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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/31261-h.zip b/31261-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..bfa22c2 --- /dev/null +++ b/31261-h.zip diff --git a/31261-h/31261-h.htm b/31261-h/31261-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a58e7d4 --- /dev/null +++ b/31261-h/31261-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,984 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Defects of the Negro Church, by Orishatukeh Faduma. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + + p {margin-top: .75em; text-align: justify; margin-bottom: .75em;} + + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 {text-align: center; clear: both;} + + hr {width: 33%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; clear: both;} + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + body {margin-left: 12%; margin-right: 12%;} + + .pagenum {position: absolute; left: 92%; font-size: smaller; text-align: right;} + + a:link {color:#0000ff; text-decoration:none} + a:visited {color:#6633cc; text-decoration:none} + + ins.correction {text-decoration:none; border-bottom: thin solid gray;} + + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +Project Gutenberg's The Defects of the Negro Church, by Orishatukeh Faduma + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Defects of the Negro Church + The American Negro Academy. Occasional Papers No. 10 + +Author: Orishatukeh Faduma + +Release Date: February 12, 2010 [EBook #31261] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DEFECTS OF THE NEGRO CHURCH *** + + + + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Stephanie Eason, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net. + + + + + + +</pre> + + + + + +<h3>The American Negro Academy.</h3> +<h3>OCCASIONAL PAPERS NO. 10.</h3> +<p> </p><p> </p> +<h1>The Defects of the Negro Church.</h1> +<p> </p> +<h3>BY ORISHATUKEH FADUMA.</h3> +<p> </p><p> </p> +<h4>PRICE FIFTEEN CENTS.</h4> +<p> </p> +<h4>WASHINGTON, D. C.:<br />Published by the Academy,<br />1904</h4> + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span></p> +<h2>The Defects of the Negro Church.</h2> + +<p>The writer does not undertake to point out all the defects of the Negro +church. He does not lay any claim to omniscience.</p> + +<p>The limits of time and the scope of the subject prevent him from +discussing even what he knows in part. It is only some of the leading +defects in the Negro Church which will be presented for discussion. It +may be necessary to state at the onset that the writer is an optimist in +his studies of questions relating to his race. If at any time he is +compelled to use the surgeon’s knife he will do so with the utmost +sympathy and with a view to heal. It may also be necessary to state, in +order to allay the fears of our friends and prevent the reckless +criticism of our detractors, that the defects of the Negro church are +found more or less in churches of other races. They are the same in kind +but differ in degree, on account of difference in environment. They are +not inherent in the race, but are found wherever the environments call +for them. It may be laid down as an axiomatic truth that there has never +been and there is not a perfect church. Of the twelve men who formed the +nucleus of the Christian church and who had the advantage of the +personal teaching of the Christ, one was a doubter, another was +worldly-minded, a betrayer, and a son of perdition who sought relief +from the stings of conscience by self-destruction; a third was a +deserter and vacillator, who drew from the great apostle of the Gentiles +a stinging rebuke for stultifying his conscience during that exciting +controversy which was to settle once for all whether Christianity was to +be a racial or a universal religion. But because there never was a +perfect church is no reason why we should speak lightly or condone the +defects of the Negro Church. Our ideal of the Negro Church is one which +will have as few defects as possible. If we expose these defects it is +because our aim is to correct them so as to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> reach as near as possible +our ideal. We hope we shall not be misunderstood if we submit for +investigation the following defects in the Negro Church.</p> + +<p> </p> +<h3>I. THE TENDENCY TO LAY STRESS ON OUTWARDNESS RATHER THAN INWARDNESS.</h3> + +<p>All life is known by its manifestations. The latter is the outcome, the +effect of the former. The manifestations of life cannot by any means be +more important than the life which makes them possible. Christianity is +a religion of inwardness, it finds its root in the heart and soul of +man, then effects the outward life. Whenever the inner or spiritual life +is renewed, there follows from necessity a renewed exterior. There must +be first life in the soul. Nor can there be any evolution of the soul or +of society without a previous involution in them. The whole nature of +man must be wrapped up in the image of God before any fruits of +Godliness show themselves. The tendency in the Negro Church is to look +for these manifestations rather than to work for the indwelling spirit +who is the cause of such manifestations. Parallel with this tendency in +the church, is the effort which is being made after expression of +religious life when it should be directed along the line of impressing +it. The church is in need of a deep spiritual life, nevertheless it is +impossible to express what is not previously impressed in the mind.</p> + +<p>There is a form of oratory prevalent among us, a mere jingle of sounds, +an expression of nothing of much value. Under its spell the man of the +world is caught, received into the church as a convert, but not being +impressed with the divine life and ideal, he <ins class="correction" title="original reads 'soons'">soon</ins> falls away. The mad +rush after quantity rather than quality of converts is another +indication of the outwardness of religion in the church. One of the most +significant words spoken by Christ was, “Many are called but few +chosen.” The church seems to be carried away with the idea of the +extension of God’s Kingdom when it does not sufficiently grasp the idea +of its intension. Because there is not depth in spiritual life, not +intensiveness in the culture of souls, the church does not gain much in +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span>expansion. Again, the church is an organization, but an organization +presupposes an organ. It is evident that if the organ—the instrument +upon which all order and arrangement depend—is out of gear, the +organization is valueless. All attempts to organize men without a +spiritual organ must be a failure. The organization of a church is more +than the putting together of bricks and other dead materials, it is the +bringing together, in an orderly manner, of living souls possessed with +spiritual power and renewed in the image of God. There is another form +of outwardness to which the Negro church is tending at oneself and +valuing oneself from appearance. It tends to make religion a puppet +show. The growth of the church is estimated at number of dollars +collected, number of churches built, and number of followers. The Negro +is prone to fall into this error because of the many denials his critics +make of his ability in self-government. It leads him to make a parade of +his religion and a show of his capabilities. The purpose of religion is +to deepen the spiritual life and help men to be in harmony with God and +nature, not to satisfy critics and detractors. The work of the church is +to lead men to have in full measure the life and light of the Spirit. It +is in the nature of life and light whenever and wherever found to be +active. They will assert themselves if they are in the church, not in a +boastful spirit but with Christian modesty. Cause must precede effect. +The foundation of the church must be securely laid before its +superstructure is attempted. There must be a base of supply before the +army marches to battle.</p> + +<p>I have attempted to indicate briefly in what lines the church is exposed +and is tending to outwardness. It lays greater stress on evolution of +life; in eagerness for the expression of its life it neglects its +impression; it emphasizes extensiveness rather than intensiveness, +quantity rather than quality; it runs after the gewgaws of religion and +does not look inward, deep down in the soul; its organization lacks an +organ with a spiritual life deep enough to suppress worldliness.