Isaac Hayes an Example of Christianity's Lack?

Our "community" lost two precious souls in two days: Bernie Mac and Isaac Hayes.

I am still reeling from the shock.

So, when I read David Waters' piece on Isaac Hayes in the "Under God" section of the Washington Post's "On Faith" blog, I was ready to just absorb some warm, wonderful memories about the legendary singer.

That's not what I absorbed, but, rather, the news (to me) that he was a Scientologist.

Ever since Tom Cruise went on Oprah and acted a "plum fool," as my mother would say, followed by an even less appealing appearance with Matt Lauer on the "Today" show, I have been less than impressed with Scientology.

I looked into a little bit, because Tom Cruise was so adamant and so ... unmovable ... in his interview with Lauer. I knew a little bit about L. Ron Hubbard and what he taught, but not all that much. What bothered me is that Scientology seemed to be so secretive, and I get really uncomfortable and suspicious when people or religions or institutions don't want to tell what they're about.

So, I really didn't learn all that much about Scientology, but I didn't expect to; I blew it off as the religion for celebrities. I knew that Scientologists believe that the immortal souls of humans pass from one body to another over and over. When person dies, Hubbard taught, his or her soul (or thetan) goes to Venus and stays through the process of the soul's revisitation in other people.

Celebrities seem to almost never be involved in organized religion. They seem to be more concerned with spiritualism and other ways to connect with "the Higher Power."

So, I was surprised when I read Waters' piece that said Hayes was a Scientologist. I didn't know that.

But something in Waters' article really got me. He wrote that Hayes was not in the least concerned that people were concerned about his involvement in Scientology. Waters said that Hayes grew up "Baptistcostal," meaning he was equally Baptist and Pentecostal. He grew up, in other words, in organized religion, in the Black church.

And it, the Black Church, apparently didn't do it for him.

In Waters' piece, he recounts what Hayes said in a 1998 interview that when he started taking Scientology courses, his life changed. Things started happening for him. He was empowered; "I started pulling in all kinds of wonderful jobs," he is reported to have said. Being a Scientologist was the key to his survival, he said, and he wasn't ashamed of it, not one bit.

That made me think, because for so long, too long, actually, I have been concerned about Christianity and its ultimate ability to empower people. To me, with churches on every corner and Jesus as the resurrected savior, nobody, but especially us religious black folks, ought to be less than empowered. To me, Christianity, as put forth by Jesus the Christ, is empowering. Paul wrote "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." I believe that.

So what's up? Why do we as Christians keep ending up in the same saucers, singing the same songs and complaining the same complaints? With a church on every corner, why are we still wringing our hands in despair because "life ain't been no crystal stair?" Why are our young men still being gunned down or ending up making more people rich in the "prison for profit" system?

Christians criticize the Muslims, but Muslims have been able to empower scores of young African American men. Why doesn't Christianity have that same record? Or am I wrong? Am I missing something? It just seems that we shout on Sundays but keep going back to the same corner, singing the same old elegies, over and over.

If Jesus is Lord and Savior, then scores of Christians ought to have an "Isaac Hayes testimony." Organized religion, all of them, have their foibles and problems, but all organized religion ought to have a victory chant, one that shows those searching for answers and meaning that their religion really does make a difference.

I am not decrying or putting down or minimizing those whose lives have been touched and changed by Christianity.

I just think the numbers ought to be higher.

Have a good week.

Pastor Smith

By Susan K. Smith  |  August 12, 2008; 2:00 PM ET
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