The phrase “Black Power” came to mean different things to different people. For some it meant the necessity to use violent means to end oppression. To others it meant Black economic and political empowerment. To others it meant Black self- empowerment through the development of pride, the learning of history and the raising of consciousness. To some it meant all three and more.

Ten years ago Dennett came out with this bestseller. He was primarily concerned with demolishing two ideas that seemingly cast a spell among most human beings. The first spell is the taboo that forbids investigation into religion. The second spell is religion per se, or more to the point, the idea that such an examination into religion could sweep it away, along with its positive attributes, thus leaving the world worse than it is.

Everyone is a hypocrite. We all say one thing and do the opposite. However, it is one thing to teach your children not to smoke while smoking yourself. After all, that is just looking out for your child’s best interests. However, it is something else entirely to criticize people for supporting murderous regimes while you support murderous regimes in the name of democracy, liberty, patriotism, and so on.

Hard-Core rap is one of the most popular genres of music in the world. What is of particular interest to me in this piece is the genre’s misogyny. However, I must first point out that unlike hip-hop culture and rap music per se, hard-core rap was not created with and for girls and women. It was created by angry, violent, woman-hating young males. Though young Black females are among its most ardent fans, hatred of women in the genre is par for the course.

Many people seem to believe that there is a one-size-fits-all reason as to why people believe or disbelieve in God. However, in reality, there are many reasons why people embrace or reject a belief in God; and some people have more than one reason. (There’s more than one reason to be reasonable about this belief!)

Many critics of the New Atheists have accused its leaders of being hopelessly naïve for promoting the idea that human beings actually make progress. Some are more sensible in their critique by contending that the New Atheists promote the Enlightenment idea that human beings are becoming increasingly rational, scientific and moral, especially as they free themselves from the chains of ancient superstition, especially religion. The New Atheists seem to be promoting a utopian vision for society in which human beings can transcend their supposed nature and live peacefully and rationally all over the world.

There is a serious problem with this view. Why would a perfectly loving God inflict other animals with diseases and natural disasters simply because human beings allegedly sinned? If he insisted upon harming the children he professes to love, he could have afflicted only them with serious diseases and harmed them in numerous other ways without harming innocent animals. However, more importantly, why should a perfectly loving, all-merciful God inflict so much harm upon human beings? That certainly makes him an abusive heavenly Father.

A friend of mine gave me a pamphlet from the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society titled Good News from God! The supposed good news is that those that are saved will enter the Kingdom of God after their physical deaths. Why is this good news?

Black people are still fighting battles they should have won decades ago. A case in point is the constant struggle to gain collective self-esteem. For centuries, Blacks have been conditioned by White supremacists through culture, history, science, entertainment, government and so forth, to hate themselves, their physical features, their African ancestry, and so on. It is not uncommon to hear even highly educated Black professionals say that their ancestors did not come from Africa. No, they contend, they came from the West Indies, as though Blacks from the West Indies have ancestors that never came from Africa. Such African Americans are completely deluded and dedicated to running away from themselves and their past.

Sexual harassment and sexual assault in organized non-theism continue to be serious problems. Major scandals occur with disturbing regularity. The latest major controversy centers on atheist scholar Richard Carrier. Women at non- theist conferences have routinely accused Carrier of inappropriate behavior. Carrier has even admitted to over-stepping boundaries. The situation has become so bad that skeptics have gone so far as to ban Carrier from Skepticon, a major gathering of skeptics, in order to protect women from his alleged predatory behavior.

Joseph C. Phillips is an actor best known for his role on The Cosby Show as the character Denise’s (Lisa Bonet) husband, Lt. Martin Kendall. He is also the author of a collection of essays titled He Talk like a White Boy: Reflections on Faith, Family, Politics, and Authenticity (2006). Phillips is a Black conservative, but was able to get quite a few Black liberals and moderates to generate praise for his book. In his section titled “Faith,” the author has an essay titled “Power of Faith and Religion” from which the title of this column borrows. Phillips’ piece is woefully biased in defense of Christianity and against atheism.

Though the Presidential election is still several months away, many people have already stated that they miss President Obama. Include me among that group. I had always believed that it was pretty much impossible for a Black president to be elected in the U.S. Even many Blacks that thought it could happen one day believed that White supremacy was so widespread throughout the country, that it would just be a matter of time before a Black president would be assassinated.

All stereotypes are wrong because they label all members of a certain group or class as the same. Individuality is crushed, and stereotyping is a very lazy, and usually unfair, way of “thinking.” However, some stereotypes are far more damaging than others. (What is worse, some are downright deadly, such as the stereotype of criminally-inclined Blacks that led to the death of Trayvon Martin in Florida not long ago.) Some people stereotype Blacks as stupid, while they stereotype Asians as smart. Yet it would be naïve to contend that both of these stereotypes are equally damaging. Many people that buy into the notion that their people are stupid tend to live down to that expectation. Many powerful individuals and institutions that accept the stereotype engage in discriminatory practices against Blacks. Mistakes of Blacks are magnified and they are often set up to fail.

The supremely unique musician Prince died under mysterious circumstances. Some reports say he allegedly overdosed on drugs six days before he died. If true, this is hard to fathom. The Purple One had a reputation as a physical fitness fanatic. He was a vegetarian, did not smoke cigarettes or drink alcohol, and was not known to use illegal drugs. He considered his body to be a temple, and in 2001, he became a deeply religious Jehovah’s Witness – so much so that he stopped performing sexually explicit songs from early in his career.

When I was growing up in the 1960s and 70s, most of those professing to be born-again Christians knew they had to represent the faith in a positive way. That is to say, they had to try their best to live righteously. They knew there were certain kinds of behavior in which they simply could not indulge – fornication, illicit drug use, drunkenness, and so on. They understood that if they did not at least seriously strive to live moral lives, they could not enter the Kingdom of God according to their faith. Indeed, I was a born-again Christian, and people were never surprised to learn that I was so serious about the faith. I truly practiced what I preached.

William Irwin, professor of philosophy at King’s College, wrote an article in _The New York Times_ called “God is a Question, Not an Answer” (page SR8.) Irwin contends that everyone with an open mind should “collectively celebrate the uncertainty of the question” of whether God exists. He maintains that “every honest atheist must admit that he has his doubts, that occasionally he thinks he might be wrong, that there could be a God after all – if not the God of the Judeo-Christian tradition, then a God of some kind.”

I cannot speak for all atheists, but I consider myself to be honest, and I simply have no such doubts. The mere fact that we have gaps in our knowledge, and might always have gaps in our knowledge, does not lead me to believe that there could be a God after all. On the other hand, there are many theists that do not for one moment doubt that God exists.

Afro centrist Maulana Karenga likes to claim that he created the concept of operational unity in which Black people could come together despite their differences. In truth, however, Malcolm X promoted this idea at least as early as 1963 in his classic “Message to the Grassroots.” Malcolm said that Black people should put aside their “petty differences” and unite on the basis of a common enemy, the White oppressor. The main problem with Malcolm’s call is that many of the differences among Black people – or any other people – are not so petty. On the contrary, those differences could be downright insurmountable.