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span></p> +<h3>II. NEGLECT OF RURAL COMMUNITIES.</h3> + +<p>Another defect of the Negro church is her neglect of rural communities. +From eighty to eighty-five per cent of the race is to be found in our +small towns where ignorance and superstition prevail to an alarming +extent. Among the causes of this neglect are:</p> + +<p>(1) The need of adequate funds for the support of churches.</p> + +<p>(2) The need of suitable men for these churches.</p> + +<p>(3) Discrimination made by church authorities in the sending of their +best men to fill city churches on account of inadequate funds in the +country churches.</p> + +<p>(4) The poverty of country churches and their inability to provide for +the support of their pastors, especially those who are needed most in +cities.</p> + +<p>(5) The repulsiveness of rural districts on account of inadequate +protection and little justice given to the Negro.</p> + +<p>Where there are supplementary grants or a reserve fund as aids to +struggling churches, better work is done and suitable men are seen in +the country churches. Suitable men are so rare that the city churches +easily keep them by the offer of larger salaries. Even the city’s need +is not yet fully met. The demand is greater than the supply in both +places but still greater in the country. For this neglect of country +churches, a neglect by no means wilful, what are the results? We may +mention a few.</p> + +<p>(1) Country pastors are often compelled to take to other callings, their +church work being supplementary and subsidiary. Hence energy needed for +pastoral and pulpit work is dissipated in the effort to make a living.</p> + +<p>(2) The paganization of Christianity. One of the saddest things that has +happened to Negroes in our rural districts is the presentation to them +of Christianity in a crude, uncouth, and distorted form. It is a form of +Christianity with the Christ left out. The songs of the church, its +prayers and experiences are there but in a mutilated form, divested of +their spiritual significance. The “Big Meeting,” or revival meeting<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> +often gives an opportunity for a revival of the latent paganism in the +Negro. The weird songs, the wild excitement of the people followed by +the unchaste exposures and hysteria of women, the physical agony and +wallowing on the floor, and the violent physical gymnastics among both +sexes is a species of voodooism imported from the religion of heathen +Africa. It is deplorable because its after effects are demoralizing. The +situation is grave and calls for rebuke, because it is deeply entrenched +in our country churches and is encouraged by pastors who ought to point +out a better way. In Africa Christianity is displacing paganism, in +rural America paganism is displacing Christianity. Our rural population +is confronted with a form of Christianity which does not civilize. Since +the corruption of the best thing is the worst thing, it may be fairly +stated that Christianity is receiving an unfair treatment in a +professedly Christian country from a professedly Christian people.</p> + +<p>(3) Funds being inadequate to support country churches, and men +qualified to fill them being few even if funds were at hand, there +follows as a necessity the <i>employment of unqualified men</i> to fill +vacancies. So pressing is the need for preachers that in many cases any +kind of men rather than no men at all seems to be the best that can be +done. Hence some men accept appointments for what they can get out of +them. Fitness in any form is out of the question in many of these +appointments. The country churches have therefore become the dumping +ground where pastors sink or swim. There too may be found a host of +immoral preachers. This fact in itself creates a prejudice in the minds +of a class of preachers against accepting country appointments. It is +only the few who are strongly imbued with a missionary spirit that are +willing to labor and lift up the standard in the interest of God and +fallen humanity. One of the surest ways of breaking down this prejudice +is for the churches to send some of their best men to country churches +and provide for their support. Missionary societies aiming at best +results send some of their best men as pioneers and bishops to the +heathen. It<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> is only by a selective method of appointing men to our +country churches that these places can be reclaimed from heathenism and +immorality. It is only then that the “wilderness and the solitary place +shall be glad, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose.”</p> + +<p> </p> +<h3>III. THE NEGRO MINISTRY.</h3> + +<p>One of the defects of the Negro Church is the defect in the culture of +its ministry. In spite of all that has been said and done to create +prejudice against the higher education of the Negro, statistics have +failed everywhere to show that our schools have turned out a large +percentage of College or University graduates. There are a few College +or University graduates in the ranks of our ministry. A larger +percentage has failed even to get through a High School course. The +defect in scholarship and culture constitutes a grave problem in our +church life. The leader of a people must be a man of broad culture, wide +sympathies, and in touch with all the varied interests of the people. It +is not enough to be able to read the Bible or pass an examination in +denominational theology. The modern teacher and preacher of today must +be acquainted with the humanities. If not a scientist he must know the +trend of scientific thought and its relation to the Bible. The best +poetry of nations should be at his command on account of the refining +influence which it has always exercised on mankind in all ages. The +masterpieces of the world’s best prose writers, the history of art, the +study of the philosophy of history, and the too neglected study of the +history of ethnic religions must be in his possession, not simply in the +library of his home but in the library of his mind. Most if not all of +these studies may be prosecuted outside the college, but the college +curriculum has the advantage of system which the average preacher does +not have. College and University courses are excellent, not so much for +what one can remember out of the many things studied in them, but for +the system and mental discipline as well as the social culture through +which one passes. The interests of the church demand that the pulpit +shall lead the pew. Considering the influence<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> which the Negro ministry +has over its laity, the demand becomes more and more imperative. It is +not a learned ministry but a cultured ministry, a ministry with higher +tastes and aspirations, a ministry which in spite of the materialism of +the times will make the time to study and see the beautiful, the good, +and the true, in God’s handiwork. It is this lack of culture which makes +many a preacher narrow-minded. To them the beauties of nature are dead. +To their barren minds nature is a barren wilderness.