"Looking for God but ended up doing the work of Satan"
5 Comments Published by Tom Gara on Friday, August 24 at Friday, August 24, 2007.
Sweet Friday hip-hop of the month is a piece of spoken-word poetry by the one and only Talib Kweli, from the ass-kicking Def Poetry Jam. Its a beautiful reflection on religion and spirituality, and for people who cant stand hip-hop, hearing it said spoken-word will probably be an easier entry point.
Growing up in probably the world's most secular country, in a family of proud atheists, my only contact with religion was in high school, when these weird freaks would come every couple of months to put on these "performances" for us. They would always have an ambiguous, secular sounding name like "Teen Energy" or "Love for Life" or something (probably because openly Christian groups wouldn't be allowed to visit a public high school), and they would always be trying a little too hard to come across as cool and energetic and edgy.
They would play the guitar and do some magic tricks or something equally attention-getting, all the while infusing their talk with abstract references to living a "positive" life and how things like faith and belief can make us stronger. We all thought it was lame, but it was a few hours out of the classroom for 16 year olds, so hey, it was worth it. It only reinforced my belief that Christians were weird, uptight nerds desperate to find relevance in a society that no longer believed in their stories.
If my introduction to religion came from guys like Talib Kweli and Mos Def, I'd probably be much more religious today.
Growing up in probably the world's most secular country, in a family of proud atheists, my only contact with religion was in high school, when these weird freaks would come every couple of months to put on these "performances" for us. They would always have an ambiguous, secular sounding name like "Teen Energy" or "Love for Life" or something (probably because openly Christian groups wouldn't be allowed to visit a public high school), and they would always be trying a little too hard to come across as cool and energetic and edgy.
They would play the guitar and do some magic tricks or something equally attention-getting, all the while infusing their talk with abstract references to living a "positive" life and how things like faith and belief can make us stronger. We all thought it was lame, but it was a few hours out of the classroom for 16 year olds, so hey, it was worth it. It only reinforced my belief that Christians were weird, uptight nerds desperate to find relevance in a society that no longer believed in their stories.
If my introduction to religion came from guys like Talib Kweli and Mos Def, I'd probably be much more religious today.
It only reinforced my belief that Christians were weird, uptight nerds desperate to find relevance in a society that no longer believed in their stories."
hmmm...you don't hold back huh?!
Brilliant.
Aine,
You made me realize I wasn't very clear with my words there. I meant to say something to the tune of
"It only reinforced my belief at the time that..."
I was a different, much less experienced person then... I no longer think so poorly of Christians, given the whole growing up and realizing that you can't generalize thing...
I did wonder :)
'Being positive' is not the christian message', it's psycho babble they came up with. How boring, to sit thru one of those pseudo christian things. I don't think brother Talib would have been any better, despite claiming to have learnt many verses, as a lot of what he says although sounding impressive lacks any factual basis
"Who was king James and why did he think that he could remove chapters and make his own version of the bible?"
That's laughable, since the arabic bible which was much older than the King JAmes and had nothing to do with King James has the same makeup as the King James
"Never question the fact that Jesus was a jew and not a christian"
Jesus was born of Jewish parents so his ethnic origin is Jewish
"Religion create division.....make the christian hate the Jew"
Since Jesus was Jewish and the Jews were the people that received God's word and promise first....ie Abraham, Moses and co and since there is no verse in the bible which says to hate anyone, let alone the Jews....that's a load of baloney.