Kemetic Culture

[SeekerWillie]

One of my co-workers was born in a war-torn area of Africa and came to the US with her family when she was about middle-school age. She was raised Catholic and until about two or three years ago was still practicing her faith.

During the past year or so, she has been exposed to Kemetic Culture and has embraced it. She is now openly mocking any expressions of Christianity, and she posts diatribes on FaceBook about how Europeans stole the Egyptian culture and repurposed it in order to enslave the people of Kemet. One of her recent postings was a video of a man talking about how the Council of Nicea created Jesus.

I’m still a fairly new Catholic (it’s been nearly two years since I crossed the Tiber, thanks be to God) and am unsure how to respond to the things she says and posts. I tried to listen to the video about the Council of Nicea, but I kept thinking, “What a load of hooey!” Of course, I am a white woman of European ancestry, so according to the man speaking in the video, I am unwilling and unable to “get it.” I am “the new kid on the block” as far as civilization goes.

Has anyone else been exposed to these thoughts and beliefs? Any advice on how to process all of this?

I pray for my co-worker often, for her to find her way back to the faith. For now, that’s all I feel I can do.

 

[QuestLove]

Believe me these are not unique thoughts or beliefs especially if you are not from a european culture.
You will find that many times people may feel conflicted about identifying with a religion that was the religion of an oppressive force. Unfortunately that is how it is. Once you get older and have a little more perspective, you find that people often use religion to justify evil acts. So I would not try to judge her but just try and understand her because she may eventually find her way back to the church.
Trying to lecture is unfortunately not going to solve the problem. Just pray for her .

 

[midori]

I wanted to be an Egyptologist when I was in high school.

The bartender at my workplace had a lot to say about Egypt. Things like, “You know Cleopatra was black.” And I’m like, “Uh, Cleopatra was Greek. She was a Ptolemy, which was the dynasty that was descended from Alexander the Great’s general.” But nothing I could say could make him believe anything but the fact that Cleopatra was black. He didn’t have any interest in chatting about the 25th Dynasty, for example— the Nubian/Kushite rule over Egypt, before it fell to Assyrian conquest-- it had to be Cleopatra.

So— I don’t know if that was really true Kemeticism or not, since Kemeticism is Afro-Centric neo-pagan’ish —but I think there’s a lot of overlap between what you ran into and what my coworker embraced. And one of the bits in common is a total disregard for the historic record, and the invention of facts out of thin air that support what they want to believe, along with a healthy dose of persecution complex.

I think you might be doing the right thing with your current approach to the situation.

 

[NormalBeliever]

One of my co-workers was born in a war-torn area of Africa and came to the US with her family when she was about middle-school age. She was raised Catholic and until about two or three years ago was still practicing her faith.

During the past year or so, she has been exposed to Kemetic Culture and has embraced it. She is now openly mocking any expressions of Christianity, and she posts diatribes on FaceBook about how Europeans stole the Egyptian culture and repurposed it in order to enslave the people of Kemet. One of her recent postings was a video of a man talking about how the Council of Nicea created Jesus.

I’m still a fairly new Catholic (it’s been nearly two years since I crossed the Tiber, thanks be to God) and am unsure how to respond to the things she says and posts. I tried to listen to the video about the Council of Nicea, but I kept thinking, “What a load of hooey!” Of course, I am a white woman of European ancestry, so according to the man speaking in the video, I am unwilling and unable to “get it.” I am “the new kid on the block” as far as civilization goes.

Has anyone else been exposed to these thoughts and beliefs? Any advice on how to process all of this?

I pray for my co-worker often, for her to find her way back to the faith. For now, that’s all I feel I can do.

Wait, do you mean she is a Kemetic?Like someone who believes the ancient egyptian religion is true and practices it?

 

[SeekerWillie]

Believe me these are not unique thoughts or beliefs especially if you are not from a european culture.
You will find that many times people may feel conflicted about identifying with a religion that was the religion of an oppressive force. Unfortunately that is how it is. Once you get older and have a little more perspective, you find that people often use religion to justify evil acts. So I would not try to judge her but just try and understand her because she may eventually find her way back to the church.
Trying to lecture is unfortunately not going to solve the problem. Just pray for her .

Oh, please know I’m not trying to judge her and have no intention of lecturing her. In fact, I often feel that she is judging me and finding me beneath her because of my beliefs. One of her recent FB posts began, “Still worshiping JESUS?” talked about the Council of Nicea inventing Jesus, and ended with “Stop following the corrupt blind man and think. Embrace PURE knowledge.”

I do feel that this is, in large part, a way for her to maintain her connection with her homeland. Things have been very unstable there lately, and I know the situation weighs on her heart, especially as she still has family there. I know that to her, this makes sense. I don’t get the sense that any of this new knowledge is making her happy, and it makes me sad to see her go from a kind, gentle soul to someone who has turned her back on everything she used to believe. And I’m hoping to find a gentle way to respond to her when she confronts me. With the way things are going, I believe it’s not “if” she confronts me, but a matter of “when.”

Out of curiosity, how old do I have to get to gain perspective? I’m 55 now. My co-worker is in her 30s. (Please, no need to respond to that. I’m teasing.)

 

[SeekerWillie]

I wanted to be an Egyptologist when I was in high school.

