Gospel singer and Pastor Travis Greene made headlines last October when he shared why he renounced his membership in the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity.
“I’m qualified to talk about this,” Green said in a video clip from a sermon at his Forward City Church. “I was the pole-mark of Kappa Alpha Psi at Georgia Southern University. God arrested me in my early twenties. I did not know why I was so bound by pride and by perversion. And God said, ‘Travis, it may be pledges you made over your own life. And so, I had to rebuke and reverse things I spoke over my own self.'”
Green’s decision to part ways with his fraternity is part of a growing movement among some African American Christians who believe that their partnership in historically black Greek organizations are forms of “idolatry” and involved “ungodly covenants.”
Dr. LaTanya Moore’s story went viral in 2023 when she cut ties to Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., which was founded in 1913 by a group of black women at Howard University.
According to its website, Delta, which boasts more than 350,000 initiated members and over 1,050 chartered chapters worldwide, aims “to promote academic excellence and provide assistance to those in need.”
“I was a Delta for almost 20 years,” Moore, a devout Christian, told CBN News.
She said, “It’s painted in a positive light. One does not understand the implications that are happening underneath, especially for Christians.”
“Every organization does have a deity and for Delta it’s Minerva,” Moore said. “And people think that when we say Minerva that it’s a term that’s lightly used. Well, actually Minerva is a Roman goddess, right, likened to the Greek goddess Athena. And so that goddess has meaning.”
She added, “Most people say, ‘Well, I didn’t bow to a Greek god.’ However, the moment that you took that oath, you did so to a Greek god, that deity, that worship that happened is by way of ritual. We’re only supposed to worship one God, the true and living God. However we see rituals, we see oaths. We even see oaths sang to the deity and to the organization and that goes against the Bible.”
Moore said part of pledging to Delta included bowing to an altar.
“The bowing and the kneeling happened at an altar, candles lit, there’s an altar that is set up and most organizations put a pillow under your knees and you bow also so that you can say the oath and sign your name on the dotted line. One would wonder why an altar is needed or why bowing is needed to say this oath.”
Moore also said God revealed that her connection to her sorority allowed evil into her life.
“One of the things that He told me is that this is deliverance. There were open doors that gave the enemy access to have his way in your bloodline.”
“God was giving me a choice,” she explained. “You can choose to continue to be part of this organization and keep this door open or you can close that door and receive what I have for you.”
She said when she renounced and denounced her membership miracles began to happen in her life.
“I had a lump in my breast that was supernaturally healed. He also allowed me to move in supernatural abundance.”
Meanwhile, Moore has faced pushback over her decision, something she sees as an opportunity to share the gospel.
“People would call me to confront me, many people I knew personally, and I would listen to them… I would listen and I would hear their grievances and I would hear how upset they were and the Lord would give me a prophetic word. And all of a sudden what they called to confront they ended up leaving crying because the Lord was giving insight and foresight,” she explained.
Moore said it’s not about denouncing Delta Sigma but about God’s deliverance.
“I chose in that moment to move forward, and say ‘I choose to leave this covenant and to be fully one with the true and living God,'” said Moore. “Now that you’ve closed the door, it brings about deliverance.”
Delta Sigma Theta could not be reached for comment on this story but in 2024 the organization posted a statement on social media saying “While social media tends to magnify outliers, individuals choosing to withdraw represent less than 1% of our membership.”
