I am not Black so won't comment on that but many whites believe unquestioningly. I think maybe because we are all indoctrinated from before our earliest memories to believe. That is why most people will believe whatever they were born into for the rest of their lives. Thank "God" some of us question tradition and what we are told.

I know I'm generalizing, but I think as a whole African Americans have had more than their fair share of struggles and pain in this country. I believe when people are in pain and struggling they look for something to hold on to, to give them comfort.....Even to the point they overlook the ways religion played a part in their oppression. When I'm working with someone trying to get clean from an addiction that has been tormenting them for years, there is a good chance they will try and grab on to religion

Islam is the same. It regulate slavery. The Muslims conquered North Africa and enslaved all who did not want to accept their religion. It is forbidden to enslave another Muslim, so the only way to gain one's freedom was to convert to Islam. Those who did not convert were killed or enslaved. Blacks in this country are turning to that religion thinking it is the religion of their ancestors. Stupidity cannot be explained. I am black and I researched all those religions, and none of them make sense to me.

That’s my number one beef with the Bible. Slavery. How anyone can look past that...boggles my mind. I feel the same perplexity about Christian women, for instance. (Christian women in so-called “free” countries anyway.)

Perhaps they love the ritual and the singing. I can understand that. There is much in Christianity that is also very appealing in that it gives a sense of 'belonging'. In all this , even an atheist like myself has no problem attending a church service , especially if I'm playing in our local amateur orchestra during the Xmas period for example. Heck, I even like listening to recordings of the Salt lake City Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra. .

I can't understand that either, but I think it's Stockholm syndrome?

Any time a people are oppressed they cling to religion. This being the case I hope that religion is not attractive in the future in the United States. I have been very saddened by the BLM movement. Not due to it goals or ideals but that it has come to a time that it was needed. It is much like the atheist movement, it simply would be best if it was not needed at all.

I have noticed that Christianity seems to be very strong in Black communities. Maybe because for many years it was one of the few places Black's could congregate without fear of being "rousted". & legitimately speak out for freedom & justice in a way that was harder to oppress & prosecute. Like MLK, many Black civil rights leaders were church connected.
Otherwise, I am as puzzled as you seem to be. Christianity was the religion of the slave owners & in many ways taught Blacks to "mind their place". That, I believe, is one reason Islam has gained a substantial foothold in the Black community, tho not the religion of the "white man", I think it is still an oppressive religion & carries enough of its own baggage.

Every time I see a gospel choir singing praises to the Lord I am just as baffled as you are. That same book they now worship was used by rich whites and (yes- rich free blacks too) to justify ownership of another human being. Slavery is just wrong on every level and the slavery practiced in this country little resembled the slavery of the Bible as plantation owners ignored the part allowing their slaves to purchase their own freedom after a certain number of years in servitude.

Community and peer pressure, I would imagine.

It is still a type of bondage that our people cannot seem to shake off. How in the hell can a slave owner convince me that his God is a just God? Today, we have the descendents of da Massah (EVANGELICALS) who have the same mind-set as their ancestors. Yet Black folk are are polishing their own chains of religion and following these religious clowns.

As for the Black leaders, it's mostly about money. Like the "House Negroes" they have taken advantage of their own people and they are bankin. Bishops with multi-million dollar homes, Bentleys, Lear jets...opulence and greed has become the motivation for a lot of these so-called "Men of God"

Evidence: Any Black Church who still sings "We shall overcome" is still enjoying the bondage of the plantation.

Whenever my wife and I are driving down south on 95, we always turn to the Gospel radio station. I notice that most of the black gospel music is geared toward the events in and around the Exodus, i.e., songs that talk about slaves gaining freedom. The white Gospel stations are a lot more Jesus (i.e. pie in the sky) oriented. No data here, just anecdote, but the answer to the OP may be that it's just a good story.

I don't get it either. Never have. Probably never will.

I understand I think why Chritianity so inbedded in the Black community . When people are under forced labor and being brutalized. The Slavery government of Amerikka needed to give those people a soother. " U might b suffering here, but u will receive everlasting life when u die...and by the way a White God will give it to you." A good advertiser knows the success of any message is repetition. After 400 years, the message is pretty much baked in.

Just the other day I watched a video on youtube that was talking about the black church. It was very interesting. If I can find it again, I'll share the title with you. I know that the whites used christianity as a control element with the black slave population. They also justified slavery with the bible.

I often wonder the same thing. On the other hand, Nat Turner was a minister.

Christian slave owners tried to convince their slaves that they would be rewarded in heaven for obedience in this lifetime. Most succeeded.

It's possible that they internalized the colonialism and imperialism of the empires that it came from. First the Romans, then the British.

I like what Kevin Wesley has had to say on the topic. After being a pastor for several years, in the process of researching justifications for his Christianity, the bottom dropped out when he realized there wasn't any. So he did the right thing and gave the whole religion up and started telling people what he found out. He has quite the interesting community of new converts now.

no, you got me there to my friend. what I can't get my head around is black people calling each other niggers and white supremacists hating you when it was people like them who came and took you brutally from the life you knew in your own country especially when America like the UK where I live is a mongral nation. race does not mean colour at all like being disabled doesn't mean you're in a wheelchair.

It is my understanding the old song Kumbaya was actually supposed to be saying "come by here", which obviously did not happen. I have always found it interesting that the African American community took so strongly to the Christianity that was thrust upon them. Then after scores of decades have passed people just don't know anything else.

I came across this and I cringed

I'm sure that has to be perplexing!