The bartender at my workplace had a lot to say about Egypt. Things like, “You know Cleopatra was black.” And I’m like, “Uh, Cleopatra was Greek. She was a Ptolemy, which was the dynasty that was descended from Alexander the Great’s general.” But nothing I could say could make him believe anything but the fact that Cleopatra was black. He didn’t have any interest in chatting about the 25th Dynasty, for example— the Nubian/Kushite rule over Egypt, before it fell to Assyrian conquest-- it had to be Cleopatra.

So— I don’t know if that was really true Kemeticism or not, since Kemeticism is Afro-Centric neo-pagan’ish —but I think there’s a lot of overlap between what you ran into and what my coworker embraced. And one of the bits in common is a total disregard for the historic record, and the invention of facts out of thin air that support what they want to believe, along with a healthy dose of persecution complex.

I think you might be doing the right thing with your current approach to the situation.

It does sound like the bartender and my co-worker have studied some of the same sources. I’ve watched some of the videos she’s posted to FB, and the speakers tend to be very persuasive, so even when I’m 99% sure they’re re-writing history–or claiming to have evidence for something for which no evidence could possibly exist–they make it sound convincing. And wow, is the persecution complex a LARGE part of it!

As I mentioned in the response above, my gut tells me that this is part of her way of coping with being so far from what is, for her, her true home…with missing her home and being naturally concerned about the state of affairs there. I can’t even imagine how that feels.

I suspect that when the confrontation comes, I’ll gently remind her that I went seeking for the truth several years ago myself, and I found my truth in the beauty of Catholicism. And I might have to gently remind her that even if she no longer believes in Jesus, he still believes in her and loves her.

 

[SeekerWillie]

Wait, do you mean she is a Kemetic?Like someone who believes the ancient egyptian religion is true and practices it?

It certainly seems so. She’s studying at a place devoted to “promoting and preserving Kem culture,” and she’s made reference to the 77 Commandments.

 

[OrdinaryMelkite]

It certainly seems so. She’s studying at a place devoted to “promoting and preserving Kem culture,” and she’s made reference to the 77 Commandments.

KEMET is the Ancient Egyptian name for Egypt. Means “Black Earth.”

I know somewhat about Egypt and you should also know the names of the Gods (Isis, Osiris, Thoth, etc.) are actually the Greek names for the Gods. The Kemetic names are different. Horus, for instance, is actually Heru. Isis is actually Aset.

Anyway, I pray for you and for her and I tend to agree with a poster above that you should continue on with the way you are doing regarding her.

 

[OrdinaryMelkite]

It certainly seems so. She’s studying at a place devoted to “promoting and preserving Kem culture,” and she’s made reference to the 77 Commandments.

I don’t know about 77 commandments, but there is something called the “Negative Confession,” which are 42 commandments/oaths that an Egyptian would swear before the tribunal of Gods after death when the soul was being judged worthy of an afterlife that some Egyptologists believe was one of the ancestors of the Ten Commandments. “I have not killed, I have not stolen,” so on and so forth. You may want to look it up. I have no idea about 77 commandments.

 

[SeekerWillie]

I don’t know about 77 commandments, but there is something called the “Negative Confession,” which are 42 commandments/oaths that an Egyptian would swear before the tribunal of Gods after death when the soul was being judged worthy of an afterlife that some Egyptologists believe was one of the ancestors of the Ten Commandments. “I have not killed, I have not stolen,” so on and so forth. You may want to look it up. I have no idea about 77 commandments.

Thank you for this information, and in your previous post. The 77 commandments seem to be the code of conduct where she is studying.

I haven’t done enough reading about this particular belief system, but at first I wondered if it was sort of along the lines of modern druidism–loosely based upon the ancient beliefs, but not an unbroken continuation of the old beliefs. Or perhaps Wicca. I learned the hard way that it’s not without consequence to mention to a Wiccan that their religious is “modern.”

 

[QuestLove]

Oh, please know I’m not trying to judge her and have no intention of lecturing her. In fact, I often feel that she is judging me and finding me beneath her because of my beliefs. One of her recent FB posts began, “Still worshiping JESUS?” talked about the Council of Nicea inventing Jesus, and ended with “Stop following the corrupt blind man and think. Embrace PURE knowledge.”

I do feel that this is, in large part, a way for her to maintain her connection with her homeland. Things have been very unstable there lately, and I know the situation weighs on her heart, especially as she still has family there. I know that to her, this makes sense. I don’t get the sense that any of this new knowledge is making her happy, and it makes me sad to see her go from a kind, gentle soul to someone who has turned her back on everything she used to believe. And I’m hoping to find a gentle way to respond to her when she confronts me. With the way things are going, I believe it’s not “if” she confronts me, but a matter of “when.”

Out of curiosity, how old do I have to get to gain perspective? I’m 55 now. My co-worker is in her 30s. (Please, no need to respond to that. I’m teasing.)

You are quite right Some people never get gain perspective.
I have friends who are in their 40’s and still never do.
But how I would deal with it is to set boundaries. It appears that you guys disagree on this perspective so have her respect your views and you respect hers.
I have friends and family members who have different views than I do on religion and many other issues. We still have to coexist. We just don’t debate certain things because I am not about to change my view and I don’t think they are either.