Michael Jackson and African American Syncretism

Eric Redmond has an interesting post called, The Gray Matter of African American Syncretism: Giving Honor to the King of Pop. His conclusion:

The death of Jackson shows that African American syncretism never was; in truth, what appears to be syncretism is a comfortable atheism. Many African American church-goers are fine with Christianity as long as we, as African Americans, can bring our cultural gods with us. We see no problem with our secular artists, their words or their behavior, as long as our fellow church members see God’s blessings as being consistent with our entertainers’ debauchery. Yet, I hope that the death of Jackson will help awaken the Black Church out of its syncretism—that we will view the lives of entertainers with discernment rather than with bliss, and give worship to the King of Kings alone. Only one of them is immortal, and he is to be worshipped. This should not be a gray matter. This should be a no-brainer.

Read the whole thing.