[Serious] The black man as a slave to the white man's god

[Belacqua]

Please, by all means, parse out the gaping chasm of difference between those two phrases.

I am left mentally adrift as to where your mind's concepts currently steam full ahead.

You really don't see the difference between theology and a church's role in society? This is fundamental to how religion works. Jeez man.

Theology is the study of what God is and how it operates in the world. It is an academic subject. For Christians, it is based on some combination of logic (propositions derived from seeing the world) and revelation (propositions handed down by prophets, etc.) 

The term also refers to the set of conclusions that a given sect has reached concerning these questions. So for example we say that Catholic theology has different conclusions concerning predestination than Calvinist theology. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theology


The social role that the church plays in a society is not an academic field of study about what God is and how it operates. It is the things that the members of the church do for each other and for the world. 

Of course, a church's theology will influence the role it plays. If the theology teaches that God is the Good, and that we reach him through doing good, then the group is likely to do charity. 

But in history the majority of Christians have not been very interested in theology. That's for experts. Rank and file Christians experience church as a place to meet like-minded people, to get moral support, to get pep talks, to feel important, etc. It is a psychological reminder that they are more important than their unimportant jobs and more integrated into a universe which otherwise teaches them that they are useless. It serves as a ritual center for marriages, funerals, etc. 

In US history, it has served as a hub for social movements like anti-discrimination or anti-war movements. This is the part that Eleven seems ignorant of. 

It's very likely that many people who participate in these church-based things don't believe in God, or, if you asked them, would say they hadn't thought about it. But the church is nonetheless an important part of their lives. 

In the centuries before secularism became a thing, the social role of the church included nearly all schools, hospitals, and other important social institutions. The patients in the hospital might have no idea at all about theology, and the nurses only a little more. But the church-run hospital still serves an important social role. 

Frankly I'm amazed that people don't know all this.

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Squabbling over race and religion is their perfect sandbox.

Well said! This is important.

The corporate masters know that as long as we're blaming race and religion for things, then we aren't opposing the real problems.