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The Black Church Is Dead
By
Eddie Glaude, Jr., Ph.D.
The Black Church, as we've known it
or imagined it, is dead. Of course, many African
Americans still go to church. According to the PEW
Research Center's Forum on Religion and Public Life, 87
percent of African Americans identify with a religious
group and 79 percent say that religion is very important
in their lives. But the idea of this venerable
institution as central to black life and as a repository
for the social and moral conscience of the nation has
all but disappeared.
Several reasons immediately come to
mind for this state of affairs. First, black
churches have always been complicated spaces. Our
traditional stories about them—as necessarily prophetic
and progressive institutions— run up against the reality
that all too often black churches and those who pastor
them have been and continue to be quite conservative.
Black televangelists who preach a prosperity gospel
aren't new. We need only remember Prophet Jones and
Reverend Ike. Conservative black congregations have
always been a part of the African American religious
landscape. After all, the very existence of the
Progressive Baptist Convention is tied up with a
trenchant critique of the conservatism of the National
Baptist Convention, USA. But our stories about black
churches too often bury this conservative dimension of
black Christian life.
Second, African American
communities are much more differentiated. The idea
of a black church standing at the center of all that
takes place in a community has long since passed away.
Instead, different areas of black life have become more
distinct and specialized— flourishing outside of the
bounds and gaze of black churches. I am not suggesting
that black communities have become wholly secular; just
that black religious institutions and beliefs stand
alongside a number of other vibrant non-religious
institutions and beliefs.
Moreover, we are witnessing an
increase in the numbers of African Americans attending
churches pastored by the likes of Joel Osteen, Rick
Warren or Jentzen Franklin. These non-denominational
congregations often "sound" a lot like black churches.
Such a development, as Dr. Jonathan Walton reminded me,
conjures up E. Franklin Frazier's important line in
The Negro Church in America: "In a word, the
Negroes have been forced into competition with whites in
most areas of social life and their church can no longer
serve as a refuge within the American community." And
this goes for evangelical worship as well.
Thirdly, and this is the most
important point, we have witnessed the routinization
of black prophetic witness. Too often the prophetic
energies of black churches are represented as something
inherent to the institution, and we need only point to
past deeds for evidence of this fact. Sentences like,
"The black church has always stood for..." "The black
church was our rock..." "Without the black church, we
would have not..." In each instance, a backward glance
defines the content of the church's stance in the
present—justifying its continued relevance and
authorizing its voice. Its task, because it has become
alienated from the moment in which it lives, is to make
us venerate and conform to it.
But such a church loses it power.
Memory becomes its currency. Its soul withers from
neglect. The result is all too often church services and
liturgies that entertain, but lack a spirit that
transforms, and preachers who deign for followers
instead of fellow travelers in God.
Black America stands at the
precipice. African American unemployment is at its
highest in 25 years. Thirty-five percent of our children
live in poor families. Inadequate healthcare, rampant
incarceration, home foreclosures, and a general sense of
helplessness overwhelm many of our fellows. Of course,
countless local black churches around the country are
working diligently to address these problems.
The question becomes: what will be
the role of prophetic black churches on the national
stage under these conditions? Any church as an
institution ought to call us to be our best selves—not
to be slaves to doctrine or mere puppets for profit.
Within its walls, our faith should be renewed and
refreshed. We should be open to experiencing God's
revelation anew. But too often we are told that all has
been said and done. Revelation is closed to us and we
should only approximate the voices of old.
Or, we are invited to a Financial
Empowerment Conference, Megafest, or some such
gathering. Rare are those occasions when black churches
mobilize in public and together to call
attention to the pressing issues of our day. We see
organization and protests against same-sex marriage and
abortion; even billboards in Atlanta to make the
anti-abortion case. But where are the press conferences
and impassioned efforts around black children living in
poverty, and commercials and organizing around jobs and
healthcare reform? Bishop Charles E. Blake Sr., the
presiding bishop of the Church of God in Christ, appears
to be a lonely voice in the wilderness when he announced
COGIC's support of healthcare reform with the public
option.
Prophetic energies are not an
inherent part of black churches, but instances of men
and women who grasp the fullness of meaning to be one
with God. This can't be passed down, but must be
embraced in the moment in which one finds one's feet.
This ensures that prophetic energies can be expressed
again and again.
The death of the black
church as we have known it occasions an opportunity to
breathe new life into what it means to be black and
Christian. Black churches and preachers must find their
prophetic voices in this momentous present. And in doing
so, black churches will rise again and insist that we
all assert ourselves on the national stage not as
sycophants to a glorious past, but as witnesses to the
ongoing revelation of God's love in the here and now as
we work on behalf of those who suffer most.
Eddie S. Glaude, Jr. is currently
the William S. Tod Professor of Religion and chair of
the Center for African American Studies at Princeton
University.
