Divinity, Democracy and Syncretism: Black Religion in America by Tarra Hamilton

7/22/2019 Divinity, Democracy and Syncretism: Black Religion in America by Tarra Hamilton

1/20

Tarra Hamilton May 2013_____________________________________________________________________________________

1

Divinity, Democracy and Syncretism:

Black Religion in America

William Paterson UniversityDepartment of Political Science

May 2013


2/20


2

Divinity, Democracy and Syncretism: Black Religion in America

INTRODUCTION

The focus of this paper is why are African-Americans in the U.S. still markedly more religiousthan any other U.S. racial or ethnic group and the research question is how has their adherence to religion

affected their politics?

According to a 2007 survey conducted by the Pew Research Centers Forum of Religion &

Public Life1, African-Americans in the U.S. are the most religious group in the nation, especially African-

American women. This is based on several measures such as religious affiliation, attending religious

services, prayer frequency and how they rate the importance of religion in their lives. According to this

report, titled the U.S. Religious Landscape Survey, 87% of African-Americans in the U.S. report some

type of religious affiliation or associate themselves with some religious group. Latinos/Hispanics report a

rate of 85% and among the general public overall, 83% associate themselves with some type of religion.

A similar report by the Kaiser Foundation reveals the following:

1 U.S. Religious Landscape Survey, Pew Research Centers Forum of Religion & Public Life.http://religions.pewforum.org/reports
http://religions.pewforum.org/reportshttp://religions.pewforum.org/reportshttp://religions.pewforum.org/reports


3/20


3

In light of the U.S. religious trends and secularization, it is perplexing that the church is still the

bedrock of most African-American communities, especially with their religious and political history.

Prior to the Transatlantic Slave Trade, Africans had varied religious beliefs from polytheistic to

Islamic-influenced. European Christianity was merely an imposition that was adopted by displaced and

enslaved Africans and superimposed on their existing beliefs. Hybrid religions arose from the mingling of

African spirituality and European Christianity such as Voodoo, Vodun or Santaria. No matter what form

religion took on for African-Americans in the U.S., it clearly represented a sense of community,participation, inclusion and even empowerment in a new world in which they were powerless.

In Lillas work, The Stillborn God2, he discusses how religion can sustain human existence,

at least cognitively, by some type of belief in an enchanted world. This need for enchantment softens the

blows of reality and removes the sorrows of being human and what is truly more sorrowful than

enslavement? How would the slaves have fared without religion and survived a reality as harsh as slavery

without visions of hope and a concept of an afterlife or hereafter? African-Americans place a great deal of

emphasis on heaven and hell and the hope that they will enter heaven as a reward for being good and

giving praise to God.

2 Mark Lilla. The Stillborn God: Religion, Politics and the Modern West. Knopf Publishing, 2007.


4/20


4

Gauchet points out in his work, The Disenchantment of the World3 that nothing is sacred nor

divine and the more that this realization creeps into the collective human psyche, the more we need a

cognitive crutch to support us as we hobble through the chaos. Gauchet comes up with a name for a man

without some form of enchantment to believe in. He calls this the naked man and this man is mentallyunarmed against life, reality, nature or anything else. This was, most likely, the experience of the slaves as

strangers in a stranger land. So, why do African-Americans in America still hang onto religion so

vehemently, especially religions that are not truly their own?

THEORY AND HYPOTHESIS

This paper discusses why African-Americans in the U.S. are the most religious group and why

this phenomenon has occurred and endured. The focus of this paper is why are African-Americans in the

U.S. still markedly more religious than any other U.S. racial or ethnic group and the research question is

how has this adherence to religion affected their politics?

The hypothesis of this research paper is that African-Americans in the U.S. are still markedly

more religious than any other U.S. racial or ethnic group because of a continued sense of social

displacement and isolation post-slavery.

The Independent Variable (X) is Social Displacement/Isolation. The Dependent Variable (Y) is

Religious African-Americans in the U.S. The causal mechanism is that African-Americans continued

sense of social displacement and isolation post-slavery causes them to have a high level of religiousnessor religiosity.

DISCUSSION

The Enslavement of Spiritual Consciousness

On the shores of America, a strange and hostile land, a prayer, a blessing, a belief and faith

were all that enslaved Africans had. Slavery had stripped them of their freedom, their names, their culture

and their humanity, but these displaced and enslaved people grasped onto the one thing that nothing could

take away from them and that was their religious faith. Religion and belief in God was something that no

shackle, whip or superior could take away.

