This story is part of “Black to the Future,” a series that examines how Afrofuturism pushes us to imagine and create a world where people of African descent thrive.
If I have to consider Afrofuturism through the lens of religion and social justice, I believe the scriptures give us a first layer of the same.
Believers are invited to envision a time when justice would roll down like waters, a time when the lion would lie down with the lamb, and when the bridegroom would return for the bride. Ultimately, there will be a seat at the welcome table for whoever is seated at a time when peace dominates the atmosphere.
Most of these are familiar phrases echoed by civil rights champion, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He added to the line in the lamb imagery that perhaps his children would be judged by the content of their character rather than the color of their skin. And of course that privilege would extend to everybody’s children and grandchildren and progeny.
So, in spite of the fact that there seems to be no consistent definition for Afrofuturism, people of faith could certainly long for a future when the structured church is neither dominated nor disempowered by the majority white male society in which we live.
Church leadership is basically dominated by men.
Black women can certainly speak to this time even now: the pulpit is not open to the gifting of women in the same manner as it is to the gifting of men.
Church leadership is basically dominated by men — Black and white — and women are accommodated and relegated to the safer places of leadership. The language smacks of misogyny in a time when men still mount the pulpit.
What will carry us to another era between now and the eternal amen?
Bible Study in the Metaverse?
“The printing press was a technology that changed the frequency by which the word of God could be shared. Today, Bibles (via YouVersion) are being shared in places they were never shared before and offered in many languages,” says Dr. Perry Sweeper, professor of design technology, Morehouse College. “More pastors are sharing sermons that effectively integrate media that supports the understanding of the overall message through digital media. Churches are having Bible study experiences in the metaverse, and many churches are using online tools to offer services.”
Sweeper says the future of the Black church is one that “leverages technology that supports, aids, and under the work of the church — especially in resourced communities.”
The Era of Digital Religion
The era of “digital religion” occurred more out of necessity due to the COVID-19 pandemic than by plan.
In a National Museum of African American History and Culture discussion about the #godTalk documentary, moderated by Dr. Teddy Reeves, museum curator, Dr. Besheer Mohamed, Pew Research Center senior researcher, talked about how the pandemic thrust the church into a space it might not have occupied in the same ways or the same degrees.
“Many people embraced digital religion,” Mohamed said. “For a while, that was the only game in town.”
And now, much formal participation has taken on a hybrid nature, “Where people have returned to their home church, but still worship with ministries around the country who speak to their spiritual joy,” Mohammad said.
‘Like there’s a really powerful pastor I heard in Texas, or wherever.”
All thanks to COVID-19.
“You have that period of COVID that really brings the rest of the Black church online in ways they hadn’t imagined. But Black women had. They were already onboard. So you have all these folks who were early adopters,” said Dr. Erika Gault, director of the Center for the Study of African American Religious Life.
“Although we’re usually depicted as being behind the digital divide, we’ve always figured out where the technology was and how we can use it. It was not anything new for women, millennials, or LBGBTQ.”
Breaking Free From Racism
How might the church look without the constraints of structural racism?
The Rev. Dr. Beryl Whipple, a senior pastor of Mt. Hebron Baptist Church in Baltimore for nine years, posited a beautiful example of a better, if not beloved, community from his previous experience as a United Methodist pastor.
“From what I’ve encountered in my pastoral journey, I feel racism has the potential to be eradicated because of interracial relationships and marriages,” he says. “The parents of those relationships that I pastored were overly conscious and conscientious about exposing their children to all cultures, thereby making everyone equal and glorious.”
The Wesley Seminary graduate says it’s not a matter of erasing white supremacy.
“It’s institutionalized in America. It’s never going to be eradicated. But it can be overpowered with the acceptance of everyone by up-and-coming generations who have a better idea.”
He says we might not be paying attention to what’s happening in interracial relationships.
“We’re so easily distracted. Social media has our full attention. We were stronger when there were only a few voices speaking at a time; everything was centralized,” he says, referring to the heyday of Dr. King, Medgar Evers, Roy Wilkins, and John Lewis.
“Now we have more materially, but less morally.”