The Black Church functioned as a means for Blacks to create their own communities and worship in culturally distinct ways. It was the holy pipeline for the preservation and transmission of powerful Negro spirituals into the musical repertoire of the Black churches. Being deeply rooted in the Black community, the Black Church has often adapted itself to the social and economic needs of the community by transforming itself into a tool of rebellion by challenging and holding accountable the various societal institutions responsible for Black oppression. The Black Church was once an integral force in the Civil Rights Movement, was once a grass roots juggernaut. Is the rebellious spirit still living in the Black Church amidst 21st century social problems? Is the rebellious spirit, dying? History has potentially shown several examples of indirect attempts to kill the rebellious spirit in the Black Church. One strategy utilized by U.S. institutions of power in the 1960’s to kill the Civil Rights Movement was the implementation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The Civil Rights Act (a purely economic and political decision rather than a moral or spiritual one) strategically deadened the nerves of the rebellious Black Spirit and thus the very institution that nurtured it by innovatively weaving a Matrix-like illusion of socio-economic equality into the fabric of American society, for which there was no insurrectionary movement.
Another potentially effective method used to kill the rebellious spirit of the Black Church was to allow the institution to gradually turn itself into a capitalistically driven enterprise, i.e. the prosperity gospel. In 1953, Billy Graham audaciously declared “I am selling the greatest product in the world, why shouldn’t it be promoted as well as soap.” Similar sentiments have been echoed by T.D. Jakes and are no doubt championed by other famous (and non-famous) Black preachers of the contemporary Black Church. Black preachers who succumb to the god of spiritually malnourished materialism only lead to the destruction of the rebellious spirit in the Black Church. But isn’t the prosperity gospel a religious ideology mirroring the economic progress of the Black community? James Cone reminds us “while the Black middle class has made considerable economic progress, the underclass, despite America’s robust economy, is worse off now than in 1968.”
But what about philanthropy and community programs in the Black Church? While both social activities are desperately needed they never sufficiently replace the greatest use of the rebellious spirit in the Black Church to deconstruct and overturn oppressive institutions. As Cornel West stated, “true justice makes charity unnecessary.” If philanthropic endeavors and church programs are a replacement for and not a supplement to endeavors toward social justice, they will inject the grim poison of 21st century complacency into the veins of the rebellious spirit.
The question remains, is the rebellious spirit of the Black Church dying before our very eyes? I’d answer, emphatically, yes! But if the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference reminds us of anything, it’s that the rebellious spirit of the Black Church will not go gently into that good night.
Peace
