The MU chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People hosted a lecture called “Finding your Foundation! Religion as a Foundation,” Wednesday during its Activism Awareness Week.
“We tried to find topics to get a wide variety of people to participate,” MU NAACP President Shanae Adams said. “Religion is a hot topic and we wanted to give background information for people to understand it better.”
The focus of Wednesday’s’ lecture was Islam and Christianity in relation to the African American community.
Associate Professor of Religious Studies Robert Baum first explained background information and misconceptions of Islam.
“Islam’s root word means ‘God’s Peace, ’ and a Muslim is a ‘seeker of God’s peace,” Baum said.
Islam has five pillars, one of which is to perform acts of charity even if you are poor. Islam is the second largest religion in the world, and about 10 percent of Africans brought here in slavery were Muslim, Baum said.
While Muslim roots remained memories for slaves, the Christian church became a backbone for them.
“Churches played a vital role in activism in the African American community,” Baum said. “Religion can be revolutionary.”
Baum said slave owners treated slaves as livestock, not as human beings, so for Christianity to say they were children of God gave them the assurance that they were actually people, and they could not be broken.
To promote Activism Awareness Week, members of NAACP put of fliers, used social media and had recruitment days at the Student Center. They also sent invitations to Black Collegiate and other minority groups.
Activism Awareness Week started off with Unity Potluck where groups like African Students Association and Hispanic American Leadership Organization brought in cultural foods to share. Tuesday was a lecture from Treva Lindsey and Arwa Mohammad about women in different cultures while Thursday Gaines/Oldham Black Culture Center and Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity discussed topics of race in America. Today at The Shack there will be a discussion about topics on the ballot in the Nov. 6 election.