</p> + +<p>(2) From being uncultured the Negro ministry finds it an easy descent to +being immoral. It must be borne in mind that all the defects enumerated +of the ministry or laity are defects not of the whole ministry or laity, +but are defects found among them to a large extent. The salvation of the +church and the race is due to the faithful few, pure and noble men and +women among us. They are the salt of the race and are growing in numbers +as years increase. The future is full of hope. It is painful +nevertheless to know that there is still a large number of immoral +preachers, though not as large as there used to be. Churches and church +authorities, and the educated sentiment of the race are on the alert and +are quickly displacing these men whenever they are found. In the +conflict of the church with the Titan of immorality, the church needs as +helpers, men with a hundred hands like Briareus to hold down this +elusive monster. The term immorality may include all kinds of conduct +which the custom of our times supported by enlightened sentiment +disapproves. But the object of the writer is not to charge the Negro +ministry with all kinds of misdemeanors. There is only one kind of +conduct which is so far-reaching in its results because it is +fundamentally subversive of and destructive to the best interests of +society, that the writer wishes to bring up as a defect of our ministry. +It is sexual unchastity. There are causes for this depravity among a +certain class of Negro ministers. It is not a constitutional disease in +the Negro as many of the detractors of the race have affirmed. +Acquaintance with the ancestral life of the African shows without the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> +shadow of a doubt that the morality of the heathen as relates to sexes +is part of the religion of most African tribes before they are brought +into contact with a foreign civilization. Plantation life in American +society where illicit sexual intercourse was the rule and not the +exception, fostered and encouraged by white masters of the past, and +still practised though less extensively by white men, is a product of +Anglo-Saxon civilization. The environments of country life encourage +illicit living, and to men already reared among them are a snare. Some +of these environments are found in the log-cabin in which families are +crowded together like cattle, and sexual privacy and decorum are +impossible. The plantation log-cabin finds its counterpart in the slums +of cities with their crowded alleys. The landlord in both cases is at +the bottom of these evils. It is but fair to state that these +environments when found in the cities or among the peasantry of Europe, +as in France and Russia, reveal social evils even worse than those found +among Negroes in the United States. But the point we wish to emphasize +is this, that environments help to make the man, and the man helps to +make his environments. There is a class of men among Negro preachers +whose environments have not been other than those in the plantations, +these are the men who are unfit to be the leaders of the people. When on +account of their natural ability and gift of speech they are set aside +as preachers, it only gives them a larger opportunity to demoralize +themselves and those with whom they come into contact. It will always +take men of the strongest moral fibre in any race to elevate those who +live either in the slums of cities or in the cabin life of plantations, +otherwise the gain to Christian missions will be in quantity rather than +quality. Hence the need of specific training of the best kind in schools +where students of the race will find healthy environments to inspire +them to higher and nobler living. Hence the need of higher education for +the race because it subjects the recipient to an atmosphere of healthy +environments long enough to saturate his life. For his own interest the +Negro preacher should do<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> his utmost to improve the social condition of +his people in city or farm, since that condition reflects for good or +evil upon his own character.</p> + +<p>3. One of the best results of the Protestant reformation is the +diffusion of God’s word among the people. Through the reformation the +Bible ceased to be tongue-tied. Its history, poetry of war and love, its +tragedy, its simple gospel stories of the Christ comprise a literature +that is unsurpassed, and a revelation of God that is unique. But the +Bible can only be intelligently understood by the people when the mind +of the people is prepared to receive it. One of the worst results +growing indirectly out of the Protestant reformation, is the creation of +an ignorant priesthood and the reducing of the Bible to a fetich. It +follows as a matter of course that where the ministry is uncultured, the +interpretation of the word of God suffers. The spirit of God can not do +what man is intended to do. He can only illumine where the mind is +prepared to pass through the process. Revelation requires a medium, +otherwise it is powerless. To understand the mind of God in the Bible +presupposes a mind to comprehend His mind. With the Negro’s deficient +ministry, religion becomes irreligion. He believes too much in the +non-essentials of religion, his heaven and hell are too much in the +distant future, he prays that after death he may go to heaven but sees +no heaven on earth. The new heaven and the new earth which John saw and +the new Jerusalem coming down from God to man are antipodal to his +conceptions. His God is seen going up to some cloudless region instead +of coming down to tabernacle with men. His sermons feed the feelings but +neglect the intellect and will, they tickle the ear and subordinate +truth to eloquence. The greater emphasis he puts on churchianity is a +loss to Christianity. The contribution which modern thought is making to +Biblical interpretation is sealed to him. He pursues his beaten path +along the old ruts of ecclesiasticism. He believes in a revelation which +is non-progressive and whose distinctive feature is sameness for all +times. He is painfully liberal in the construction of the Bible. He +thinks he is a curse himself according to the prophet<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> Noah, for he has +not yet discovered the distinctive and conditional element in prophecy. +His theology is in the main denominational and is like the laws of the +Medes and Persians which admit of no change. His mind does not +discriminate between the <i>ipse dixit</i> of the Almighty and external +authority in matters relating to dogma. In the pulpit he lacks decorum, +deep spirituality, and contemplation. His oratory is thunderous, too +physical, and lacks grace and beauty.</p> + +<p>Much praise is due to those denominations whose forethought has led them +to spend considerable time and pains to prepare men for the gospel +ministry. In quality of preaching and teaching, and in results already +achieved, the race owes much to this as yet small band of workers. Like +the leaven hidden in the meal its influence is being felt in the church, +in the farm, and in the firesides of the people, and is destined to +overthrow ignorance, immorality, and superstition. With the continued +aid of well-equipped mission schools which must be the base of supply +for our churches, and the training of a new type of men such as the +modern church demands, the moral change so much hoped for will be +hastened.</p> + +<p>4. The world-spirit is in the churches and has taken hold of our +ministry. A large part of church duties which should be performed by +laymen is shirked and placed upon the minister’s shoulders. The result +is that the minister is often overburdened with secular matters, is +forced to leave the word and serve tables and loses much spirituality. +When a minister’s success depends largely and primarily upon amount of +dollars raised by him his spiritual decline is rapid. Worldliness +follows when desire for position or recognition in the church overcomes +the desire to save men, and when the ordinary tricks of politics are +resorted to in order to gain church distinctions. It is a reversal of +Christ’s order, “Seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness and +all these things shall be added unto you.” These other things are +eagerly desired in place of the “first” things. The more elaborate the +organization of a church is, the larger is the number of preferments to +offices, and greater the opportunity given to office seekers to make +these the first things. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> best men in any church are not always those +who hold its highest offices. Too much organization in the church leads +to too much officialism and worldliness, for “where the carcass is, +there will the vultures be gathered together.”</p> + +<p> </p> +<h3>IV. THE LAITY.