual, family, society and thus hue-mankind through a nature-destructive belief system resulting in the death of the brains intellect, moreover causing, allowing and maintaining the internal chaos of ignorance, which is manifested as vulnerability to other methods of control (as opposed to free will).

What is Culture? According to Divine Sovereign Great Negro:- Ank Justice SteadySpear:-©™ “Culture is the intellect of a group of people, our arts, our languages and who we are as well as where we came from as beings.” He goes on to say that “The defining points of (varying) cultures are their particulars of preference…” This means; what are their likes or dislikes? What are their prejudices and judgments on what is appeasing to the senses? CP refers to these as “culturally defined social boundaries.”

What is identity? Encarta English dictionary 2003 defines identity as “the name or essential character that identifies somebody or something” or “the set of characteristics that somebody recognizes as belonging uniquely to himself or herself and constituting his or her individual personality for life.” This, however, can be simplified as; “a given title of knowing or association.” What this means is that if placed in the correct environment identities can be imposed, as I will show with the examples following.

How and why are “race”, “ethnicity”, religion and culture interlinked? The worlds’ elites also know of these patterns of thoughts, and behaviour previously outlined because of their periodical contact with Afrika and Afrikans. Following the invasion of Kemet by Alexander the Greek and the subsequent formation of Greece, Rome and it’s empire, the formation and rise and ultimately civilization of Europe culminating in what is known as the renaissance, they used their economies to send armies to ancient lands to gain these insights and to either hide from the public or destroy this crucial knowledge. Subsequently, the elites in power used the States’ they had created to dictate their policies through the religions, and thus situation and circumstances, the masses had accepted which could and would, consequently, be used to control the human herd.

In this brief case study it is shown how and why things, perceived or portrayed as culture, such as Afrikans in the southern states of North America eating "soul food" are, in fact, a result and hence manifestation of, their de-humanization. These environments and circumstances were created, rationalised, justified and maintained, at the very least in part, by the barbaric, pitiless and sadistic nature of Christianity and its unethical and iniquitous belief system. For example, it is clear that African-American culture is simply slave culture- an imposed identity. This cultural identity, which Christianity had a huge hand in creating, however, is accepted, celebrated, imitated and emulated not only by themselves but by Afrikans suffering the wounds of generational religious traumatic stress worldwide (even on the continent)! For example “soul food” which is now celebrated as a traditional African-American delicacy worldwide is in fact literally slave food- the bits the Masters wouldn’t or couldn’t eat. In Jamaica they drink “mannish water” as a traditional broth; however the ingredients and its origins are the same as those of “soul food”. The same applies even more prevalently with the equally detrimental notions of “blackness” or “whiteness”. This entire concept of a “black race ” and a “white race ” was enforced by Christianity through dubious and ever changing interpretations of what constituted the former, via abhorrent and fallacious biblical myths such as that of the “cursed seed of Ham.” Paul Harvey notes that alongside the Biblical myths and stories “speculations about God’s Providence” (belief) played a key role in the “formation, revision, and reconstruction of racial categories in the modern world.” He and countless others have pointed out that “there are no white or black people as such” however, due to the influence of Christianity, these evil ideologies and prejudices have become “deeply inscribed in Western thought.” In fact, it is now so deeply inscribed in the Afrikan psyche that, even Afrikan parents teach their children that they are “black” and that it’s something they should be proud of and likewise Caucasians vice-versa! He goes on to state correctly that not only was “Christianity central to the process of racializing peoples”, but that once in place it was also instrumental in “imposing categories of racial hierarchies upon groups of humanity or other societies.”

