Three Lies About Black Spirituality We Should Never Believe
We deserve everything good under the sun, and God wants it that way for us. For too long, the mainstream has worked to demonize our spirituality with these three myths, and it's time to let them go.
God knows our hearts, but for centuries, the mainstream has tried to prove that it doesn’t by demonizing our spirituality. Here are three myths about Black spirituality we should never believe.
Not Just Witchcraft
Coloniality made everything Black inherently evil. Our belief systems and religions are considered “witchcraft,” superstition, and in opposition to Christianity.
Many Black spiritual systems, like Hoodoo, have deep ties to healing and herbalism. Nature is honored and considered a home-like space for our spirituality, and that’s divine.
More Than Voodoo
Cuba has Santería. Brazil practices Candomblé. New Orleans has Voodoo, and Haiti practices Vodou. Since the 1860s, mainstream culture has worked to demonize us through fabricated tellings about Black religions.
Often, their stories carelessly lump these beliefs together as “Voodoo.” But like us, our belief systems are cousins with commonalities, all tied to a shared ancestral past, but each with distinct customs and practices.
Ancestral Connection
There’s a myth that honoring our ancestors isn’t godly, but that’s part of an anti-Black sentiment imparted by using religion as a means of colonization. In our indigenous religions, ancestors use their power and authority to play a significant role in the lives of the living.
God, nature, and ancestors work in a shared realm alongside the living and are obligated to care for and support one another.
These myths aren’t ours to carry. Release them and show up as who God and the ancestors have called you to, as your whole Black, divinely-created-in-love self.
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