</h3> + +<p>The laity lack much consecration. The things of this world and the +desire for them press more heavily upon their minds than the extension +of God’s cause. Their Christian consciousness is not trained, hence +their sense of duty is not high. They depend too much on spasms of +effort and frequent appeals to the emotions in the performance of duty. +Their idea of the gospel is too confined to hearing sermons on Sunday. +Their gospel does not touch the many interests of life. Their virtues +are not concrete. Holiness, purity, love, truth, beauty, justice, +goodness are metaphysical abstractions. Too much self-centred and +self-seeking, they make little or no sacrifice for others. Many +self-supporting churches do not shelter weaker ones and have no thought +for the heathen. There are churches that are fortunate in having in +their official boards men of culture, piety, and business experience, +but these are virtues very rarely found in the same men. Business +methods are often low in churches because of the difficulty of finding +strictly business men among the laity. In the erection of churches the +spirit of ostentation rather than worship is dominant. The immorality of +debt not being known, churches are very often built without regard to +the financial inability of the people, and deceive by suggesting rich +parishioners when the people are very poor and live from hand to mouth. +Many disruptions between pastors and churches could have been avoided +were church finances not kept in a confused state. Pastor’s salaries and +other church obligations are not raised and met in a systematic way, but +are left to appeals to the feelings of the people whose ethical sense +has not been cultivated. We have thus enumerated among the defects of +the laity, worldliness, untrained Christian consciousness, restricted +meaning of the gospel, the non-concreteness of the Christian virtues, +and the lack of a missionary spirit and of business methods.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span></p> +<h3>V. EXCESSIVE EMOTIONALISM IN WORSHIP.</h3> + +<p>Paradoxical as it may seem, in religion the Negro’s emotions constitute +his strongest as well as his weakest point. The fact that he is largely +developed in the emotional side of his nature would, other things being +equal, give him a vantage ground in matters of religion. His defect is +not that he is emotional, but that he is excessively so. Like other +races in their childhood, he is a bundle of feelings. He does not think +after God, he does not will after God, but he feels after God. He is not +driven to action because he is impelled by a moral imperative, the law +of duty, but he is controlled by his nerves which are his thermometer. +With the nerves as his guide it is impossible to tell where he stands on +many moral questions. Neurotic environments appeal quickly to him, and +are fostered by the church in sermons which appeal largely to the +imagination, in weird pictures of the unseen, in apocalyptic sermons, +and by mystic preachers known as mourners, shouters and visioners. As a +subject of experimentation in physco-physics, the most fitting time is +in seasons of revival in religion when his emotion is keyed to the +highest point.</p> + +<p>The following stages may be noticed:</p> + +<p>(1) Violent physical commotion followed by physical exhaustion.</p> + +<p>(2) Loss of physical control.</p> + +<p>(3) Loss of moral control. At this stage there is a feeling of abandon +leading often to unchaste exposure of the person, wild cries as if +demented, and all kinds of extravagances.</p> + +<p>(4) Mental infection as well as emotional panic. At this stage there is +pandemonium. Many obtain religion by the process of infection.</p> + +<p>(5) A lowered physical as well as moral vitality. At the last meeting of +the British Association for the Advancement of Science, a thoughtful +paper by Dr. Graham of Ireland showed that there was less insanity among +Roman Catholics than Protestants in Ireland, due to difference in type +of religion, Protestants of Ireland being intensely morbid and ascetic +in their Calvinism. (Congregationalist, Nov. 29, 1902, p. 781.)<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> I +should not be surprised, if investigation was made, that similar results +would be seen in America not only between Protestants and Roman +Catholics, but among Protestants themselves. I should not be surprised +that there were fewer maniacs among Presbyterians and Congregationalists +than among Baptists and Methodists. May not students of physco-physics +make this a study for the benefit of religion? To the use of emotions in +religion the writer has no objections, he is heartily in favor, but he +seriously objects to excessive emotionalism for the following reasons:</p> + +<p>(1) It fails to recognize the moral and ethical judgment.</p> + +<p>(2) It fails to recognize the volitional side of human nature. “With a +man’s will-power dormant, undeveloped, unknown, all attempt at really +training and moulding the character is foolish because impossible. Man +sometimes attempts it; God never does. He calls into activity first of +all a man’s will. He seeks to know what a man’s own free choice is. Then +he knows what course to follow in his schooling of the soul.”<small><a name="f1.1" id="f1.1" href="#f1">[1]</a></small></p> + +<p>(3) It fails to recognize the rational side of human nature.</p> + +<p>(4) It is at variance with our concrete experience of life. In our daily +experience we think, feel and will for action.</p> + +<p>(5) It is sickly feminine and appeals to neurotics.</p> + +<p>There are some general facts in connection with the philosophy of +religion which are often overlooked in the study of the Negro religion. +Two stages may be noticed in the history of the religious development of +peoples, the primitive and the rational. The primitive stage is poetical +and imaginative, in fact religion is then in its barbaric state. In its +rational stage we see the religious man under a developed rule of +conduct. He still feels but his feelings are controlled by reason. There +is nothing new in the religion of the Negro. He is by no means a +peculiar man from a religious standpoint. The physical contortions and +gyrations noticed in his Christian worship are as old as the history of +religion itself, if not older than it. In his worship we may see things<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> +which are found in the heathen rites of the native African, in the +which are found in the heathen rites of the native African, in the +Bacchanalia of the Greeks, among the Sali or dancing priests of the +Romans, and among the Corybantes. The same effect which is produced on +the feelings of the Negro has been produced on the feelings of the +American Indian, as well as on the ancient bards of Scotland, Ireland, +Wales, and Germany. Lord Macaulay, describing the Puritan, says: “In his +devotional retirement he prayed with convulsions, and groans, and tears. +He was half maddened by glorious or terrible illusions. He heard the +lyres of angels or the tempting whispers of friends. He caught a gleam +of the Beautific Vision, or woke screaming from dreams of everlasting +fire.” In the girlhood days of the late Elizabeth Cady Stanton her +sensitive mind was nearly overbalanced, and she suffered terribly from +the too vivid description of future punishment by the emotional Finney. +The imagery of the Book of Revelation has a peculiar effect on the +feelings of the Negro. Its mysticism acts like a spell over him. Says +Macaulay, “The Greek Rhapsodists, according to Plato, could not recite +Homer without almost falling into convulsions.” The Mohawk hardly feels +the scalping knife while he shouts his death song. The Dijazerti in the +region of the Sahara believe that communication with Allah is only +possible in a state of trance, and accordingly they work themselves into +a religious frenzy, while the ignorant among them repeat the name of +Allah many thousand times till they fall into a state of +unconsciousness.</p> + +<p>We do not wonder, considering the primitive state of religion, why men +were spell-bound under its influence. It is all the more conspicuous in +tropical natures, for there youth is exuberant. In all primitive states +of religion we notice the same abandonment, the same illusions produced +on the imagination, the contortions of the body, the child-like +credulity, the superstition, the depression, and exaltations of the +feelings, “the agony, the ecstasy, the plentitude of belief.” They are +the complement of barbaric faith, and not a peculiarity of the Negro. If +in these primitive conditions we<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> see the Negro tickled by a straw, or +frightened by a ghost, or in moments of ecstasy spreading out his hands +in an attempt to fly up to heaven without dying, these are the natural +concomitants of such conditions. We pity, rather than censure him, more +especially when we remember that for two hundred years in the house of +bondage, his wild, primitive nature was left untrained.