“The Christian religion must not be concerned only with saving the individual soul, but also dealing with the social evils that corrupt the soul.” - Martin Luther King Jr.
This quote by Dr. King is one of my favorite quotes. It seems like every time I come across this quote, I get into a deep emotional state. This is not because something is wrong with it, but because of the pure genius that Dr. King displayed when he said this. Being a minister, Dr. King was very knowledgeable about the church and all of its principles. The way Dr. King used the church was remarkable. He is often described like the prophet Isaiah. God came to Isaiah saying, “Who shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Then Isaiah said, “Send me, I’ll go”. (Isaiah 6:8). This is exactly how Dr. King approached segregation. The thing that was interesting to me was how Dr. King used the African American church to get his message across. Before the african american church was only focused on serving people inside the church, but after Dr. King there was a shift. Dr. King focused on social and racial relations that affected people in their daily lives. Dr. King was a thinker par excellence. He knew by using the church, it would be easier for him express his views on non-violence. As result, many people of all races and religions were able to come together on one common goal. That common goal was to have stop segregation, but in a non-violent way. In class, we discussed how the african american church was used as a place for social gatherings and political gatherings. Many of Dr. King’s ideas began in the church. Many of which came from the teachings of Jesus Christ. Dr. King is the epitome of a present day prophet. He was like Isaiah in the bible. He didn’t necessarily say things were going to happen at certain times, but rather he focused on changing how things were going to be in the future. Dr. King felt as though one of the social evils that corrupted the soul was in fact segregation. Dr. King’s message is one that fills the hearts of people of all races. The african american church was definitely influential in his movement.
I concur that religion has shaped every part of African American history in both positive and negative ways. Coming from Africa, African American’s brought their own religions but, due to the common practice of slave traders to split up common groups of African’s, I think that most of that religion, and the bonds it tied people together with, were lost. One religion, however, that was still intact was Christianity, the main religion of the colonies. As slavery progressed, religion worked to justify the continuation of slavery. It was the patriarchal role of the master to bring religion to their slaves. This paternal model for religion gave further justification to slavery. In contrast, as Trey discussed, it was religion that helped African’s build up their own communities. Going further, churches acted as the center of all activity in many African American areas. A church could act as a religious house, political house, meeting house, and school house all in one. In terms of institution building, the church was one of the strongest tools that African Americans had in building a community and a life after slavery.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting that religion has had such opposite effects within the realm of African American history. With Trey's example, religion was at the core of Dr. King's passion for racial uplift and reconciliation. On the other hand, Chad acknowledges the use of religion in justifying slavery. In these two examples, we can grasp how weighty a role religion can play, whether that role is uplifting or detrimental to society. This places much responsibility on the individuals who choose to place religion at the center of their life work. This is why I have such admiration for Dr. King, because he used his incredible amount of responsibility with such care.
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