AHC: Wank Afro-American religions

Mort the Reaper

The Afro-American religions developed in various parts of the New World, generally as a result of African slaves syncretizing their ancestral beliefs with elements of other faiths, usually Folk Catholicism and Native American religions. Of course, some Afro-American religions came around after the end of slavery in their country of origin, such as Quimbanda and Kumina. But these religions don't have much prominence outside Brazil, the Caribbean, and Louisiana. As a result, they're pretty obscure (aside from Vodou and Rastafarianism, but these two religions are very frequently misunderstood by non-practitioners).

Your challenge is to have Afro-American religions spread further and become more prominent.
 

CountPeter

So in my eyes, only small things are needed, but unfortunately these small things are hard to achieve.

One of the issues of religions that are challenged here is theological complexity. This, isn’t an issue for these religions. Most are built on a solid base of Catholic theology, which is decently potent.

What they are missing imo are two things. A “prophet” and a holy text.
By the former, I mean some human example to contextualise the divine - Buddha, Jesus etc. For the latter, in depth knowledge of a text allows the adept/layman distinction that (afaik) is largely missing from said religions.

The issue however is that many of them formed the way they did to get under the radar of Catholicism, where any of the above changes would upgrade them into distinct rivals.
 
Chrispi

Chrispi

You can’t have a religion without organization, which would be something that Afroamericans would be denied under slavery and penury. An earlier abolition of slavery could make their religion stronger if they are still segregated, or they would be weaker if they become more assimilated into Euroamerican society.
 

Lampiao

Afro-American religions are syncretic religions based on traditional African beliefs mostly influenced by Christianity, but also by Islam and Indigenous beliefs. Rastafarianism, on the other hand, is solidly based on Jewish/Christian tradition: the Messiah, the return to the holy land, etc. Very different belief systems IMHO.

The "problem" of African American religions is quite simple: it isn't an institutionalized belief system living close to a heavily institutionalized one (Christianity). Most of the people who practice African American religions are also good Christians. We need to make it an institution for it to be relevant politically. Perhaps if the French stay in Saint Domingue they can pass a law similar to the Civil Constitution of the Clergy (the law that subordinated Catholic priests to the French government). As the local marabouts would be considered subordinated to the government, the State will eventually require them to create a more institutionalized structure of their faith.
 
Hagre

Hagre

Mort the Reaper said:
Yes it is.
Click to expand...
I guess you could start with wanking Ethiopia (and/or a Garveyite Liberia) or having a Second Italo-Ethiopian War end in Ethiopian "victory" that reinforces the traditional Rastafarian belief of Haile Selassie being the messiah, the aforementioned messiah encouraging skilled Blacks from the New World to settle in Ethiopia. The latter was already happening IOTL and by 1933, there were around a hundred African-Americans who'd immigrated to Ethiopia to help modernize the country.
 
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