3 Answers

Probably pointing to God who they think is in the sky. The ancients thought so too when they prayed to the many Gods in the sky. 

Because at the end of each service they throw donuts out to all the parishioners.

Colleen

Bwahahahaha! Sorry church people but this is funny.

A Little Black History On Holdin' UpThe Index Finger In Church

Here are some of the reasons people gave for holding up the index finger in church.
1. It is a way of excusing oneself for any reason...it could even be to make or receive an important phone call. The communication is between the person exiting and the speaker. It's like saying, "I don't mean to be rude, I need to excuse myself, but I will be returning momentarily." No index finger raised could mean anything, and most likely would indicate that the person would NOT be returning. Obviously, a person would not want to speak out in church or any other social gathering where there is a speaker and an audience, so it's just being polite to the audience and speaker, or in this case, minister of the church. I will add that this curtesy has pretty much become a thing of the past
2. I think this dates back to the old days when you had to hold your hand up in school. It is just a mannerism that has been passed down from generation to generation asking for permission to be excused, regardless of the reason
3. It signifies to the other members of the congregation that all they need to do is go number one. 2 fingers would be number two
4. it's better than saying hold on a minute, rev, i gotta crap!! they do that at my church too
5. They are sayin....hold on God I got to take a bathroom break
6. The index finger up means "just a second," in this context, "I'll be right back."
7. its polite, its gets ppls attention and u dont have to shout out "i need a **** or piss" to everybody
O.K., years ago I took an African American history course and what I learned is that during the time of slavery the slaves had to lift up the index finger as indication to the slave master that they wanted permission to go to the bathroom,
Yes, it was during church service but remember in those days the slave master choose who would speak and what was to be said during service and you did not have the freedom to just get up and go anywhere you wanted.
The use of the index finger is carried over from slavery! Todays, pastors don't care whether you have to go to the bathroom or not and lifting up the index finger as an indication is confusing because a lot of people don't know why your lifting up your finger in the first place or what it means.
It is very important that we know our history and more important that we teach our children. African American History is not taught in grammar, jr. high or high school unless as an elective so it is important that we teach our own children.
Also, "Picnic" is derived from "Pick A Nigga" because the task of auctioning and picking slaves was a long and tedious task sometimes it would take all day so the slave buyers begin to bring their own food. It became so popular that it became "PicNic" short for Pick A Nigga.
Lastly, "Soul Food" is called soul food because the slave masters said that those "N-Word" will eat anything including the soul of an animal.
God Bless!