
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, July 28, 1990                   TAG: 9007280053
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: E-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: GREENSBORO, N.C.                                LENGTH: Short

MINISTER CITES AFRICAN INVOLVEMENT IN BIBLE

African places and people are involved throughout the Bible, a United Church of Christ minister told a conference of black Christians, saying they should take pride in that heritage.

"Christianity is not just something we learned in slavery in America," said the Rev. G. Wesley Raney of Daytona, Beach, Fla. "We were present from the very start, in biblical times."

He said African references occur from start to finish - from the Garden of Eden linked to a river around the land of Cush, which means "black" and represents Ethiopia, to African church leaders who ordained the apostle Paul.

He said other biblical terms denoting people with dark skin include Ham, Hamite, Hittite, Put, Libya, Nimrod, Jebusite, Amorite and Sheba.

- Associated Press

by CNB