</p> + +<p>What is needed for the proper religious development of the Negro is +education, not repression or subjugation of his feelings. We cannot +emphasize this fact too much. There is the danger, in the zeal of +preserving the holy ark, of defiling it by unholy contact. The Negro +needs more thought in his religion, but religion is not all thought. To +have a proper balance in religion as in every-day life, the faculties of +thought, feeling, and volition must be present, distributed in fair +proportions. When reason is overfed in the exercise of religion, the +result is a dry and barren rationalism. When the emotions are overfed +the result is a wild and sickly sentimentalism, a neurotic religion.</p> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><b>Footnote:</b></p> + +<p><a name="f1" id="f1" href="#f1.1">[1]</a> The divine method of Inquiry. Biblical World. Dec. 1902, p. 450.</p> + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Defects of the Negro Church, by +Orishatukeh Faduma + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DEFECTS OF THE NEGRO CHURCH *** + +***** This file should be named 31261-h.htm or 31261-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/1/2/6/31261/ + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Stephanie Eason, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Defects of the Negro Church + The American Negro Academy. Occasional Papers No. 10 + +Author: Orishatukeh Faduma + +Release Date: February 12, 2010 [EBook #31261] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DEFECTS OF THE NEGRO CHURCH *** + + + + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Stephanie Eason, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net. + + + + + + + + + + The American Negro Academy. + + OCCASIONAL PAPERS NO. 10. + + + The Defects of the + Negro Church. + + BY ORISHATUKEH FADUMA. + + + PRICE FIFTEEN CENTS. + + WASHINGTON, D. C.: + Published by the Academy, + 1904 + + + + +The Defects of the Negro Church. + + +The writer does not undertake to point out all the defects of the Negro +church. He does not lay any claim to omniscience. + +The limits of time and the scope of the subject prevent him from +discussing even what he knows in part. It is only some of the leading +defects in the Negro Church which will be presented for discussion. It +may be necessary to state at the onset that the writer is an optimist in +his studies of questions relating to his race. If at any time he is +compelled to use the surgeon's knife he will do so with the utmost +sympathy and with a view to heal. It may also be necessary to state, in +order to allay the fears of our friends and prevent the reckless +criticism of our detractors, that the defects of the Negro church are +found more or less in churches of other races. They are the same in kind +but differ in degree, on account of difference in environment. They are +not inherent in the race, but are found wherever the environments call +for them. It may be laid down as an axiomatic truth that there has never +been and there is not a perfect church. Of the twelve men who formed the +nucleus of the Christian church and who had the advantage of the +personal teaching of the Christ, one was a doubter, another was +worldly-minded, a betrayer, and a son of perdition who sought relief +from the stings of conscience by self-destruction; a third was a +deserter and vacillator, who drew from the great apostle of the Gentiles +a stinging rebuke for stultifying his conscience during that exciting +controversy which was to settle once for all whether Christianity was to +be a racial or a universal religion. But because there never was a +perfect church is no reason why we should speak lightly or condone the +defects of the Negro Church. Our ideal of the Negro Church is one which +will have as few defects as possible. If we expose these defects it is +because our aim is to correct them so as to reach as near as possible +our ideal. We hope we shall not be misunderstood if we submit for +investigation the following defects in the Negro Church. + + +I. THE TENDENCY TO LAY STRESS ON OUTWARDNESS RATHER THAN INWARDNESS. + +All life is known by its manifestations. The latter is the outcome, the +effect of the former. The manifestations of life cannot by any means be +more important than the life which makes them possible. Christianity is +a religion of inwardness, it finds its root in the heart and soul of +man, then effects the outward life. Whenever the inner or spiritual life +is renewed, there follows from necessity a renewed exterior. There must +be first life in the soul. Nor can there be any evolution of the soul or +of society without a previous involution in them. The whole nature of +man must be wrapped up in the image of God before any fruits of +Godliness show themselves. The tendency in the Negro Church is to look +for these manifestations rather than to work for the indwelling spirit +who is the cause of such manifestations. Parallel with this tendency in +the church, is the effort which is being made after expression of +religious life when it should be directed along the line of impressing +it. The church is in need of a deep spiritual life, nevertheless it is +impossible to express what is not previously impressed in the mind. + +There is a form of oratory prevalent among us, a mere jingle of sounds, +an expression of nothing of much value. Under its spell the man of the +world is caught, received into the church as a convert, but not being +impressed with the divine life and ideal, he soon falls away. The mad +rush after quantity rather than quality of converts is another +indication of the outwardness of religion in the church. One of the most +significant words spoken by Christ was, "Many are called but few +chosen." The church seems to be carried away with the idea of the +extension of God's Kingdom when it does not sufficiently grasp the idea +of its intension. Because there is not depth in spiritual life, not +intensiveness in the culture of souls, the church does not gain much in +expansion. Again, the church is an organization, but an organization +presupposes an organ. It is evident that if the organ--the instrument +upon which all order and arrangement depend--is out of gear, the +organization is valueless. All attempts to organize men without a +spiritual organ must be a failure. The organization of a church is more +than the putting together of bricks and other dead materials, it is the +bringing together, in an orderly manner, of living souls possessed with +spiritual power and renewed in the image of God. There is another form +of outwardness to which the Negro church is tending at oneself and +valuing oneself from appearance. It tends to make religion a puppet +show. The growth of the church is estimated at number of dollars +collected, number of churches built, and number of followers. The Negro +is prone to fall into this error because of the many denials his critics +make of his ability in self-government. It leads him to make a parade of +his religion and a show of his capabilities. The purpose of religion is +to deepen the spiritual life and help men to be in harmony with God and +nature, not to satisfy critics and detractors. The work of the church is +to lead men to have in full measure the life and light of the Spirit. It +is in the nature of life and light whenever and wherever found to be +active. They will assert themselves if they are in the church, not in a +boastful spirit but with Christian modesty. Cause must precede effect. +The foundation of the church must be securely laid before its +superstructure is attempted. There must be a base of supply before the +army marches to battle. + +I have attempted to indicate briefly in what lines the church is exposed +and is tending to outwardness. It lays greater stress on evolution of +life; in eagerness for the expression of its life it neglects its +impression; it emphasizes extensiveness rather than intensiveness, +quantity rather than quality; it runs after the gewgaws of religion and +does not look inward, deep down in the soul; its organization lacks an +organ with a spiritual life deep enough to suppress worldliness. + + +II. NEGLECT OF RURAL COMMUNITIES. + +Another defect of the Negro church is her neglect of rural communities. +From eighty to eighty-five per cent of the race is to be found in our +small towns where ignorance and superstition prevail to an alarming +extent. Among