It was over 25 years ago that I was first introduced to the works of our beloved "Dr. Ben." I was a grass roots organizer for an anti-poverty program in Montgomery County (Dayton), Ohio. The late 60s and early 70s were turbulent times and many young black "revolutionaries" (including myself) had become disillusioned with religion. We believed as did Karl Marx that "religion was an opiate of the people" designed to anesthetize the minds of the many and line the pockets of the unscrupulous few. We preached that the so-called major western religions were white folk’s religions and offered the historically incorrect but universally accepted blond-haired, blue-eyed representation of Jesus Christ as proof that our enemy had become our deity. We quoted Dr. Carter G. Woodson, who said in his book, The Mis-education of the Negro, that the European destruction of African civilization was done under the guise of "saving souls." And we asked the rhetorical question, must one be dehumanized before one’s soul is saved? In retrospect, we had allowed someone else to define our reality.

Yoruba priestess, Iyanla Vanzant says your soul is saved when you accept that the spirit of God lives in you. She specifically says, "When you can look at yourself, accept who and what you are and love yourself unconditionally, your soul is saved. Your spirit is empowered." Dr. Ben’s African Origins of the Major "Western Religions" was one of the vehicles I used on my journey through Ifa to Olodumare and the empowerment of my spirit.

"For more than five decades, Dr. Yosef ben-Jochannan, a master teacher, researcher, author, lecturer, has led what has now become a mass effort to emphasize African contributions to the world." African Origins of the Major "Western Religions,: first published in 1970, continues to be one of Dr. Ben’s most thought-provoking works. "By highlighting the African influences and roots of these religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam), Dr. Ben reveals an untold history that many would prefer to forget."

His opening sentence sets the tone for the well-researched and documented work.

Dr. Ben says, "I shall show that Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are as much African as they are Asian in origin, and in no sense what-so-ever European as the title, "Western Religions" suggests;" Dr. Ben’s ultimate goal in this work is to show the definite links between exclusively indigenous traditional African religions with these so-called "Western Religions."

The first chapter is entitled, Shango: A Source of African Religions.
Dr. Ben shows how the "Mysteries of Egypt" were developed from the ancient religious rites of the indigenous Africans who once occupied the lands around the major great lakes of Central Africa and along the head-waters of the Nile River." And how the Mysteries of Egypt through the Egyptian Book of the Coming Forth by Day (Book of the Dead) gave rise to the so-called revealed religions. According to Dr. Ben, Olodumare , God of the Orishas was the brother of the God Ra (Egypt) the representative God of One who gave birth to the Gods of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

Chapter 2, St. Augustine: African Influence in Christianity (The "Christian Church Fathers"). Dr. Ben says the death of St Augustine in 430 C.E. was the major event in Christendom’s history which started the decline of power and control by the North African Church (the "Mother Church") In this chapter he discusses the influence St. Augustine and other indigenous Africans had on the development of the early Christian Church.

Chapter 3, Moses: African Influence on Judaism. In the introduction, Dr. Ben has warned that, "to say at this time that Moses of the Hebrew (Jewish) religion and peoples, was an indigenous African (Black or Negro), would create a catastrophic consternation among theological racists ……..This would not stop them from saying that "Moses was found floating down the Nile River in a bulrush basket." Dr. Ben says many people conveniently forget that the Nile River’s source begins in Uganda. In this chapter, Dr. Ben also juxtaposes works from the Egyptian Book of the Dead with the Holy Bible and writings attributed to Solomon with those of Egyptian Pharaohs.

Chapter 4, Bilal: African Influence on Islam.
Hadzart Bilal ibn Rahab know simply as Bilal to most Muslims was a "tall and skinny, frizzled-hair indigenous Black man (African) of Ethiopia, East Africa." Bilal, a former slave in Arabia was the Holy Prophet’s most ardent supporter and was responsible for the creation of much of what those of the Islamic faith believe about Heaven and also many of their original prayers and doctrines. Dr. Ben refers to Bilal as another Augustine with respect to his influence on the early development of Islam.

Chapter 5, King, Mohammed, Divine, Matthews and Garvey: Religious New Dimensions. Dr. Ben discusses the influence of Martin Luther King, The Honorable Elijah Muhammad, Father Divine, Rabbi Wentworth Matthews, and Marcus Garvey on the religious scene in America. He says that although most of them did not receive the "Good Negro Seal of Approval," from the allegedly white liberal middle-class community of the United States, their influence cannot be denied.

Conclusion:

Dr. Ben concludes that the term "Western Religions" "is a misnomer and is as racist as it sounds." "Western Religions" like "Greek Philosophy," cannot escape its indigenous African origin says Dr. Ben. His conclusion leads one back to his introduction where he poses what he calls the "first question:"

How much longer are we to remain outside of the religions we originated in our "Mysteries" in Egypt and other High-Cultures along the Nile?