Feb. 18th Curtis and Johnson

Curtis and Johnson speak heavily on the United States being a place of discomfort for blacks and their religious ties. 10 percent of blacks are foreign-born and have a large effect on the cultural characteristics of African American religion today. Multi-dimensional views/ studies of African American religion need to be told from both sides to get a full understanding of the different points of view to eliminate the segregation from black religion. Religion is a common resource in the black community and shares the same fight against anti-black racism.

I often forget how our country is growing with new people coming from other countries and bringing their own beliefs to our country. The United States is predominately made up of white Christians and Curtis and Johnson mention how being Muslim can give the stereotype of being considered “foreign”. There is an image that is presented to be considered American which revolves around the image of a white Christian. This stereotype was obviously more relevant in the earlier years of the United States but is still here today. The article states, “Often wearing identifiably Muslim clothes, he included Islamic religious identity in his claims to this outsider status, thus capitalizing on and also reifying the notion that Islam was not an American religion (when, in fact, it has been since the 1600s, if not earlier” (346). Reading this didn’t surprise me much because although racism has gotten a little better, it’s not enough for me to be surprised.

While reading this piece I thought back to Frazier's theories and how in his article he spoke about how during slavery, slaves were sometimes taught Christianity by white people. During times when black people have little rights and are looking for a higher power, Christianity seemed like the easiest route. Believing in another religion that white people don’t agree with was another conflict as well as it was harder to learn other religions when white people were already restrictive having freedom within Christianity. This has made me wonder, how much does your surrounding environment affect the religion someone believes in. Are we softened forced into believing in a particular religion?