[agzg]

Originally Posted by Kevin

I may be taking this wrong, but it seems as if he's making a lot of categorical racial statements regarding the slave master... let's just call us "the whites" which are just absurd. Devil's food cake:black::Angel's food cake: white and there's a racial causal link in the naming? Preposterous.

The constructs of dark=bad, light=good, and their racial implications cannot be lost on you.

Originally Posted by Kevin

Just following crass marketing concepts, race is certainly an aspect of marketing. Religion is marketed towards its consumers, so certainly it would be more appealing if we presented a black Jesus to a black audience and a viking looking Jesus to a Norse audience and so on. As to some vast cultural conspiracy of the whites to trample on the religious psyche of black folks? That may have been true in the past, which is why I say this is relevant in a historical context, but still being angry about it today? I would hope he'd have better things to do.

I don't know that white men presented Jesus as black to black people - do you? I've already talked about "The Curse of Ham," but given its prevalence in the justification for American slavery, I'm willing to hazard a guess that in most cases, he was not.

You'd be amazed at the things people have a hard time getting over, considering the economic and social inequality we're still trying (or not trying, as may be the case) to address today.

Originally Posted by Kevin

The question is fundamentally flawed. There is no such thing as some sort of monolithic set of Judeo-Christian values. Some folks are going to have what they consider to be their values and others will have other types of values. Who is to say agzg's concept of Christianity forbids her from joining a GLO?

Define what Judeo-Christian values are in the first place. Only then can a serious discussion ensue as to whether you can join a secret society.

--and if that language is so important, you best not eat shellfish lest we stone you.

I'm using "Judeo-Christian values" in the socially accepted construct here (one God, be a good person, etc.). I don't think that, for example, Evangelical Christians or Ultra-Orthodox Jews identify with the "Judeo-Christian values" construct as it's accepted by society at large.