3 Gauchet, Marcel. The Disenchantment of the World. New French Thought. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ,1999.


5/20


5

Any practice of religion by slaves was forbidden. Slavemasters saw religious gatherings and the

practice of religion among African slaves as a form of revolt. Religious worship was punishable by

physical violence or even death and yet the practice of religion among blacks still carried on covertly

under cover of darkness.Torn asunder from everything they once knew, the African slaves were dehumanized and yet

they were an integral part of the building of a country of which they could not even be a part of. They

were seen as chattel and as less than human not only by treatment, but by law.

Once slavery was abolished, the former slaves were free to practice religion, but the religions

that theyd carried with them from Africa had morphed into various kinds of hybrid religions. The slaves

that were brought to America had many religions and religious practices.

At the beginning of the Transatlantic Slave Trade, African religious beliefs and practices were

numerous and varied. In addition to a wide variety of polytheistic religions, a significant portion of the

continent had for centuries fallen under Islamic influence. Some religious practices even consisted of

sacrifice. Despite this diversity, there were some commonalities. Most Africans believed in some type of

supreme being or deity, they sought to understand the connections between man and nature and much of

this was expressed creatively through dance and music. African slaves in America did not come oblivious

to spirituality and they attempted to carry on their religious legacy by teaching and by rituals.

Africans had been exposed to Christianity by missionaries during the 15 th century before they

even arrived on American shores. So, perhaps they brought with them some semblance of Christianity.Others converted to Christianity. Missionaries continued the Christianity indoctrination of blacks up until

18th century, but they clung steadfastly to the one thing that had been their saving grace through slavery

and that was their own religious beliefs and rituals. Even stripped down and regenerated, their religious

beliefs were their spiritual sustenance.

The African slaves became victims of syncretism. Syncretism is when beliefs combine. Often

these combined beliefs are at odds with each other. Raboteaus article, Slave Autonomy and Religion 4

asks if Christianity served as a tool in the hands of slaveholders to make slaves docile or did it serve in the

hands of slaves as a weapon of resistance and even outright rebellion against the system of slavery?

4 Raboteau, Albert J. (1981). Slave Autonomy and Religion.Journal of Religious Thought. Fall81/Winter82, Vol. 38 Issue 2.


6/20


6

Raboteaus idea that the adoption of Christianity by slaves was a response to enslavement runs

parallel to the Durkheimian concept of anomie5. If anomie is an absence of social norms and the lack of

social bonds that an individual feels from his/her community, one can only imagine what enslaved

Africans felt, being without any social norms and social bonds at all and facing degradation anddehumanization.

African-Americans of today still exist on the periphery of mainstream America. Although some

have made inroads into complete assimilation and achieved success, the majority are still faced with

isolating social ills. The charts below reveal some indication that blacks are not up to par with other races

in America, financially, educationally and socially. Additionally, the rates of incarceration and recidivism

among blacks, especially black males, is alarming and disturbing. The collateral damage to African-

American families has been devastating.

Bureau of Labor Statistics: http://www.bls.gov/spotlight/2010/african_american_history/

5Anomie : Social norms or normalness. For Durkheim, anomie arises more generally from a mismatch between personal orgroup standards and wider social standards, or from the lack of a social ethic, which produces moral deregulation and anabsence of legitimate aspirations. ~ Wikipedia.com


7/20


7

Democracy is a Playground for the Devil

Democracy says that all citizens, who are eligible to vote, have an equal chance to participate in

political decision-making and to control that which affects their lives. This is done through those that are

elected by the people and hopefully operate for the people. During my research for this paper, I kept

coming across a quote that says, Not until the 1965 Voting Rights Act, when blacks could vote, did

democracy truly begin. I have been unable to determine exactly who uttered this quote.

The Voting Rights Act changed the face of democracy in America. At certain points, there were

obstacles placed within its context. For example, certain states that allowed blacks to vote added

restrictive requirements, such as literacy tests or poll tax, knowing that many would be unable to pass the

test or afford the fee. The history of black voting rights was a give and take situation and many attempts

were made to circumvent this right. Other obstacles were grandfather clauses, gerrymandering, eligibility

requirements and even physical violence, including lynching.

Mattis6 contends that it is clear that African-Americans are religious, but very little study hasbeen done on how this affects their political decision-making. She seeks to answer if religiosity

promotes an escapist, apolitical stance among African-Americans.

6Mattis, Jacqueline S. (2001). Religion and African American Political Life. Political Psychology. Vol. 22, No. 2, SpecialIssue: Psychology as Politics (June. 2001).


