Teaching and testifying - the Black church as a spiritual and social beacon in America

Ebony, August, 1991

THE Black church, in the latter half of the 20th century, has stood as a symbol of liberation for oppressed people the world over. The nonviolent protest strategies that were devised, in large measure, by Black clergymen have been embraced and emulated by freedom fighters in places as far flung as China and Czechoslovakia.

But it is on its own turf that the Black American church, with its proactive posture on social issues and its progressive interpretation of the Gospel, has had the greatest influence.

"The impact of the Black church on the spiritual, social, economic, educational and political interests that structure life in America - including the mainline White churches themselves - can scarcely be overlooked in any realistic appraisal of our common religious experience," writes C. Eric Lincoln and Lawrence H. Mamiya, whose book, The Black Church in the African American Experience, examines the historic growth, development and influence of the Black church.

One cannot, for example, evaluate the effectiveness of any of the major protest movements that have emerged in America in the past 20 years without understanding the role that the Black church has played in shaping them.

"When you look at the successes of the women's movement, or the gay rights movement, or the anti-abortion movement, you can see the impact that the Civil Rights Movement - which was, to a degree, Black church movement - has had on their activism," says James H. Cone, professor of systemic theology at Union Theological Seminary in New York. "So many people, with so many agendas have turned to the Black church and the Civil Rights Movement as a model for protest."

Similarly, it was Black theologians, many scholars say, who spurred their White American counterparts from their perches on the sidelines of social commentary. For years, White American theology remained silent on the issues of race and social injustice, giving tacit approval to the country's abysmal record on discrimination, and offering no acknowledgement that Blacks had a place in the divine scheme.

"Until maybe 15 to 20 years ago, there was no effort on the part of White theologians to address themselves to issues that were not European in nature," says C. Eric Lincoln, professor of religion and culture at Duke University and the dean of Black religious scholars. "Not a single White theologian ever addressed himself to the holocaust perpetrated in America against African-Americans."

In light of the work of Black theologians, who offered an interpretation of the Gospel that made it more applicable to the Black experience, and in the face of the Black church's activist role, White American theology began taking positions other than vague pulpit pronouncements against sin. "The White emphasis on liberation theology came directly out of Black liberation theology," says Lawrence H. Mamiya, professor of religion and Africana studies at Vassar College.

Adds James Costen, president of the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta, "There is a direct link between the progressive action of the Black church and the increasing outspokenness of White theologians and religious leaders on issue that, for years, they had not displayed an interest in addressing."

Politically, the influence of the Black church has been equally potent. It is no coincidence that so many Black clergymen become politicians, scholars say. For the Black church has historically been the center of progressive politics and political mobilization, says Mamiya, refuting the acceptance of the notion that the Black church has become increasingly apolitical. From Adam Clayton Powell to Jesse Jackson to storefront ministers in virtually every Black community, Black ministers have demonstrated that the pulpit is a great source of political, as well as spiritual, inspiration. "The church is still the one institution in the Black community where the spiritual, social and political needs of a large group of Black people are addressed," Mamiya says. "That influence has had a tremendous effect on the politics of this country when you look in terms of campaigns like the movement to impose economic sanctions on South Africa. That was a movement that had gained monentum through church leaders."

The Black church's political influence also has tempted White ministers, such as televangelist Pat Robertson and others, to test the political waters and use their religious platforms as political springboards. Their successes have not been as great.

But it is not just in the realm of social and political activism that the impact of the Black church has been felt. The exhilaration and excitement of the Black religious experience has permeated worship services across racial and denominational lines. The cadence, inflection and poetic use of rhyme and repetition that Black ministers have long employed to great effect, have been adopted by a wide range of White clergy, particularly televangelists such as Oral Roberts. Even in the staid, Latin-influence domain of the Roman Catholic Church, the small but, in some cases, influential presence of Black clergy has helped transform the traditional mass into a worship service with the exuberance of a Baptist revival service.