the causes of this neglect are: + +(1) The need of adequate funds for the support of churches. + +(2) The need of suitable men for these churches. + +(3) Discrimination made by church authorities in the sending of their +best men to fill city churches on account of inadequate funds in the +country churches. + +(4) The poverty of country churches and their inability to provide for +the support of their pastors, especially those who are needed most in +cities. + +(5) The repulsiveness of rural districts on account of inadequate +protection and little justice given to the Negro. + +Where there are supplementary grants or a reserve fund as aids to +struggling churches, better work is done and suitable men are seen in +the country churches. Suitable men are so rare that the city churches +easily keep them by the offer of larger salaries. Even the city's need +is not yet fully met. The demand is greater than the supply in both +places but still greater in the country. For this neglect of country +churches, a neglect by no means wilful, what are the results? We may +mention a few. + +(1) Country pastors are often compelled to take to other callings, their +church work being supplementary and subsidiary. Hence energy needed for +pastoral and pulpit work is dissipated in the effort to make a living. + +(2) The paganization of Christianity. One of the saddest things that has +happened to Negroes in our rural districts is the presentation to them +of Christianity in a crude, uncouth, and distorted form. It is a form of +Christianity with the Christ left out. The songs of the church, its +prayers and experiences are there but in a mutilated form, divested of +their spiritual significance. The "Big Meeting," or revival meeting +often gives an opportunity for a revival of the latent paganism in the +Negro. The weird songs, the wild excitement of the people followed by +the unchaste exposures and hysteria of women, the physical agony and +wallowing on the floor, and the violent physical gymnastics among both +sexes is a species of voodooism imported from the religion of heathen +Africa. It is deplorable because its after effects are demoralizing. The +situation is grave and calls for rebuke, because it is deeply entrenched +in our country churches and is encouraged by pastors who ought to point +out a better way. In Africa Christianity is displacing paganism, in +rural America paganism is displacing Christianity. Our rural population +is confronted with a form of Christianity which does not civilize. Since +the corruption of the best thing is the worst thing, it may be fairly +stated that Christianity is receiving an unfair treatment in a +professedly Christian country from a professedly Christian people. + +(3) Funds being inadequate to support country churches, and men +qualified to fill them being few even if funds were at hand, there +follows as a necessity the _employment of unqualified men_ to fill +vacancies. So pressing is the need for preachers that in many cases any +kind of men rather than no men at all seems to be the best that can be +done. Hence some men accept appointments for what they can get out of +them. Fitness in any form is out of the question in many of these +appointments. The country churches have therefore become the dumping +ground where pastors sink or swim. There too may be found a host of +immoral preachers. This fact in itself creates a prejudice in the minds +of a class of preachers against accepting country appointments. It is +only the few who are strongly imbued with a missionary spirit that are +willing to labor and lift up the standard in the interest of God and +fallen humanity. One of the surest ways of breaking down this prejudice +is for the churches to send some of their best men to country churches +and provide for their support. Missionary societies aiming at best +results send some of their best men as pioneers and bishops to the +heathen. It is only by a selective method of appointing men to our +country churches that these places can be reclaimed from heathenism and +immorality. It is only then that the "wilderness and the solitary place +shall be glad, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose." + + +III. THE NEGRO MINISTRY. + +One of the defects of the Negro Church is the defect in the culture of +its ministry. In spite of all that has been said and done to create +prejudice against the higher education of the Negro, statistics have +failed everywhere to show that our schools have turned out a large +percentage of College or University graduates. There are a few College +or University graduates in the ranks of our ministry. A larger +percentage has failed even to get through a High School course. The +defect in scholarship and culture constitutes a grave problem in our +church life. The leader of a people must be a man of broad culture, wide +sympathies, and in touch with all the varied interests of the people. It +is not enough to be able to read the Bible or pass an examination in +denominational theology. The modern teacher and preacher of today must +be acquainted with the humanities. If not a scientist he must know the +trend of scientific thought and its relation to the Bible. The best +poetry of nations should be at his command on account of the refining +influence which it has always exercised on mankind in all ages. The +masterpieces of the world's best prose writers, the history of art, the +study of the philosophy of history, and the too neglected study of the +history of ethnic religions must be in his possession, not simply in the +library of his home but in the library of his mind. Most if not all of +these studies may be prosecuted outside the college, but the college +curriculum has the advantage of system which the average preacher does +not have. College and University courses are excellent, not so much for +what one can remember out of the many things studied in them, but for +the system and mental discipline as well as the social culture through +which one passes. The interests of the church demand that the pulpit +shall lead the pew. Considering the influence which the Negro ministry +has over its laity, the demand becomes more and more imperative. It is +not a learned ministry but a cultured ministry, a ministry with higher +tastes and aspirations, a ministry which in spite of the materialism of +the times will make the time to study and see the beautiful, the good, +and the true, in God's handiwork. It is this lack of culture which makes +many a preacher narrow-minded. To them the beauties of nature are dead. +To their barren minds nature is a barren wilderness. + +(2) From being uncultured the Negro ministry finds it an easy descent to +being immoral. It must be borne in mind that all the defects enumerated +of the ministry or laity are defects not of the whole ministry or laity, +but are defects found among them to a large extent. The salvation of the +church and the race is due to the faithful few, pure and noble men and +women among us. They are the salt of the race and are growing in numbers +as years increase. The future is full of hope. It is painful nevertheless +to know that there is still a large number of immoral preachers, though +not as large as there used to be. Churches and church authorities, and +the educated sentiment of the race are on the alert and are quickly +displacing these men whenever they are found. In the conflict of the +church with the Titan of immorality, the church needs as helpers, men +with a hundred hands like Briareus to hold down this elusive monster. +The term immorality may include all kinds of conduct which the custom of +our times supported by enlightened sentiment disapproves. But the object +of the writer is not to charge the Negro ministry with all kinds of +misdemeanors. There is only one kind of conduct which is so far-reaching +in its results because it is fundamentally subversive of and destructive +to the best interests of society, that the writer wishes to bring up as +a defect of our ministry. It is sexual unchastity. There are causes for +this depravity among a certain class of Negro ministers. It is not a +constitutional disease in the Negro as many of the detractors of the +race have affirmed. Acquaintance with the ancestral life of the African +shows without the shadow of a doubt that the morality of the heathen as +relates to sexes is part of the religion of most African tribes before +they are brought into contact with a