Orthodox Christian

Orthodox Christian


A panorama view of the University of Gondar in Gondar, Ethiopia, where I am from


I was raised Orthodox Christian in an Ethiopian family that migrated to the U.S. Even now, my Ethiopian heritage feels linked to my Orthodox Christian religion. However, this reality is difficult for me to articulate because of how the U.S. perceives Christianity and my communities. Here, Christianity is largely associated with the Western-Judeo variety that white European settlers brought to the Americas and around the world through colonization and slavery. The first Christian religion, Eastern-Orthodox Christianity, existed long before this and is said to have originated around modern-day Ethiopia, the location of the first human civilization in the world. This Christianity, traced back as far as 300 A.D., is said to have been brought to Ethiopia by Arabs, although I am uncertain of the exact story. Today, Orthodox Christianity is practiced in Ethiopia as well as Greece, Armenia, Syria, Palestine, Russia and more.

Religion is still one of the most divisive issues around the world and one of the most contentious. I would be remiss not to acknowledge that Ethiopia is not an Orthodox Christian nation, but contains people that believe in other sects of Christianity as well as Muslims and Ethiopian Jews. In the U.S., Europe and other parts of the world where Christians are the majority, Muslims are oppressed due to Islamophobia. I have heard of discrimination against religious minorities in Ethiopia, both Muslim and Jewish. But I grew up in the Islamophobic climate of the U.S. Due to my Ethiopian heritage, I have experienced Islamophobia even though I am not Muslim. I have heard accounts of other Ethiopians and East Africans that have faced Islamophobic violence due to their heritage, even when they are not necessarily Muslim. This is because East Africans sometimes have distinct features that are read as ambiguous in other parts of the world, and are sometimes perceived as Arab.

As I have mentioned in a previous blog post, the U.S. and the rest of the West closely associate Islam with people of Arab heritage. This means that Black Muslims like Somali and Sudanese Muslims are brushed over and erased from the Islam conversation (and yet managed to make it onto different iterations of the Muslim ban). Even with this state of affairs, myself, other Ethiopians and East Africans are still perceived as Muslim when our facial features are read as Arab. This is a good time to point out that like Ethiopians, Arabs can be Christian, Muslim or Jewish, despite their type-casting as Muslim. As a result, there is a great deal of solidarity throughout Eastern Muslim, Christian and Jewish diasporas. Although I am Orthodox Christian, my experience of Islamophobia in the U.S. as well as my knowledge of Ethiopian and other East African Muslims (and the diaspora) gives me a sense of solidarity with all Muslims. This has led to my organizing against Islamophobia in the U.S. and the West. 

I still identify as Orthodox Christian in relation to my upbringing and my Ethiopian heritage. However, along with my native Ethiopian tongue, Amharic, a lot got lost in the fray. Most of what I believe, including in Jesus Christ, Mary, Joseph and the Holy Spirit, I gathered from the biblical children's stories I was given as a child and the English translations provided in the Orthodox Ethiopian church. I am currently reading the bible; but I have always identified as more spiritual than devoutly religious. This is because I do not believe everything in the bible or the homophobic, sexist and otherwise hateful rhetoric. I believe in the Jesus Christ that was a poor Palestinian refugee that created miracles, kept company with prostitutes and preached love, kindness and better treatment of the poor.   
Hyphenated Ethiopian third culture kid. Twitter: @moonchereka

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Post-Grad Part II

Post-Grad Part II When I wrote my first Post-Grad blog post I really felt like I had reached the end of the marathon to end all marathons and that the struggle would be unparalleled. Now that I am nearing the end of my second post-grad phase (after I earned my Master's degree in England), I now know that the post-grad struggle knows no bounds. I can say that my second post-grad phase was just as challenging as my first one: in fact, it was a continuation of it.  The start of my second post-grad experience is excellently summed up by this article " The Hardest Part of Traveling No One Talks About ." You are on a complete high and "then you return home, have your reunions, spend your first two weeks meeting with family and friends, catch up, tell stories, etc. You're Hollywood for the first few weeks back and it's all new and exciting. And then it all just...goes away. Everyone gets used to you being at home, you're not the shiny new object
Read more

What Decolonization Means to Me

What Decolonization Means to Me Decolonization means centering Black and Indigenous people Decolonization means acknowledging that anti-Indigenous and anti-African sentiment are synonymous and exist Decolonization means acknowledging that African and Indigenous people exist and are still subjected to colonialism, including in the United States Decolonization means recognizing and working to stem the national crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, MMIW in conjunction with Indigenous struggles around the world Decolonization means recognizing that the MMIW crisis is fueled by colonialism and the devaluation of Indigenous people that feeds misogynoir and violence against women, non-binary and queer folks Decolonization means remembering that African and Indigenous women are revered and central figures in many African and Indigenous cultures Decolonization means recognizing all of the ways the settler state was formed and still profits at the expense
Read more

"Obesity," the Medical Industry and the "Health" conversation

"Obesity," the Medical Industry and the "Health" conversation I recently read a Tweet by a doctor (that happened to be both white and male) about how he can no longer remain quiet when people equate "obesity" with good health. The tweet contained pictures of the hearts of what are presumably two deceased patients. There is no explanation of their causes of death or the circumstances surrounding their deaths. "I don't condone body shaming. Beauty is skin deep but fat deposits go straight to your inner organs," doc says. Wow, my mind immediately thinks 1. Medical malpractice - who are these unknown deceased people, can one even consent to having your inner organs publicly shamed by medical practitioners in death, and uh-oh, I hope this Dr. didn't kill these people - in any case I would never make an appointment with him.  This Tweet inspired me to break down the hypocrisies of the medical industrial complex, which I wi
Read more