- Project Runeberg -  An American Dilemma : the Negro Problem and Modern Democracy /
873

(1944) [MARC] Author: Gunnar Myrdal
Table of Contents / Innehåll | << Previous | Next >>
  Project Runeberg | Catalog | Recent Changes | Donate | Comments? |   
Note: Gunnar Myrdal died in 1987, less than 70 years ago. Therefore, this work is protected by copyright, restricting your legal rights to reproduce it. However, you are welcome to view it on screen, as you do now. Read more about copyright.

Full resolution (TIFF) - On this page / på denna sida - IX. Leadership and Concerted Action - 40. The Negro Church - 5. Its Weakness

scanned image

<< prev. page << föreg. sida <<     >> nästa sida >> next page >>


Below is the raw OCR text from the above scanned image. Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan. Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!

This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.

Chapter 40. The Negro Church 873
President of Howard University, that he is a Baptist minister and has the
backing of the Negro Baptist world.
Potentially, the Negro church Is undoubtedly a power institution. It has
the Negro masses organized and, if the church bodies decided to do so,
they could line up the Negroes behind a program. Actually, the Negro
church is, on the whole, passive in the field of intercaste power relations.
It generally provides meeting halls and encourages church members to
attend when other organizations want to influence the Negroes. But viewed
as an instrument of collective action to improve the Negroes’ position in
American society, the church has been relatively inefficient and uninfluential.
In the South it has not taken a lead in attacking the caste system or even in
bringing about minor reforms j
in the North it has only occasionally been
a strong force for social action.
This might be deemed deplorable, but it should not be surprising.
Christian churches generally have, for the most part, conformed to the
power situation of the time and the locality. They have favored a passive
acceptance of one’s worldly condition and, indeed, have seen their main
function in providing escape and consolation to the sufferers. If there is
any relation at all between the interest of a Negro church in social issues
and the social status of its membership, the relation Is that a church tends
to be the more other-worldly the poorer its members are and the more they
are in need of concerted efforts to improve their lot in this life. The
churches where the poor white people in the South worship are similar to
the common Negro churches.^®
Even in this respect the Negro church is an ordinary American church
with certain traits exaggerated because of caste. Of lOO sermons delivered
in urban Negro churches and analyzed by Mays and Nicholson, only 26
touched upon practical problems.^ The rural Negro church makes an even
poorer showing in this respect.^ Too, the Negro church is out of touch with

*


Fifty-four others were classified as dealing" with “other-worldly” topics, and the
remaining 20 were doctrinal or theological. {Of, cit,^ pp. 59 and 70.) Mays and Nicholson
also reported, as have other students of the Negro church, that the sermons were character-
ized by poor logic, poor grammar and pronunciation, and an excessive display of oratorical
tricks.
**
Not only the sermons, but practically all the prayers, spirituals, and Church school litera-
ture of the three major Negro denominations support traditional, compensatory patterns,
according to Mays. (B. E. Mays, The Negroes God [1938], p. 245.) Mays describes these
patterns thus: “Though recognizing notable exceptions, they are compensatory and
traditional in character because they are neither developed nor interpreted in terms of
social rehabilitation. They are conducive to developing in the Negro a complacent, laissez-
faire attitude toward life. They support the view that God in His good time and in His
own way will bring about the conditions that will lead to the fulfillment of social needs.
They encourage Negroes to feel that God will see to it that things work out all right j
if
not in this world, certainly in the world to come. They make God influential chiefly in the
beyond, in preparing a home for the faithful—a home where His sufl^ering servants will
be free of the trials and tribulations which beset them on the earth.” {Idem.)

<< prev. page << föreg. sida <<     >> nästa sida >> next page >>


Project Runeberg, Sat Dec 9 01:31:31 2023 (aronsson) (download) << Previous Next >>
https://runeberg.org/adilemma/0935.html

Valid HTML 4.0! All our files are DRM-free