The Black Church: How Black Churches Keep African American Women Single and Lonely

Black women have an inordinate amount of faith in both Black men and Black churches. My position is that such blind and unwavering faith in either is misplaced. It is my belief that the Black church, structured around traditional gender roles which makes women submissive to and inferior to men, greatly limits females. Single Black women sitting in church every Sunday are being subtly brainwashed, soothed and placated into waiting without demand for what they want to magically come to them. Who is doing this to Black women? The male standing at the front of the Church in the role of spiritual leader, that's who!
This is the true reason that there are so many single, never married Black women in the United States - Black churches. Black women should abandon Black churches and focus more on themselves, their needs and those of their children than those of Black men or a religion which Black men use to castigate and control an entire race of women.
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Call for Papers

*Black Religion and Spirituality (BRS) in the 21st century: Challenges and Opportunities*

OCTOBER 13, 14, 15, 2010
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI–Kellogg Hotel & Conference Center

Throughout our history in the Americas, African Americans have
entrenched/devoted themselves in/to issues of justice and engagement. The 5 th Annual Black Religion & Spirituality (BRS) Conference, to be held in East Lansing, Michigan, October 13-15, 2010, affords opportunities to explore these issues in a public forum. The theme is *Black Religion and Spirituality:* *Implications for Social Justice and Community Engagement*. * *This conference will focus on the diversity of faiths among African Americans and how they are addressing challenges and opportunities in the 21 st century including emphasis on the following:

1. Examine the diversity of faiths in the African American
community.

2. Examine the variety of means by which these diverse
faiths are addressing challenges and opportunities in the 21st century.

3. Provide for a network of academics, practitioners, and
community members.

4. Explore the impact of faith communities on Black people.

5. Develop a research repository of collaborative
partnerships with academic scholars and diverse faith communities.

Abstracts for Papers should be sent to:
Dr. Gloria S. Smith
gsmith@msu.edu or
301 Morrill Hall
Michigan State University
East Lansing MI 48824.

The deadline for submissions is July 30, 2010. Individual papers will be
accepted and formed into panels based on quality, critical thought and
relevancy. Request for audio-visual support will need to be received by
August 15, 2010.

Registration fee for presenters is $100.00. Registration fees must be
submitted upon acceptance to be included in the conference program.

Tolerance and Tension: Islam and Christianity in Sub-Saharan Africa

n little more than a century, the religious landscape of sub-Saharan Africa has changed dramatically. As of 1900, both Muslims and Christians were relatively small minorities in the region. The vast majority of people practiced traditional African religions, while adherents of Christianity and Islam combined made up less than a quarter of the population, according to historical estimates from the World Religion Database

Since then, however, the number of Muslims living between the Sahara Desert and the Cape of Good Hope has increased more than 20-fold, rising from an estimated 11 million in 1900 to approximately 234 million in 2010. The number of Christians has grown even faster, soaring almost 70-fold from about 7 million to 470 million. Sub-Saharan Africa now is home to about one-in-five of all the Christians in the world (21%) and more than one-in-seven of the world's Muslims (15%).¹
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Blacks in Memphis Lose Decades of Economic Gains

For two decades, Tyrone Banks was one of many African-Americans who saw his economic prospects brightening in this Mississippi River city.

A single father, he worked for FedEx and also as a custodian, built a handsome brick home, had a retirement account and put his eldest daughter through college.

Then the Great Recession rolled in like a fog bank. He refinanced his mortgage at a rate that adjusted sharply upward, and afterward he lost one of his jobs. Now Mr. Banks faces bankruptcy and foreclosure.

“I’m going to tell you the deal, plain-spoken: I’m a black man from the projects and I clean toilets and mop up for a living,” said Mr. Banks, a trim man who looks at least a decade younger than his 50 years. “I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished. But my whole life is backfiring.”

Not so long ago, Memphis, a city where a majority of the residents are black, was a symbol of a South where racial history no longer tightly constrained the choices of a rising black working and middle class. Now this city epitomizes something more grim: How rising unemployment and growing foreclosures in the recession have combined to destroy black wealth and income and erase two decades of slow progress.

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Justice Breyer on the Dred Scott Decision

Thank you for inviting me to deliver a lecture to the New-York Historical Society. I am a great admirer of the Society’s commitment to preserving the history of the United States. And I am glad you are continuing to increase the public’s awareness of the Supreme Court’s contributions to our nation’s history.

This is an especially interesting time for the Society to be discussing the Court because it is, for the fourth time in the past 15 years, about to have a change in its membership. As soon as my friend and colleague Justice Stevens announced his intent to retire, public speculation began as to whom President Obama would nominate to replace him. Commentators will begin discussing and debating the nominee’s legal views and how the presence of a new member will affect the Court’s decisions. The public’s interest in a change in the Court’s membership reminds us that the Court, for all the technical cases it decides, also can decide controversial, contentious cases that raise questions that lie at the heart of contemporary political debates.

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