Although this racial hierarchy was, and still is, a global hierarchy, where the darkest skinned people are on the bottom and the fairest skinned on top, we cannot go into depth on this matter in this essay. It is to be noted however that the Hindu mythologies and caste system have been manipulated and used against its’ darker skinned Afrikan inhabitants to the same ends. Due to its’ substantial following, significant global influence and equally destructive nature we will scrutinize the synonymous aspects of Islam in Afrika. Is Islam, as many claim, a religion of peace? Is Islam, as many others claim, simply a way of life? Clearly not, as I will show that in the formation and perpetuity of what has now become widely accepted as Swahili culture. Islam was, and in many parts of Afrika still is, (on a par with Christianity) a political tool to morally justify and enforce the enslavement, de-humanization, marginalisation, brutalisation and exploitation of one (darker skinned) social group by another. Here the focus will be on its’ role in the creation of what many now accept as Swahili culture. The Afrikans living on the Swahili coast were part of a highly aspiratory society which, by the rapid and inherently destructive “commodification” of the nineteenth century, had long established itself as one of the worlds leading trading posts due to the prior Omani Arab conquest and hegemonic rule via the Zanzibari state. The ruling Omani Arab dynasty and their elites, culturally identified themselves as Arab Muslims, and proceeded to establish Zanzibar as, via a similar racial hierarchy as before mentioned, the worlds leading traders, importers and exporters of luxury goods and commodities such as cloves, fine cloths, ivory and firearms. The most important trade (even though the British (who by this time controlled the Arabs and the Indians) had supposedly “abolished” this nefarious activity) was in fact slaves. Prestige within and/or citizenship to this Swahili was deeply rooted in an “Arab-centred racism.” Not least through the notions of Ustaraabu, “to be an Arab,” that replaced the previous concepts of citizenship with the new notions of prestige laying in the emulation of the "civilised" ruling Arab elite which included the reconstruction of the prior indigenous social institutions. In order to be accepted fully within costal society an individual must display Ustaarbu, which included the language, mode of dress and subordination to the Omani Arab ruling party, however, most importantly, it must be noted that, conversion to Islam, no matter how nominally, as a defining factor of membership to coastal society, was paramount. Nonetheless, several adage of the time implied the wide spread Islamic belief that slaves were, sub-human and that only through their bondage to a properly paternalistic Muslim ‘‘whom they might mimic’’ could they achieve full human status. Within the Muslim world Incredulity had long been the classic justification for enslavement, although slaves who converted did not automatically amass freedom. This and many other contradictions to Islamic law within the Swahili coastal society were exemplified by the Shirazi and other Swahili patricians who, as a way of expressing the purity of their version of Islam, whilst separating it, and themselves, from the “inferior” versions of the faith, the slaves, and others marginalised by the elites’ religious modus operandi, who practiced it, elaborated and fabricated their genealogical links to the Middle East.

In summary the imposed cultures & assigned identity corollary to acquiescence of any religion is one of control, servitude and subjugation. To create a clear and true picture of the role of religion, it’s relationship to, and as a part of, the many aspects to the Genocidal globalist agenda of “population (tantamount to natural resource) control” and empire, the collusion between, so called, “academic” institutions, corrupt governments, multi-national corporations, international banking cartels and religion in the compartmentalization, creation, composition and control of the core subjects we now call science, mathematics, economics, politics and most importantly his-story must be thoroughly investigated.

In conclusion religion has attempted to destroy the cultures and remove from memory the identities that existed for millennia in antiquity. In doing so they aim to impose, form and create new identities, nations and cultures of subjugation and portray them as normal, even natural, however this is false. All Afrikans, as shown in the case of the Swahili and the Afrikans forcibly taken to the Americas, the Caribbean, and India and beyond are slaves as long as they submit or succumb to religions. Their names, words, languages, images and forms have, and will continue to be, used to further marginalise and humiliate them. Hue-Man culture is based on our intelligence, expressions of this and thus achievements from the beginning of Our-story to this present day. The decisive and denying factors are a result of the elites’ fear of the loss of wealth and power which drives them to seek to hide the truth that all hue-mankind came from a full-Afrikan Womb-man.

Bibliography

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