foreign civilization. Plantation +life in American society where illicit sexual intercourse was the rule +and not the exception, fostered and encouraged by white masters of the +past, and still practised though less extensively by white men, is a +product of Anglo-Saxon civilization. The environments of country life +encourage illicit living, and to men already reared among them are a +snare. Some of these environments are found in the log-cabin in which +families are crowded together like cattle, and sexual privacy and +decorum are impossible. The plantation log-cabin finds its counterpart +in the slums of cities with their crowded alleys. The landlord in both +cases is at the bottom of these evils. It is but fair to state that +these environments when found in the cities or among the peasantry of +Europe, as in France and Russia, reveal social evils even worse than +those found among Negroes in the United States. But the point we wish to +emphasize is this, that environments help to make the man, and the man +helps to make his environments. There is a class of men among Negro +preachers whose environments have not been other than those in the +plantations, these are the men who are unfit to be the leaders of the +people. When on account of their natural ability and gift of speech they +are set aside as preachers, it only gives them a larger opportunity to +demoralize themselves and those with whom they come into contact. It +will always take men of the strongest moral fibre in any race to elevate +those who live either in the slums of cities or in the cabin life of +plantations, otherwise the gain to Christian missions will be in +quantity rather than quality. Hence the need of specific training of the +best kind in schools where students of the race will find healthy +environments to inspire them to higher and nobler living. Hence the need +of higher education for the race because it subjects the recipient to an +atmosphere of healthy environments long enough to saturate his life. For +his own interest the Negro preacher should do his utmost to improve the +social condition of his people in city or farm, since that condition +reflects for good or evil upon his own character. + +3. One of the best results of the Protestant reformation is the +diffusion of God's word among the people. Through the reformation the +Bible ceased to be tongue-tied. Its history, poetry of war and love, its +tragedy, its simple gospel stories of the Christ comprise a literature +that is unsurpassed, and a revelation of God that is unique. But the +Bible can only be intelligently understood by the people when the mind +of the people is prepared to receive it. One of the worst results +growing indirectly out of the Protestant reformation, is the creation of +an ignorant priesthood and the reducing of the Bible to a fetich. It +follows as a matter of course that where the ministry is uncultured, the +interpretation of the word of God suffers. The spirit of God can not do +what man is intended to do. He can only illumine where the mind is +prepared to pass through the process. Revelation requires a medium, +otherwise it is powerless. To understand the mind of God in the Bible +presupposes a mind to comprehend His mind. With the Negro's deficient +ministry, religion becomes irreligion. He believes too much in the +non-essentials of religion, his heaven and hell are too much in the +distant future, he prays that after death he may go to heaven but sees +no heaven on earth. The new heaven and the new earth which John saw and +the new Jerusalem coming down from God to man are antipodal to his +conceptions. His God is seen going up to some cloudless region instead +of coming down to tabernacle with men. His sermons feed the feelings but +neglect the intellect and will, they tickle the ear and subordinate +truth to eloquence. The greater emphasis he puts on churchianity is a +loss to Christianity. The contribution which modern thought is making to +Biblical interpretation is sealed to him. He pursues his beaten path +along the old ruts of ecclesiasticism. He believes in a revelation which +is non-progressive and whose distinctive feature is sameness for all +times. He is painfully liberal in the construction of the Bible. He +thinks he is a curse himself according to the prophet Noah, for he has +not yet discovered the distinctive and conditional element in prophecy. +His theology is in the main denominational and is like the laws of the +Medes and Persians which admit of no change. His mind does not +discriminate between the _ipse dixit_ of the Almighty and external +authority in matters relating to dogma. In the pulpit he lacks decorum, +deep spirituality, and contemplation. His oratory is thunderous, too +physical, and lacks grace and beauty. + +Much praise is due to those denominations whose forethought has led them +to spend considerable time and pains to prepare men for the gospel +ministry. In quality of preaching and teaching, and in results already +achieved, the race owes much to this as yet small band of workers. Like +the leaven hidden in the meal its influence is being felt in the church, +in the farm, and in the firesides of the people, and is destined to +overthrow ignorance, immorality, and superstition. With the continued +aid of well-equipped mission schools which must be the base of supply +for our churches, and the training of a new type of men such as the +modern church demands, the moral change so much hoped for will be +hastened. + +4. The world-spirit is in the churches and has taken hold of our +ministry. A large part of church duties which should be performed by +laymen is shirked and placed upon the minister's shoulders. The result +is that the minister is often overburdened with secular matters, is +forced to leave the word and serve tables and loses much spirituality. +When a minister's success depends largely and primarily upon amount of +dollars raised by him his spiritual decline is rapid. Worldliness +follows when desire for position or recognition in the church overcomes +the desire to save men, and when the ordinary tricks of politics are +resorted to in order to gain church distinctions. It is a reversal of +Christ's order, "Seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness and +all these things shall be added unto you." These other things are +eagerly desired in place of the "first" things. The more elaborate the +organization of a church is, the larger is the number of preferments to +offices, and greater the opportunity given to office seekers to make +these the first things. The best men in any church are not always those +who hold its highest offices. Too much organization in the church leads +to too much officialism and worldliness, for "where the carcass is, +there will the vultures be gathered together." + + +IV. THE LAITY. + +The laity lack much consecration. The things of this world and the +desire for them press more heavily upon their minds than the extension +of God's cause. Their Christian consciousness is not trained, hence +their sense of duty is not high. They depend too much on spasms of +effort and frequent appeals to the emotions in the performance of duty. +Their idea of the gospel is too confined to hearing sermons on Sunday. +Their gospel does not touch the many interests of life. Their virtues +are not concrete. Holiness, purity, love, truth, beauty, justice, +goodness are metaphysical abstractions. Too much self-centred and +self-seeking, they make little or no sacrifice for others. Many +self-supporting churches do not shelter weaker ones and have no thought +for the heathen. There are churches that are fortunate in having in +their official boards men of culture, piety, and business experience, +but these are virtues very rarely found in the same men. Business +methods are often low in churches because of the difficulty of finding +strictly business men among the laity. In the erection of churches the +spirit of ostentation rather than worship is dominant. The immorality of +debt not being known, churches are very often built without regard to +the financial inability of the people, and deceive by suggesting rich +parishioners when the people are very poor and live from hand to mouth. +Many disruptions between pastors and churches could have been avoided +were church finances not kept in a confused state. Pastor's salaries and +other church obligations are not raised and met in a systematic way, but +are left to appeals