8/20


8

Historically, religion has had the ability to transform social and political structures. Religion

creates social and political cohesion and helps to control society by laying the grounds for morality and

law. Mattis questions the idea the religion has caused African-Americans to avoid politics. She hints that

the reason could be that African-Americans had to respond to the hand that they were dealt, which was tohaving no voting rights until the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was passed. This gave them no voice and no

ability to make political change. Mattis states, African-Americans have adopted political philosophies

that run the gamut from gradualism to radical separatism and this community has used strategies that

range from avoidant to militant.

For African-Americans, the right to vote meant they had the power to make change, to strive

for freedom and equality and to fight racism. Mattis says that the otherworldly beliefs of the majority of

African-Americans is merely escapism. She points out that even the New Testament of the Bible lays the

groundwork for African-Americans to wage a religious battle against oppression. For example, Ephesians

6:12 states For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities,

against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

African-Americans have historically been politically active. Their political affiliations have

shifted between both the Democratic and Republican parties. Post-Civil War, many blacks were

Republicans as were most Abolitionists. During and after the Great Depression under President Franklin

Roosevelt and his New Deal, many blacks became Democrats. Legislation surrounding the civil rights of

blacks under President John F. Kennedy and under Lyndon Baines Johnson pushed more blacks tobecome Democrats. By the year 2010, just 16% of African-Americans called themselves Republicans.

Dr. Cornel West, a famed educator, philosopher, activist, author and member of the Democratic

Socialists of America, discusses two theories, Radical Conditionedness and Existential Angst. He has

referred to the United States a "racist patriarchal nation and said that "White America has been

historically weak-willed in ensuring racial justice and has continued to resist fully accepting the humanity

of blacks". This caused many blacks to be degraded and oppressed and unable to find neither meaning in

life, a sense of self-worth or even an identity. Again, blacks in America are a displaced people and Dr.

West contends that it is this "Existential Angst that has caused social scars on blacks in America and

these scars have yet to completely heal.


9/20


9

As for Radical Conditionedness, Dr. West did not expound on it nor is there much detail on it

or scholarly discussions to be found about it, but the term speaks for itself. One can speculate that this

refers to the adaption of the self in an adversarial society and how one reacts. When faced with such, one

becomes conditioned in order to cope. African-Americans are in a perpetual state of being conditioned by

several factors, political and socioeconomic. Racism has been a headache for which there is no pill, but

for African-Americans, religiosity has been a soothing balm.

Black Religion 2013

As a more contemporary approach to my research, I conducted a small questionnaire using

Facebook and posed the following questions, seeking those that were African-American and considered

themselves religious and well-educated. The questions were as follows:1) How did you come to be the religion that you are?2) What do you know about the early religion of African slaves in America and the manifestation

of hybrid religions?
http://blackdemographics.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Black-Party-Affiliation-and-Vote-Patterns.jpg


10/20


10

Below are some excerpts from the responses that I received, as they were written, which I felt

were relevant:

Response 1: The masses of former slaves clearly had this new religion forced upon them and wereindoctrinated overtly and in subtle ways to accept it. The first black church was a mixture

of people who practiced the Islam, Yuroba, Joo Joo and some of the other animist religionsof Africa/Kemt/Sudan/Akebulan. The Islamic presence can be seen in the old photos of

women who wore white turbans and flowing white robes and sang a negro spiritual called

"Give Me That Old Time Religion". If it was good enough for Abraham and Moses, then

its good enough for me. They were clearly rejecting this "New Religion" called

Christianity and the white spook God theory. We become what our parents are until we

can muster the nerve and courage to go against tradition and the fear of being ostracized

and rebuked by the family by bucking the establishment and have the gall to think for

ourselves.

Response 2: Slaves were not allowed to read the Bible for the first 200 yrs in this country and when

they "allowed" us to read it, they gave us a corrupted version of it and hid the oldtestament and only allowed the hand selected passer (pastor) to teach parts that supported

being a slave and legitimized their rule and position of power. Love your enemy, turn the

other cheek, and if they take your coat give them thy hat. Slaves, obey your masters

according to the flesh. They mocked our parents by the language they used, but upon

serious investigation...they used "stealth communication". They called the Pastor -

Passer..sounds like Ebonics right..? They were right and exact in what they said. The hand

selected puppet/slave only "passed on" what his enemy taught him and instructed him to

say and teach.

Response 3: When the missionaries came to Africa and observed our culture in its most splendid

manifestations they said we were practicing savagery. We practiced "ancestral worship"and they said we were foolish, ignorant and dumb for engaging in such a vain practice.

