BOOKS & REVIEW | The Belief Factor- And the White Superiority Syndrome
The Belief Factor- And the White Superiority Syndrome
How do we learn to believe that White people are “smarter,” “better,” and “more beautiful” than Black people? This book, _The Belief Factor and the White Superiority Syndrome_, explains how both Blacks and Whites acquire the White Superiority Syndrome: a belief or sense that White people are superior to Black people. This book explains how the White Superiority Syndrome is a direct fall-out of the religious icons and teachings of Christianity that place one aspect of the Deity, the God-force of life, in the form of a white male humanoid. This book explains that, absent some intervening agent or action, the picturing of God as a White Male humanoid is the root catalyst leading to a sense of superiority, and racism on the part of many White people, and to a sense of inadequacy and inferiority on the part of many Black people. The book makes it clear that the racial discriminations that are learned are not necessarily directly taught but are acquired subliminally from the belief system, its props, and the societal milieu.
This book details a process that will neutralize the subliminal learning that now leads to the White Superiority Syndrome. This book notes it is the Black man’s burden to change certain aspects of his adopted Christian belief system and of his way of “seeing” God, if he ever wishes to free himself of the inevitable sense of inferiority that he now experiences and to eliminate the roots of racism.
The Belief Factor and the White Superiority Syndrome_ is a “must read” for students and teachers of race relations, social stratification, student achievement, and urban education; and for all Christians, both Black and White, who want to understand why their religion has not yet freed them from racism. Readers will gain insight into and a better appreciation for the everyday power and politics of the mind.
In this book, Dr. Bell explains how the notion of white superiority is in part subliminally acquired from Christian Trinitarian beliefs. Dr. Bell cites scholarly references as he asserts that the Christian Trinitarian dogma that GOD (the Creator) has a Begotten Son (Jesus), who for centuries has been pictured as a White man is a key subliminal catalyst that promotes a White Superiority Syndrome in both Black and White people.
The book explains how this Trinitarian dogma and its accompanying icons prompt a sense of empowerment and superiority in White people and a sense of inadequacy and inferiority in Black people. Dr. Bell describes the low self-esteem and the negative educational, social, political, and cultural manifestations of Black people who have been blemished by the White Superiority Syndrome.
Dr. Bell notes that the Black Christian Church is the prime “carrier” or “pusher” of the Trinitarian dogma in the Black community. He stresses that if the Black man is to ever psychologically free himself from his sense of racial inferiority, the Black Church must stop preaching and teaching the Trinitarian dogma of its adopted Christian belief system.
ORDER NOW @
Amazon customer reviews from the United States
by Joyce D
Reviewed in the United States on August 13, 2003
(5) star rating
Outstanding!!!
Good reasoning as to why and how religion has taken over the way people think about race. It includes statistics and quotes. It looks at both blacks and whites. As a white person, I don’t think it is pointing a finger at us primarily the way many books on race do, though history is used to point out the facts about how racism developed within institutions. It encourages everyone to think outside of the traditional religion box.
by D. Streeter
Reviewed in the United States on January 10, 2007
(5) star rating
“Belief Factor” Thumbs up!!
The book speaks directly to African Americans, I’m so glade that he said what so many of us have been thinking for years about Christianity. A wise man by the name of Elijah Mohammad said that “Christianity as practice in the America, is a slave making religion” this book backs that fact up. The black church today doesn’t teach how to be free; it teaches us how to submit to man, the White man and not to God. Hope he writes another book soon.
The Author
Christopher C. Bell Jr. is an essayist, a poet, a lecturer on public education and race-related subjects, a Doctor of Education, and a retired U.S. Army major who served as an army lieutenant in Germany in the 1950s. After retiring from the army, he began his civilian career and served as an education administrator and management analyst in the District of Columbia Public School System and the Federal government.