FREE ESSAY ON RELIGION IN AMERICAN CULTURE

RELIGION IN AMERICAN CULTURE

Race and religion are two concepts in American culture that can really tie people
together, or clearly separate them apart. A group forged by strong common roots in both
race and religion can be a powerful societal force, if it wants to be. The Nation of
Islam is a small but growing religion in America that has become somewhat of a social
movement because of its strong and radical ideas on race. In this paper, I will try to
explore the beliefs of the Nation of Islam, and the ramifications it could and has had on
racial relations in America. The Nation of Islam, or NOI, is a relatively new religion.
The first temple of Islam was established in Detroit by Master Fard Muhammed in 1930.
Much of the theology was based on the simple facts that: Allah is god, the white man is
the devil, and the so-called Negroes are the Asiatic black people, the cream of the
earth.(1) And, in accordance with their bizarre view of creation, involving a mad
scientist creating the white race from the black race, the twentieth century represents
the time for black people to regain their rightful position as god's chosen people. (1)
The Nation of Islam was spawned from Orthodox Islam, an age-old religion. However,
Orthodox Islam has openly denounced the NOI as a heretic sect for three main reasons: the
NOI's rejection of the belief in an afterlife, its tendency to view human leaders as
deified figures, and its strong racist attitudes. (2) For a brief time, during the
seventies, Wallace Deen Muhammed became the leader of the NOI and tried to take it in a
new direction, more conforming to true Islamic beliefs. This group is now called the
American Muslim Mission and still exists in small numbers today. (1) The NOI's presence
has implications on American racial relations in more than one way. First of all, the NOI
is tied to a very specific American racial group: blacks. Although the majority of black
people in America do not consider themselves members of the NOI, the group still attempts
to represent all black people. And, because of the strong messages of strength, unity,
and betterment of the black race, the NOI reaches the hearts and minds of many blacks as
a driving social force, even if they don't consider it their religion. Another major way
the NOI impacts race relations is through the strong seemingly racist beliefs that are
inherent to its theology. The NOI has always been open about its views. Not only have
they always taught that the white man is the devil, but they believe that the battle of
Armageddon will consist of a holy war between Islam and Christianity of which Islam will
be the victors, representing the victory of black people over white people. (1) Jews are
referred to as great enemies for no particular reason. The NOI has been viewed as a
strongly anti-Semitic organization since the early eighties. (4) I think the NOI theology
can best be understood as an example of power-conflict theory. First of all, the NOI is
strongly against cultural assimilation for American blacks. They believe that black
people should exist entirely apart from American (white) culture. Elijah Muhammed, an
early and extremely powerful leader who is now viewed as a deified human clearly taught
against assimilation. (1) Since whites were inherently created as an evil and inferior
race, they are therefore flawed since birth. Seeking their acceptance by acquiring any
part of so-called American culture is a low and humiliating thing for blacks to do. Under
this philosophy, Elijah Muhammed went so far as to teach that even living among white
people in the same building or block is wrong, and that basic integration of blacks and
whites in schools and workplaces should be reversed. (1) These separatist and elitist
attitudes toward one race over another is clearly a power-conflict characteristic. I
don't necessarily think all of these ideas are so wrong. In his striving towards total
segregation, Elijah Muhammed was hoping to achieve powerful and independent black
communities capable of providing everything for themselves education, hospitals,
workplaces, neighborhood organizations in the greatest quality. And they should be able
to achieve all this without the slightest interference from American culture, be it
oppression or cooperation. That kind of support and hope for one to have towards their
own race and people seems generally healthy and proud. However, can it really be
achieved? Maybe, but it would take an amazing amount of effort, planning, and change to
make it happen. Much more effort than simply teaching to hate the other races you are
currently stuck with. Maybe they decided it was easier to hate everyone else than to
dedicate that same amount of time and energy actually concentrating on making a
difference in their own communities. But, I digress. Back to the facts. Over the last
decade or so, the Nation of Islam has gained more support among blacks from all religions
and economic backgrounds than ever before. It has also met with more criticism and
attacks from other groups, and gained more national recognition and acknowledgement than
ever before. This can mostly be attributed to a strong new leader- Minister Louis
Farrakhan, considered by most of America to be the most powerful black leader in the last
twenty years. (2) Farrakhan was recruited to the Nation of Islam by Malcolm X himself in
1955. (Malcolm X eventually left the NOI upon learning how much its views differed from
Orthodox Islamic teachings). (4) In the late seventies, when Wallace Deen began making
doctrinal changes to the NOI, Farrakhan boldly stepped up to reorganize his own branch,
sticking to the original racist beliefs. This original NOI persevered and has since grown
in numbers under Farrakhan's leadership. (2) Farrakhan began making a name for himself
right away, first by making several strong racist speeches during his sermons and then by
setting out to establish schools and businesses immersed with the NOI theology. (3) He
got national attention in 1984 as a strong and quite vocal leader in Reverend Jesse
Jackson's campaign for president. While Farrakhan was earning the hatred and disgust of
many white Americans throughout all this, he was having a different impact on blacks.
