Before engaging in this week’s material, I had no knowledge about the works of Dr. Cone, however, I was familiar with Dr. King. I knew of the Birmingham Jail Letter King wrote which discussed the ideas of what just vs unjust laws are, as well as the emotional paragraph in which he describes the effects racism has had on his family and children. With this being said my question going into the readings was how are Dr. King’s ideas going to connect with those of Dr. Cone?
Dr. Cone takes a very intense and non-negotiable stance on what he believes is the correct form of Christianity. He explicitly says that there is no White Theology, because God takes the side of the oppressed, and therefore, there is only Black Theology. He argues that God is not colorblind, because if he was, that would mean God is okay with injustices and doesn’t know good vs. evil, which God is not. There were some stances Dr. Cone took that shook me a little bit. The first thing being that he says anything that impedes, or prevents, black power is antichristian, and therefore the work of Satan. He is establishing that whiteness is the devil, and that you cannot be christian if you are white (because if you are white you hold power). I’m not sure if I disagree with this statement or if it is just a new idea that is still settling in. What I do think is that religion has always been advertised as something for everybody. People are supposed to be able to set aside their differences and connect through religion, no matter their background or race. However, Dr. Cone sees Christianity as only a religion for black folks. Specifically, I was shooken by the quote “The task of Black Theology is to kill Gods that do not belong to the black community.” The way Dr. Cone expresses his thoughts are through pretty violent and radical ideas. My question is is it morally right to say that the Gods that other people worship should be killed if they do not identify with the Black Community? What about other oppressed groups? Do other oppressed groups “belong” to the black community since, by Cone’s argument, their religion is valid? How do you kill another’s God? All of these questions come to mind when I read this quote. I think Dr. Cone’s ideas connect with that of the ideas of Christina Sharpe’s “In the Wake” because Sharpe encourages the idea of accepting the role of the outside. She believes that black folks should stop trying to get an “in” and fight for equality, but rather inhabit the outside and become comfortable with a non-citizen status. For Dr. Cone, I believe the same idea is at play. Instead of trying to unite black and whites under one religion (Christianity), recognize that there is White Theology (which according to Cone is non-existent), and Black Theology. Cone argues you should not want them to merge together because White Theology encourages and ignores the oppression of black people with their language of colorblindness and misinterpretation of who God is really for : the oppressed.
Cone’s ideas are also much different than Dr. King’s ideas because Cone encourages rebellion, because wherever rebellion is, God is. As I mentioned before, he expressed his ideas in pretty violent ways. Perhaps the way you kill another’s god is by rebellion, and that is why Cone believes this is the only way. Meanwhile, King encourages civil disobedience. Breaking unjust laws is a way to “lovingly” disrupt a racist soceity. He does not believe God is present where violence is, but rather the opposite. King believes that violence violates the principles of Christianity and God would dissapprove.