They began the indoctrination process with the white Jesus that died for your sins and all

the rest of it. Yashua/Jesus is "OUR ANCESTOR" lol. So, when they told us that we needed

Jesus, we still were practicing our form of religion they corrupted and tricked us with

subtle white supremacy and then gave us an inferior complex and later reinforced it by

way of the media...:

Response 4: The early beginnings of my faith started with my family. You know, back then kids had novoice! You went to the church of parental choice..the Baptist church. Do I regret it...no.

Did I research it....no. I love The Lord and he has always heard my cry and made it

possible for me to smile! He's in my heart and that's enough for me.

Response 5: As a youngster, I went to church with my Mom every Sunday. Initially, as I grew, I wasso frightened, because the pastor preached about fire and brimstone all the time, and I was

afraid to do anything wrong. That man scared me! Once I moved away from home, I truly

believed that I was I spiritual "woman" and I began to grow. I joined a Baptist church,

where I spent my Sundays, and other days of the week. I had always known of Jesus Christ,

but I had never made HIM my personal Savior and allowed HIM to become my LORD.

However, when I did....WOW is all I can say. It is a decision I have NEVER regretted. As


11/20


11

for early African religion, I must admit that I do not know as much as I should. It is a

subject that while I have never researched it, I do read about it from time to time. I do

know that religion was very important to our ancestors, and it is my belief this is why it is

so important to most of us today. It is something which I feel "calls" to one and at some

point "you" not only "feel" but you feel compelled to "answer."

Response 6: The modern day apostolic church follow the teachings of Paul which makes the masses ofChristians "Paulites" and followers of him and not of the Biblical Yashua/Jesus. Paul in

many instances outright contradicts the teachings and laws that Yashua ascribed to. The

utilize the Greek language to explain scripture and non of the scriptures were "revealed"

in Greek. They were translated and transliterated into Greek where they "redefined" the

"Meanings" of words. The word for Heaven in Greek is "Orion" or "Oronus" which is a

star constellation which our ancestors the Tamareans used to align the Pyramids.

Therefore, the God of the Bible lives in the star constellation of Orion a physical place. I

was remiss in fully answering your question pertaining to the origins of my spiritual

beginnings. When I was around 8 yrs old I knew I was different from my own siblings and

had a awareness of the Etheric reality in the universe and within me. I prayed to thesupreme being without knowledge of religion. The world was a strange and imbalanced

place and I struggled to make sense of the evils around me. Man's inhumanity to man

baffled me and even my own flesh and bone was strange to me. I heard the fire and

brimstone narrative, but knew that there was no such thing as being "saved".

Response 7: I remember once sitting in church with my mother and grandmother and they had agigantic crucifix with the white Jesus hanging on the cross. My grandmother said "Son, if

you just be a good boy God will answer all your prayers". I remained quiet and did not

verbalize a response to her however, deep within my soul and mind .I questioned her

teachings and logic but, out of respect for her did not outwardly challenge her teaching

that was sincere however, flawed. I said within myself; "Jesus was considered a "perfect"man and did not sin according to the church's view. I am nowhere near that and God

refused to answer Jesus's request/prayer when he went inside the Gardener's shed in the

Garden of Gethsemane and asked of his Father"Let this cup (crucifixion) pass by him".

If God did not answer Jesus's prayer then, why would he answer mine"? I, like the majority

of Black people in America, are indoctrinated by whatever school of thought they are. I

was always in search of the "pure milk"...the total truth as to who and what is God and

who and where we (blacks) are in scripture. It took many years of study, attending lectures

and visiting and listening to others teachings and research...that the magnitude and myriad

of lies, distortions, myths and spookism was revealed and the motives behind them.

Elijah Muhammad made a statement or posed a question to his followers. "If a man won't

treat you right? Why would you think he would teach you right"?

Clearly, the people that responded to my questions are deep thinkers with some great insights

and reasonable knowledge of the history of black religion, even if some of the responses were tinged with

racial overtones. They seem to question religion and the history of religion and they realize that there are

flaws in what they were taught as children, but they are still clearly religious.


12/20


12

LITERATURE REVIEW

In the article, Urbanization and the End of Black Churches in the Modern World 7 Evan

discusses the nature of black religion in the United States. He points out that for black people in America;

religion has been a double-edged sword. It has possibly hindered their progress, but on the other hand,religious faith may have given them the strength and resilience to overcome racism and adversity. The

black church has always been prominent in black culture. Evan discusses the fact that some feel that black

people are religious by nature. African blacks had various religions pre-slavery and on Americas new

soil, they allowed themselves to be indoctrinated into Christianity. He too suggests that religion for black

people has been a balm against political and social oppression.

