Mather - Schmidt - Nichols - Encyclopedic Dictionary of Cults, Sects, and World Religions

Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2009. – 544 p.

ISBN: 978-0-310-86606-0

 

When the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America was added, it was agreed that Congress and government in general would not be actively supporting or participating in the establishment of religion, nor would it be in the business of prohibiting the free exercise thereof. Religious life in our newly formed country would never be the same thereafter. The religious milieu and the historical context in which the First Amendment was first applied were to the so-called "Judeo-Christian" (mostly Christian) heritage. Had this and many other books whose theme addresses American religious cults, sects, and new religions been written in the late 1700s, they would be considerably thinner volumes.

 

Changes over the centuries of this nation’s comparatively short history, however, have been voluminous. The nineteenth and twentieth centuries witnessed a veritable explosion of growth into the many denominations of Christendom. Adherents to the world religions and the cults have found a welcome home under the protection of the First Amendment. In just the thirteen years since the first edition of this volume (1993), the authors have labored to keep up with the rapid evolution of multifarious new religious groups that are constantly springing up.

 

In recent decades, words like "multiculturalism," "diversity," and "postmodernism" have become household nomenclature in religious dialogue or conversation. Many people today distinguish between religion and spirituality. The former is (negatively) associated with organized objective and structured forms of religious expression while many understand the latter as a mystical and liberating opportunity to tap into the inner soul in the quest for religious meaning independent of the extraneous discipline of objective religion.

 

In the words of Ronald Enroth, the writer of the foreword to our first volume, "religious freedom has allowed for and in fact encouraged, religious pluralism." Multiculturalism is a word that not only describes the cultural diversity of America, but the complete and total tolerance of religious diversity as well. All religions are considered equally valid or equally invalid—that is, if we press the meaning of postmodernism. In the postmodern outlook on life, truth (religious truth or otherwise) is not believed to lie in objective propositions contained in a sacred or even in a scientific text. Truth is simply not there to be encountered, apprehended, or discovered. Truth in a postmodern world is manufactured and contextualized, rendering a meaning for the moment to propositions and utterances.

 

The authors of this volume are committed to the belief that there is, in fact, objective truth that can be discovered or encountered. We know that Christianity’s claim that the Bible is God’s inspired Word, providentially preserved in the sacred texts of both the Old and New Testaments, is the truth. We know that there is an answer to Pilate’s question, "What is truth?" (John 18:38), and Thomas’s confusion (John 14:5) and his doubt (John 20:24–29). The answer we moderns of the early twenty-first century give is that Jesus Christ is "the way, the truth and the life" (John 14:6). Our volume attempts to present this central truth to those who believe a host of other competing claims, whether it be the vague spirituality of the New Age Movement, the various "enlightenments" of Hindu and Buddhist gurus, the utopia of Mormonism, or the dark world of magic, neopaganism, satanism, and witchcraft.

 

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FIVE PERCENTERS; GODS AND EARTHS

 

Five-Percenters are a small yet somewhat popular asect of the NATION OF ISLAM.

 

HISTORY

A man by the name of ClarenceX (d. 1969) began to teach that the Black Man was the god race of the universe and women are the earths of the universe. This splinter group claims that its origins were in aMecca. His teaching, considered much too radical, resulted in his suspension from the Nation of Islam. He then went on to found the Five Percent Nation of Islam in 1964. Followers called him Father Allah. He died in 1969, the causes of which were considered questionable.

 

TEACHINGS

The basic belief that ClarenceX taught his followers was that the black race is superior and was the original race. Eighty-five percent of the world’s peoples are ignorant of divinity; 10 percent are the power-hungered corrupted rulers over the 85 percent, but they purposely hide the truth. The remaining 5 percent are the true and devoted followers of aAllah; they know and live the truth. These teachings are called Supreme Mathematics.

 

The basic tenets of Five Percenters are as follows:

• Black people are the original people of this planet.

• Black people are the fathers and mothers of civilization.

• The science of Supreme Mathematics is the key to understanding humanity’s relationship to the universe.

• Islam is a natural way of life, not a religion.

• Education should be fashioned to enable us to be self-sufficient as a people.

• Each one should teach one according to their knowledge.

• The black man is god and his proper name is ALLAH: Arm, Leg, Leg, Arm, Head.

• Our children are our link to the future and they must be nurtured, respected, loved, protected, and educated.

• The unified black family is the vital building block of the nation.

 

CONCLUSION

Five Percenters’ beliefs and propaganda are spread through various pop-culture modicums, including rap music. Popular groups include King Sun, The Supreme Team, Lakim Shabazz, Rakim Allah, Brand Nubian, and The Poor Righteous Teachers.

 

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Notes