Source:
HuffingtonPost
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"Eddie Glaude is
the towering public intellectual of his generation. He
also is a superb scholar and academic pioneer in his
profound synthesis ofAmerican pragmatism, African
American thought, and religious studies.There is simply
no one else like him emerging on the intellectual
scene!”—Cornel West
“Eddie Glaude is
poised to become the leading intellectual voice of our
generation, raising questions that make us reexamine the
assumption swe hold by expanding our inventory of
ideas.”—Tavis Smiley
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Pragmatism and
the Challenges of Post-Soul Politics—John Dewey once
said that every generation has to accomplish democracy
for itself, because social justice is something that
cannot be handed down from one person to another: it has
to be worked out in terms of the needs, problems, and
conditions of the present moment and its distinct
challenges. Black politics have grown increasingly
stagnant and even ineffectual because of their basis in
the sufferings and indignities of the past instead of
the real-life obstacles of the present moment. Poor
health, alarming rates of imprisonment, drugs, and the
advanced concentration of poverty in our nation’s cities
warrant a form of political engagement that steps out of
the shadows of the black freedom struggles of the 1960s
and rises to the complexities of the 21st century with
more innovative thinking, a greater emphasis on
responsibility and personal accountability, and a fuller
embrace of education and participatory democracy.—
Eddie Glaude, Jr./
NewRacialStudies
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Other Responses by
Edward J. Blum (“Sympathy, Frustration and
Reform”),
Ronald B. Neal (“RIP: The Myth of the
Black Church”),
William D. Hart (“The Afterlife of the
Black Church”),
Jonathan L. Walton ("The Black Church
Ain’t Dead! (But Maybe It Should Be?)"),
Anthea Butler ("Saying It’s Dead Doesn’t
Kill It"),
and
Josef Sorett (“'This
is the Air I Breathe': Unpacking Post-Black Church
Proclamations").
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Is the Black
Church Dead?—Debate Flares Among African-American
Christians—By David Gibson—The Rev. Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr., whose birthday the nation
commemorates on Monday, was a product of the black
church, and the black church has arguably done as
much as any Christian community to inspire the soul
and culture of modern American society. It has
supplied the prophetic language that has driven the
nation's ongoing reconciliation with the original
sin of slavery, and it helped form the character of
Barack Obama, the nation's first African-American
president and an orator with the delivery of a black
preacher.
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Yet New Birth Missionary Baptist—with
25,000 members who generously bankroll
high-living pastors and high-tech
services—is also emblematic of what many
in the African-American community see as
a profound crisis in black Christianity,
or even the "death" of the black church.
One objection is that this prominent
Georgia megachurch preaches a money-centered
"prosperity
gospel" that traditional
African-American clergy consider a
betrayal of their faith's legacy of
sacrifice and social justice. This focus
on personal financial gain represents a
kind of cultural conservatism that is
spreading among black churches, critics
say, and signals a concern for the
success of each individual congregation
rather than the national community.
In addition, New Birth's charismatic
leader, Bishop Eddie Long, is under
intense scrutiny for allegations that he
used his position as a spiritual
counselor to coerce at least four men
into sexual relationships while they
were teens, giving them cars and cash in
return.
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Long and his representatives
have denied the charges, saying only that
Long—who said he takes pride in being called "Daddy"
by the congregants—was just serving as a mentor to
the teenagers and did not engage in sex with them.
Long, who is 57 and married (and an opponent of gay
rights) freely admits that he is "not perfect." But
he is also not about to step aside from his pulpit,
and, more importantly, his congregation has rallied
to his side.
"Of course we support him," a congregant who gave
his name only as Roger said after a nearly
three-hour service of rollicking music and praise
for Long, and insistent appeals for donations—appeals
that were repeatedly answered as thousands streamed
up to the pulpit to lay wads of cash in a growing
pile on the stage.— PoliticsDaily
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Forged: Writing in the Name of God
Why the Bible's Authors Are Not Who We Think They Are
By Bart D. Ehrman
The evocative title tells it all and hints at the tone of sensationalism that pervades this book. Those familiar with the earlier work of Ehrman, a distinguished professor of religious studies at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and author of more than 20 books including Misquoting Jesus, will not be surprised at the content of this one. Written in a manner accessible to nonspecialists, Ehrman argues that many books of the New Testament are not simply written by people other than the ones to whom they are attributed, but that they are deliberate forgeries. The word itself connotes scandal and crime, and it appears on nearly every page. Indeed, this book takes on an idea widely accepted by biblical scholars: that writing in someone else's name was common practice and perfectly okay in ancient times. Ehrman argues that it was not even then considered acceptable—hence, a forgery. While many readers may wish for more evidence of the charge, Ehrman's introduction to the arguments and debates among different religious communities during the first few centuries and among the early Christians themselves, though not the book's main point, is especially valuable.—Publishers Weekly /
Forged Bart Ehrman’s New Salvo ( Witherington)
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Santeria:
The Beliefs and Rituals
of a Growing Religion in America
By Miguel A. De La Torre This book by Miguel De la Torre offers a
fascinating guide to the history, beliefs, rituals, and culture
of Santeria -- a religious tradition that, despite persecution,
suppression, and its own secretive nature, has close to a
million adherents in the United States alone. Santeria is a religion with Afro-Cuban roots,
rising out of the cultural clash between the Yoruba people of
West Africa and the Spanish Catholics who brought them to the
Americas as slaves. As a faith of the marginalized and
persecuted, it gave oppressed men and women strength and the
will to survive. With the exile of thousands of Cubans in the
wake of Castro's revolution in 1959, Santeria came to the United
States, where it is gradually coming to be recognized as a
legitimate faith tradition. |
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The White Masters of the
World
From
The World and Africa, 1965
By W. E. B. Du Bois
W. E. B. Du Bois’
Arraignment and Indictment of White Civilization
(Fletcher)
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Ancient African Nations
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Enjoy!
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The Death of Emmett Till by Bob Dylan
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The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll
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Only a Pawn in Their Game
Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson Thanks America for
Slavery /
George Jackson /
Hurricane Carter
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The Journal of Negro History issues at Project Gutenberg
The
Haitian Declaration of Independence 1804
/
January 1, 1804 -- The Founding of
Haiti
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posted 12 March 2010
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