The curse of Ham (also called the curse of Canaan) refers to the curse that Noah placed upon Canaan (the son of Ham) after Ham had done something to Noah while Noah was naked and unconscious because of drunkenness in his tent. Noah or Nóach (Rest, Standard Hebrew נוֹחַ Nóaḥ, Tiberian Hebrew נֹחַ Nōªḥ; Arabic نوح Nūḥ), son of Lamech and the grandson of Methuselah, built an ark to save his family and a selection of the worlds animals from the Deluge. ... Canaan or Knáan (Arabic کنعان, Kanʻān, Hebrew כְּנַעַן / כְּנָעַן, Kənáʻan / Kənāʻan; Septuagint Greek Χανααν, Khanaan) is an ancient term for a region roughly corresponding to present-day Israel, the West Bank, western Jordan, southern and coastal Syria and Lebanon continuing up until the border of modern Turkey. ... Ham (חָם, Standard Hebrew Ḥam, Tiberian Hebrew Ḥām, Ḫām, Geez ካም Kam: possibly warm; hot), according to the Genealogies of Genesis, was a son of Noah and the father of Cush, Mizraim, Phut, and Canaan. ...

Most Biblical scholars see the curse of Ham story as an early Hebrew rationalization for Israel's conquest and enslavement of the Canaanites, who were presumed to descend from Canaan. Canaanite can describe anything pertaining to Canaan: in particular, its languages and inhabitants. ...

Much more controversially, however, the "curse of Ham" has been used by some members of major Abrahamic religions to justify racism and the enslavement of people of African ancestry, who were thought to be descendants of Ham, either through Canaan or his older brothers. This racialist theory was common during the 18th-20th centuries, but has been largely abandoned even by the most conservative theologians since the mid-20th century. Abrahamic religion is a term used by some students of comparative religion to describe any religion derived from an ancient Semitic tradition traceable to Abraham -- a patriarch described in the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament, and the Quran. ... A black man drinks out of a water fountain designated for black people in 1939 at a streetcar terminal. ... A monument celebrating the emancipation of slaves in the British Empire in 1834, erected in Victoria Tower Gardens, Millbank, Westminster, London Slavery is a condition of control over a person, known as a slave, that can be enforced by violence or other forms of coercion against his or her will. ... World map showing location of Africa A satellite composite image of Africa Africa is the worlds second_largest continent in both area and population, after Asia. ... Canaan or Knáan (Arabic کنعان, Kanʻān, Hebrew כְּנַעַן / כְּנָעַן, KÉ™náʻan / KÉ™nāʻan; Septuagint Greek Χανααν, Khanaan) is an ancient term for a region roughly corresponding to present-day Israel, the West Bank, western Jordan, southern and coastal Syria and Lebanon continuing up until the border of modern Turkey. ... (17th century - 18th century - 19th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 18th century refers to the century that lasted from 1701 through 1800. ... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999 in the... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999 in the...

Scriptural source

The source of the "curse of Ham" theology comes from Book of Genesis 9:20-27, which deals with the story of Noah's family, soon after the flood: Genesis (Greek: Γένεσις, having the meanings of birth, creation, cause, beginning, source and origin) is the first book of the Torah (five books of Moses) and hence the first book of the Tanakh, part of the Hebrew Bible; it is also the first book of the Christian Old Testament. ... Noah or Nóach (Rest, Standard Hebrew נוֹחַ Nóaḥ, Tiberian Hebrew נֹחַ Nōªḥ; Arabic نوح Nūḥ), son of Lamech and the grandson of Methuselah, built an ark to save his family and a selection of the worlds animals from the Deluge. ... The Deluge by Gustave Doré The story of a Great Flood sent by God or gods to destroy civilization is a widespread but not universal theme in myth. ...

20 And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard: 21 And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent. 22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without. 23 And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness. 24 And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him. 25 And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. 26 And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. 27 God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.

Mormon Church

Main article: Blacks and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Joseph Smith Jr., founder of the Mormon church, viewed American slavery as a result of the Curse of Caanan. ^{Citation needed} The Curse of Ham as taught by leaders of the church was that Caanan's children could not hold the priesthood. Like many predominantly white Christian churches, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church; see also Mormon) has held controversial positions on the issue of race, and the LDS Church had a general policy of racial exclusion from their priesthood from 1849 to 1978, long after most...

Brigham Young, Smith's successor after the latter's death, had further instituted the belief that the Curse of Caanan was on the Black race, even to the point that Ethiopian and Yemeni Jews were denied the blessings of Jewish heritage due to their own Black-African ancestry. Other church leaders had taught that Ham, who preserved the "blood of the Canaanites",[1] was cursed for taking Noah's Temple garment (see Genesis 9:22 [2]) without authorization and using them to re-create some temple rites, also without authorization. Because of this, Ham and his posterity were cursed from holding the priesthood and from participating in temple rituals (much like some of Aaron's descendants and Saul who lost the kingship of Israel for his posterity for performing unauthorized sacrifices - see 1 Samuel 15-16 [3]). As the sacred text states that Ham's descendants settled in Egypt after the flood, Mormon apologists often use this as an argument in favour of the similarity between some Egyptian rituals and some Mormon temple rites, often overlooking the fact that the Egyptians were themselves partakers of the curse and should not have been performing these rituals, let alone being the examples of modern Mormon rituals. In any case, Pharoh's descendants were not to hold the priesthood, according to this teaching of the Curse of Ham. In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and a few other sects of Mormonism, the temple garment (formally the Garment of the Holy Priesthood or informally, the garment or garments) is a set of sacred underclothing worn by male and female Latter-day Saints who...

References

• David M. Goldenberg (2003). The Curse of Ham: Race and Slavery in Early Judaism, Christianity, and Islam (Jews, Christians, and Muslims from the Ancient to the Modern World). Princeton Univ. Press. ISBN 0-691-11465-X.
• Stephen R. Haynes (2002). Noah's Curse: The Biblical Justification of American Slavery. Oxford Univ. Press. ISBN 0-19-514279-9.

Related articles

• Curse of Cain

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External links

• Messenger and Advocate
• Sermon on seperate heavens and race relations in Mississippi
• Biblical racism