Significance of the Church to African-Americans
Post Emancipation Black Church
The end of the American Civil War marked the beginning of emancipation of the African-American. During the emancipation era, the African-Americans retreated to the church, which served them as a venue for social, enjoyment and information needs (Johnstone). The church became the venue for various activities and functions including concerts, trade exhibitions, scholarly debates, fine arts, and celebrations in general (Johnstone). This essay will look at the importance of the church to the African-Americans in various aspects.
The Social Center
The church presented the African-American communities with the only place where the African-Americans achieved autonomy and social freedom, away from the whites (Johnstone). In addition, the church provided facilities to carry out social and economic activities (Johnstone). Du Bois declared that the economic collaboration among the Negroes had its roots in the churches where the African-Americans always gathered (Johnstone).
The American Civil War marked the end of slavery and thus ushered the emancipation era. In this regard, the African-Americans were termed freedmen (Encyclopedia Britannica). However, the freedom was only technical as the African-Americans remained slaves to policies introduced during this period (The Social Studies Help Center). The reconstruction period was therefore another era of suffering for the African-Americans in their social, economic and political life.
State laws known as black codes came into effect in 1866. The codes conferred power on the whites over African-Americans to prevent them from owning land or seeking employment outside their states (The Social Studies Help Center). This forced the African-Americans to work in the lands owned by the whites under crop lien contracts.
Crop lien contracts demanded that the African-Americans work in the farms and earn by getting a share of the harvest at the end of the season (Encyclopedia Britannica). Unfortunately, during harvest, the white people would deduct all the expenses incurred by the African-Americans during the season (Encyclopedia Britannica).
The expenses accrued from using white men’s tools, for food consumed in the course of working or for accommodation in the whites’ homes (Encyclopedia Britannica). The deductions would always be higher than the share of the harvest leaving the African-Americans in debts and thus forcing them to work again to settle such debts. The circle would start all over again (Encyclopedia Britannica).
Consequently, economic or investment groups emerged in the church. The groups aimed at assisting the community members to wade through turbulent financial times. There was particular concern when such times resulted from bereavement of family members as well as the mistreatment in the white farms (Johnstone). The groups provided some compensation, which is comparable to what the modern day insurance companies give to beneficiaries who lose an insured breadwinner (Johnstone).
Education Avenue
The African-American churches invested resources towards quality education for their members. The ministers accomplished the desire for education by building schools alongside churches, with the firm desire of improving the spiritual nourishment of the African-Americans (Johnstone). According to Wade, the whites were diametrically opposed to such church ventures because they knew that the African-Americans would acquire quality education through the churches (Johnstone).
Center for Political Expression
Many African-Americans vied for elective posts and won during reconstruction period (Johnstone). After the end of the Reconstruction period, unfortunately, the whites dominated the political scene again by elbowing out the African-Americans from the posts they occupied previously (Johnstone).
This left the African-Americans with no choice but to turn the church into a political platform from which they expressed their political views (Johnstone). In this regard, the church attracted numerous aspiring the African-American political candidates to use the church as a launching pad for their political careers (Johnstone). The ministers supported some African-Americans by inviting them to their churches and soliciting votes for them (Johnstone). Some candidates started as ministers initially.
Secure Haven in a Hostile White World
The events of reconstruction contributed to a loss of dignity by the African-Americans since the laws conferred to them the role of objects of the white people. The segregated African-Americans had no access to quality goods and services as these were a preserve of the white people (Johnstone).
The African-Americans viewed the church as a source of quality politics, quality socialization and quality economic services or initiatives. This raised the dignity of the African-Americans as the church never failed in its role. Further, the African-American church offered psychological shield from the white people (Johnstone).
The Church in America
The church in America is bound to remain strong in the society in the face of concepts like secularization. The rational choice theory and the understanding of what it is that changes in the church prove that religion is steadfast and will stand for ages to come (Johnstone).
When religious members fail to get satisfied in one religious grouping several options offer themselves to such people. One thing is clear, religious people do not abandon religion in absolute terms. Instead, such people move from one religious grouping to another seeking for that unmet need. This vindicates the rational choice theory that several options exist for the rational being and that such a being will choose what is good to them, rationally (Johnstone).
According to Mark Chaves, secularization, as a concept, has been around for quite some time (Johnstone). He elaborates secularization through three levels. Secularization has nothing to do with religion as such. It involves religion as an authority.
Previously, the church used to be the sole or among the few authorities in the society. Secularization has seen the rise of several independent institutions that have stamped their authority in the society. Therefore, religion remains intact but authority spreads to various other institutions (Johnstone).
This type of secularization, called laicization, was quite common in the middle ages especially after the French Revolution (Johnstone). Mark Chaves discuses another aspect of secularization called internal secularization (Johnstone). Internal secularization happens when religious groupings adopt secular doctrines ranging from the arts to science (Johnstone). The acceptance of same sex marriages in some churches is a clear example of internal secularization.
Lastly, Mark Chaves shows that secularization at the individual level takes place too when such an individual sheds a previously held outlook and adopts a new one. For instance, when a religious person decides to see everyone as being a part of the plans of the Supreme Being and embraces all people. Mark Chaves calls this aspect the religious disinvolvement (Johnstone).
Therefore, religion in American remains intact. What changes is authority, processes and personal views but not the church. Religion played a critical role during the reconstruction era and will remain strong to assist its followers in various aspects. It will weather numerous challenges and concepts to stand out for years.