Prior to the civil rights movement, religion was the saving grace of black people, but once

empowered, they still did not began to shed their otherworldliness and become more secular. Evan points

out that it is unclear if black religiosity is compensatory. He discusses the essays of Brennan 8, who

suggested that religion helped black people climb out of economic hardships, social deprivation, and

psychological maladjustment. Evan questions if religion, in black people, is innate, but suggests that it is

not.

While the church played a major role in black culture in the U.S. as Southern blacks began to

migrate to the North, religion was more of a psychological coping mechanism. Evan points out that there

is no conclusive evidence that religiosity has been a hindrance to black progress in America, but he

suggests that black people were not really given a choice in the matter as they were under what he callsthe seemingly ubiquitous white gaze. Religion became a major part of the assimilation process.

In the article, Slave Autonomy and Religion9, Roboteau discusses the roll of Christianity and

how it created autonomy among slaves in antebellum Southern States, the rise of black churches and how

slaves adopted religion in the U.S. He begins by asking if religion was simply the slaves response to

slavery or was it used by slave masters to control the slaves. Initially, slave masters believed that religion

among slaves would cause rebellion and uprising. It was missionaries that convinced them that it was

okay for slaves to be religious.

7 Evan, Curtis J. (2007). Urbanization and the End of Black Churches in the Modern World. The American Society of ChurchHistory. 76:4, December 2007.

8 Emily Brennan is assistant director of the Institute for Religion, Culture and Public Life at Columbia University in New York.

9 Raboteau, Albert J. (2001). Slave Autonomy and Religion.Journal of Religious Thought. Fall81/Winter 82, Vol. 38, Issue2.


13/20


13

The dynamic between the slave and religion was complex. It supposedly leveled all men before

God. It opened the door to forgiveness of oppressors. It supplied strength and fortitude for the enslaved.

Roboteau says that religion among slaves was compensatory. Something was better than nothing. If they

could not find equality on earth among men, they could find it in the sky. Religion gave the slaves anotherworldly distraction from their harsh realities. Raboteau states In the hand-clapping, footstomping,

headshaking fervor of the plantation praise house, the slaves, in prayer, sermon, and song, fit Christianity

to their peculiar experience and in the process resisted, even transcended, the dehumanizing bonds of

slavery.

In the article, The Visible Church: Historiography of African American Religion since

Raboteau10, Frey discusses Raboteaus focus on the invisible institution, which is black religion under

slavery. In the book, Slave Religion, Raboteau says that slave religion was both institutional and non-

institutional, visible and invisible, formally organized and spontaneously adapted. Frey says that

religion, for slaves and ex-slaves, is a means of locating the cause of misfortune and providing a fix or

remedy. This paper discussed the flow of historical research in the religious and cultural studies of black

history and black religion and how it lapsed for many years.

In the 1960s and 1970s, there was resurgence in the study of black religiosity due to the Civil

Rights movement by revisionists and re-revisionists. Despite lapses and gaps in research, Frey points out

that during the mass migration of Africans to the U.S., they arrived as communities and not individuals

and they brought with them their rituals, symbols, beliefs, languages and customs. He contends thatreligion and religious beliefs have the power to change and adapt to circumstances.

In the article, The Heavenization of Earth: African American Visions and Uses of the Afterlife,

1863-190111, Gin discusses the importance that African Americans place on the concept of an afterlife.

She suggests that the vision of heaven and hell were simply metaphors for freedom and slavery.

Imagining life after death was a way of coping with the dehumanizing effects of slavery and later the

social ills, racism, inequalities and isolation that blacks felt after slavery. Gin poses the question of

whether religion and belief in an afterlife was a panacea for African-Americans or a destructive delusion

that detracted from striving for excellence here on earth. She points out that even back in 1886; Frederick

10 Frey, Sylvia R. (2008). The Visible Church: Historiography of African American Religion since Raboteau. Slavery andAbolition. Jan. 2008, Vol 29, Issue 1.

11 Gin, Kathryn (2010). The Heavenization of Earth: African American Visions and Uses of the Afterlife, 1863-1901. Slaveryand Abolition. Jun. 2010, Vol. 31 Issue 2.