Even while they may not have agreed with all of his radical views, here was a black man
speaking out about the realities of their everyday lives with no holds barred, and making
national news doing so. Not only was he striving towards the empowerment of black people,
he was seen by the rest of America as a force to be reckoned with. I think many American
blacks were happy to accept him as the next leader of black people, since one was about
due. Unfortunately, Farrakhan's solutions to most of the black man's problems involve
extreme hatred towards and separatism from American culture in general and all other
racial groups that exist in it. His presence as a strong black leader can have extreme
ramifications on racial relations in this country, because there is a thin line between
upholding him as a great social leader and adopting all of his hateful and racist
attitudes. Farrakhan has certainly not been subtle in his beliefs that the white man is
evil and inferior to blacks, as the NOI has always taught. However, he has also placed
more emphasis on the hatred of Jews than the NOI had ever expressed in the past. Over the
past few years, Farrakhan has been quoted to make an amazing number of anti-Semitic
statements, many of them shockingly direct and poignant, including: You are wicked
deceivers of the American people. You are the synagogue of Satan and are sending this
nation to hell. And, Look at the imposter Jew. Somebody must look you in your cold lying
eyes and call you what you are. I don't give a damn about you and will give you hell from
the cradle to the grave. (4) You can imagine how popular this kind of talk has made
Farrakhan among Jewish groups, as well as other, non-sectarian anti-discrimination
groups. Farrakhan got the attention of the entire nation in 1995 when he called for a
million man march on Washington. The invitation was extended to all able bodied black men
to gather at Washington on October 16th. The purpose of this march was to declare to the
government of America and the world that we are ready to take our place as the head of
our families and communities and shoulder the responsibility of being the maintainers of
our women and children. (3) That statement was part of an article written by Farrakhan
himself published in The Final Call, a NOI newsletter. The call to march went out to all
black men regardless of religious background, not just NOI members. In fact this march
had little to do with religion, and was more of a rally for social change and empowerment
of the black race. The Million Man March ended up being a great success, attracting
somewhere from 80,000 to a million black men. (2) There were many polls and surveys taken
at the march to determine what kind of men attended and for what reasons. Although
Farrakhan's description of the purpose of the march may have sounded somewhat vague, it
is clear that participating in the march meant a lot of different things to different
people. One large focus for many was to make America know her sins, a favorite phrase of
the late Elijah Muhammed. For some, that simply meant creating a presence that forced the
country to acknowledge the anger and frustration of black people, and hopefully lead to
greater tolerance and less racism. For others, it was a demand for reparations by the US
government to somehow compensate for slavery, and the eternity of institutional racism
that has followed. (2) Many people expressed pride in the fact that such a large number
of blacks banding together could really knock some fear into white America. And the march
did evoke fear in the eyes of many whites and other non attendants, some even comparing
it to a Ku Klux Klan rally, or making other references to reverse racism.(2) Despite the
few extreme viewpoints of those at the march, and the fear it caused in many outside the
march, most people were just there to participate and show their support of a social
movement towards empowerment of black people and black communities. The speeches given,
and the overall morale at the million man march was definitely less focused on hatred and
finger-pointing, and more focused on the unity, support, and power of black people
themselves. Much emphasis was placed on repentance of their own sins, the cleansing of
themselves, the work they must do to help their own families and communities. (3) I
believe the ultimate goal Farrakhan had in mind for these men was to someday conquer the
need for any connection with white culture, and in some way prove that they were better
off that way. Whether that is the case or not, the basic message communicated at the
march was one of self-empowerment and racial unity. This kind of mentality is great, and
shouldn't necessarily be viewed as a scary, potentially dangerous thing. What I am more
concerned with is the fact that Farrakhan himself was capable of reaching enough people
to actually pull something like this off. It does indicate how much leverage he has in
the black community as a powerful social leader. Since the march, Farrakhan has not done
anything nearly as newsworthy, but he continues to give sermons and speeches on smaller
scales, and has a strong voice in the NOI newsletters and publications. And, apparently,
he is still managing to anger some people. One angered group is the Anti-Defamation
League (ADL), a worldwide organization which attempts to fight anti-Semitism and bigotry.
They have obviously been listening closely to everything Farrakhan has publicly said in
the years following the Million Man march, and have published an informal press address
quoting a few of the most offensive statements. According to this list, Farrakhan seems
to make some very ridiculous and pretty anti Semitic things. He has also defended the
acts of terrorists like Bin-Ladden, Qadaffi, Sadam Hussein, Aryan Nation militia, and
even Hitler. (4) NOI members responded to these claims by criticizing the ADL for
shortening and manipulating his statements to be misconstrued, or taken out of context.
(2) The true Nation of Islam ideas are very extreme, and have the potential to greatly
impact race relations America. The mere presence of the NOI, with the help of Minister
Farrakhan, has already impacted many people, and brought extremely different reactions.
The fact that a lot of Americans view Farrakhan as such a powerful black leader is
frightening, because he really teaches hatred and anger, and says a lot of things that
are simply not true. However, his ultimate goal of complete segregation is never going to
happen, and I don't think the American black community is taking everything he says quite
so seriously. If anything, maybe Farrakhan's messages of self-improvement, hard work and
strong community will eventually cause some positive changes for blacks in America. 
Bibliography 1. John Morehead. The Truth quest Institute, Behind the Million Man March:
Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam. www.fopc.org/farrakhan 2. Yush Magazine , Still
on the March. London: Yush Publications, 1996 3. Louis Farrakhan. The Final Call,
Minister Louis Farrakhan Calls for a One Million Man March. www.noi.org/MLFspeaks 4.
Anti-Defamation League. Press release, Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam in Their Own
Words One Year After the Million Man March. October, 1996 5. The movie Get on the Bus by
Spike Lee/40 Acres and a Mule Productions also provided insight. 
Bibliography 
Bibliography 1. John Morehead. The Truth quest Institute, Behind the Million Man March:
Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam. www.fopc.org/farrakhan 2. Yush Magazine , Still
on the March. London: Yush Publications, 1996 3. Louis Farrakhan. The Final Call,
Minister Louis Farrakhan Calls for a One Million Man March. www.noi.org/MLFspeaks 4.
Anti-Defamation League. Press release, Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam in Their Own
Words One Year After the Million Man March. October, 1996 5. The movie Get on the Bus by
Spike Lee/40 Acres and a Mule Productions also provided insight.