to the feelings of the people whose ethical sense +has not been cultivated. We have thus enumerated among the defects of +the laity, worldliness, untrained Christian consciousness, restricted +meaning of the gospel, the non-concreteness of the Christian virtues, +and the lack of a missionary spirit and of business methods. + + +V. EXCESSIVE EMOTIONALISM IN WORSHIP. + +Paradoxical as it may seem, in religion the Negro's emotions constitute +his strongest as well as his weakest point. The fact that he is largely +developed in the emotional side of his nature would, other things being +equal, give him a vantage ground in matters of religion. His defect is +not that he is emotional, but that he is excessively so. Like other +races in their childhood, he is a bundle of feelings. He does not think +after God, he does not will after God, but he feels after God. He is not +driven to action because he is impelled by a moral imperative, the law +of duty, but he is controlled by his nerves which are his thermometer. +With the nerves as his guide it is impossible to tell where he stands on +many moral questions. Neurotic environments appeal quickly to him, and +are fostered by the church in sermons which appeal largely to the +imagination, in weird pictures of the unseen, in apocalyptic sermons, +and by mystic preachers known as mourners, shouters and visioners. As a +subject of experimentation in physco-physics, the most fitting time is +in seasons of revival in religion when his emotion is keyed to the +highest point. + +The following stages may be noticed: + +(1) Violent physical commotion followed by physical exhaustion. + +(2) Loss of physical control. + +(3) Loss of moral control. At this stage there is a feeling of abandon +leading often to unchaste exposure of the person, wild cries as if +demented, and all kinds of extravagances. + +(4) Mental infection as well as emotional panic. At this stage there is +pandemonium. Many obtain religion by the process of infection. + +(5) A lowered physical as well as moral vitality. At the last meeting of +the British Association for the Advancement of Science, a thoughtful +paper by Dr. Graham of Ireland showed that there was less insanity among +Roman Catholics than Protestants in Ireland, due to difference in type +of religion, Protestants of Ireland being intensely morbid and ascetic +in their Calvinism. (Congregationalist, Nov. 29, 1902, p. 781.) I +should not be surprised, if investigation was made, that similar results +would be seen in America not only between Protestants and Roman +Catholics, but among Protestants themselves. I should not be surprised +that there were fewer maniacs among Presbyterians and Congregationalists +than among Baptists and Methodists. May not students of physco-physics +make this a study for the benefit of religion? To the use of emotions in +religion the writer has no objections, he is heartily in favor, but he +seriously objects to excessive emotionalism for the following reasons: + +(1) It fails to recognize the moral and ethical judgment. + +(2) It fails to recognize the volitional side of human nature. "With a +man's will-power dormant, undeveloped, unknown, all attempt at really +training and moulding the character is foolish because impossible. Man +sometimes attempts it; God never does. He calls into activity first of +all a man's will. He seeks to know what a man's own free choice is. Then +he knows what course to follow in his schooling of the soul."[1] + +(3) It fails to recognize the rational side of human nature. + +(4) It is at variance with our concrete experience of life. In our daily +experience we think, feel and will for action. + +(5) It is sickly feminine and appeals to neurotics. + +There are some general facts in connection with the philosophy of +religion which are often overlooked in the study of the Negro religion. +Two stages may be noticed in the history of the religious development of +peoples, the primitive and the rational. The primitive stage is poetical +and imaginative, in fact religion is then in its barbaric state. In its +rational stage we see the religious man under a developed rule of +conduct. He still feels but his feelings are controlled by reason. There +is nothing new in the religion of the Negro. He is by no means a +peculiar man from a religious standpoint. The physical contortions and +gyrations noticed in his Christian worship are as old as the history of +religion itself, if not older than it. In his worship we may see things +which are found in the heathen rites of the native African, in the +Bacchanalia of the Greeks, among the Sali or dancing priests of the +Romans, and among the Corybantes. The same effect which is produced on +the feelings of the Negro has been produced on the feelings of the +American Indian, as well as on the ancient bards of Scotland, Ireland, +Wales, and Germany. Lord Macaulay, describing the Puritan, says: "In his +devotional retirement he prayed with convulsions, and groans, and tears. +He was half maddened by glorious or terrible illusions. He heard the +lyres of angels or the tempting whispers of friends. He caught a gleam +of the Beautific Vision, or woke screaming from dreams of everlasting +fire." In the girlhood days of the late Elizabeth Cady Stanton her +sensitive mind was nearly overbalanced, and she suffered terribly from +the too vivid description of future punishment by the emotional Finney. +The imagery of the Book of Revelation has a peculiar effect on the +feelings of the Negro. Its mysticism acts like a spell over him. Says +Macaulay, "The Greek Rhapsodists, according to Plato, could not recite +Homer without almost falling into convulsions." The Mohawk hardly feels +the scalping knife while he shouts his death song. The Dijazerti in the +region of the Sahara believe that communication with Allah is only +possible in a state of trance, and accordingly they work themselves into +a religious frenzy, while the ignorant among them repeat the name of +Allah many thousand times till they fall into a state of unconsciousness. + +We do not wonder, considering the primitive state of religion, why men +were spell-bound under its influence. It is all the more conspicuous in +tropical natures, for there youth is exuberant. In all primitive states +of religion we notice the same abandonment, the same illusions produced +on the imagination, the contortions of the body, the child-like +credulity, the superstition, the depression, and exaltations of the +feelings, "the agony, the ecstasy, the plentitude of belief." They are +the complement of barbaric faith, and not a peculiarity of the Negro. If +in these primitive conditions we see the Negro tickled by a straw, or +frightened by a ghost, or in moments of ecstasy spreading out his hands +in an attempt to fly up to heaven without dying, these are the natural +concomitants of such conditions. We pity, rather than censure him, more +especially when we remember that for two hundred years in the house of +bondage, his wild, primitive nature was left untrained. + +What is needed for the proper religious development of the Negro is +education, not repression or subjugation of his feelings. We cannot +emphasize this fact too much. There is the danger, in the zeal of +preserving the holy ark, of defiling it by unholy contact. The Negro +needs more thought in his religion, but religion is not all thought. To +have a proper balance in religion as in every-day life, the faculties of +thought, feeling, and volition must be present, distributed in fair +proportions. When reason is overfed in the exercise of religion, the +result is a dry and barren rationalism. When the emotions are overfed +the result is a wild and sickly sentimentalism, a neurotic religion. + + + + +Footnote: + +[1] The divine method of Inquiry. Biblical World. Dec. 1902, p. 450. + + + + +Transcriber's Notes: + +Passages in italics are indicated by _underscore_. + +The misprint "soons" has been corrected to "soon" (page 4). + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Defects of the Negro Church, by +Orishatukeh Faduma + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DEFECTS OF THE NEGRO CHURCH *** + +***** This file should be named 31261.txt or 31261.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/1/2/6/31261/ + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Stephanie Eason, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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