What You Didn’t Know…

Man’s Head

Ever since I was a child, I remember adults telling me it is disrespectful for a man to wear a hat on his head in a building. I never received the why behind this practice and never asked. I was confused because I couldn’t understand why it was offensive. Was I offending the building, the hat, or my head? There is no law nor a scripture that says this is a bad thing. Then I realized Americans have the dumb habit of repeating what they have been told without figuring out the origins of a practice. So, of course, I decided to do some research and found out as always, Americans repeated a lie without knowing it. First let’s start with the bible. Many Christians believe women should cover their head when they enter church and a man should remove his covering. When you read the bible (the complete chapter) you find out that this is NOT true . In 1 Corinthians chapter 11, when the church folk write Paul a letter asking if women need to cover and men need to uncover, Paul returns a letter repeating their custom and then answering with the following scripture; (16) “But if any man seem to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the churches of God. Most Christians did not notice verse 16, which specifically says, that practice is not in the church.” In other words, I am not sure where you got that idea, but there is no such custom or practice required in the church. So, we know that it is not required by YHWH. So, now we need to figure out where did this custom begin. In my research I found out the original practice was not, “a male must remove his hat when entering a building,” but indeed it was, “a soldier must remove his helmet when entering a building.” Back in the days when soldiers were only men and wore armor, sometimes the enemy would enter buildings with his helmet on. He would destroy the place killing many people, and the governors and king would ask, why did you allow the enemy inside. The response was, we didn’t know he was the enemy, he kept his helmet on, we had no clue who he was. It was then that it became mandatory for all men (soldiers) to remover their war helmets before entering a building so their face could be seen. The practice was not only for men, but for women as well. Any time a woman wore a hat with a scarf over it to keep the wind from knocking off the hat, she would remove the scarf when entering a building to reveal her face. Furthermore, banks today have signs that have remove hats, sunglasses, and hoodies before entering. Again, that has nothing to do with head covering, but to do with the face. Anyone who has common sense (which is not many in America) could understand it has everything to do with the fact that bank robbers usually where hats, sunglasses, and hoodies. The removal of those items assures the bank that you are a banker and not a robber. It also assures that everyone who enters the bank, their face will be captured by the cameras. So, there is nothing wrong with men wearing a hat inside a building. The proper practice is it is disrespectful to enter a building with your face covered. So, the next time you decide to repeat what you have heard research it. America has a habit, a bad habit, of repeating practices and traditions that are useless and just wrong. It is time we stop forcing the next generation to repeat practices that are untrue .

Final Note: I remind you again to research everything before you believe it. Research/education is FREE thanks to the library…and YouTube.