14/20


14

Douglas expressed a hope that religion would not be an excuse or a reason to settle for less socially for

African Americans. His hope was that it would empower African Americans to fight harder for peace,

happiness and equality on earth. Gin states Otherworldiness did not have to be solely escapist, and the

afterlife rhetoric did not have to be purely otherworldly.Like other scholars, she contends that AfricanAmericans had religion when they arrived in the U.S., but that over time it was altered and changed and

that they made it resonate with the contexts in which they found themselves.

In the article, Deconstructing a Theology of Defiance: Black Preaching and the Politics of Racial

Identity12, Clardy suggests that religiosity among black people was an act of defiance. It was a response

to social, political and cultural confusion and upheaval. He states From its earliest origins during the

slave trade, the Reconstruction period, and Jim Crow segregation, the Black Church in America has

served as a vital source of collective comfort, an agent of socialization, and an outlet for active and

positive social change. When we think of anomie13 being caused by industrialization and modernization,

it is almost unfathomable to image what slavery did to the individual and the collective of black people.

In the article, Religion and African American Political Life14, Mattis states:

African Americans have challenged the notion that civic and secular definitions

of reality are authoritative. In short, for many African Americans, religion

provides a framework in which political actors are answerable not only, or even

primarily, to the citizens of a state, or to temporal and corporeal power, but to a

higher and final authority God.

Mattis points out that black in America have had to fight every step of the way to grab onto even a

tiny piece of the American dream and find a home in a place with hostile hosts. They have never been

lethargic in their fight, yet they hold deeply to religion. It is no secret that religion affects politics, but

Mattis asks how religion has shaped practices and political discourse for African-Americans. She

poses the question of whether religion somehow became an excuse for African-Americans to shy away

from politics. Understandably, politics was not always a friend of African-Americans and still isnt,

12 Clardy, Brian K. (2011). Deconstructing a Theology of Defiance: Black Preaching and the Politics of Racial Identity.Journal of Church & State. Mar. 2011, Vol. 53, Issue 2.

13 Anomie is a lack of normalcy experienced by the individual in a society in the absence of social norms. It gives theindividual a sense of detachment from society and a sense of isolation and/or rejection. The concept was brought to light bymile Durkheim, a French sociologist, in the book Suicide, which was written in 1897. The word may have originated from theFrench philosopher Jean-Marie Guyau.

14 Mattis, Jacqueline S. (2001). Religion and African American Political Life. Political Psychology. Vol. 22, No. 2, SpecialIssue: Psychology as Politics (June. 2001).


15/20


15

despite appearances. It has been hard for African-Americans to take the hand of the political machine that

once chewed them up, spit them out and saw them as chattel and sub-human. Mattis says that African

Americans face a unique existential and political quandary. She discusses a term called Double

Consciousness, which represents the struggle of African Americans to deal with their relationship withAmerica, the collective existential self and citizenship along with democracy, human rights, liberty and

assimilation into the American mainstream.

Assimilation has been made even more complicated due to the effects that religion has on politics.

Mattis encourages scholarship on the following questions: Is moral suasion a viable political strategy

and is the moral transformation of a community a legitimate political outcome? She alleges that most

studies on African-American religion and politics rely on cross-sectional data and that it is time for

something new and more concrete, yet she does suggest in this article that the church was the first

institution created and fully owned by African-Americans and as such it became their conscious.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY

The research question is: Why are African-Americans in the U.S. still markedly more religious

than any other U.S. racial or ethnic group? The hypothesis of this research paper is that African-

Americans in the U.S. are still markedly more religious than any other U.S. racial or ethnic group because

of a continued sense of social displacement and isolation post-slavery. The Independent Variable (X) is

Social Displacement/Isolation. The Dependent Variable (Y) isReligious African-Americans in the U.S.The causal mechanism is that African-Americans experience a continued sense of social displacement and

isolation post-slavery (X) causes African-Americans in the U.S. (Y) to have a high level of religiousness.

The research method that I selected was a twofold qualitative approach. I posed a question and

targeted a particular audience educated and religious African-Americans - to gain insights and to find

holistic, meaningful, contextual and subjective comments/responses. Some of these comments/responses

were indicated above.

The conclusion of this part of the study was as indicated above:

Clearly, the people that responded to my questions are deep thinkers with some

great insights and reasonable knowledge of the history of black religion, even if

some of the responses were tinged with racial overtones. They seem to question

religion and the history of religion and they realize that there are flaws in what

they were taught as children, but they are still clearly religious.


16/20


16

The Dependent Variable (Y) was African-Americans in the U.S. and the Independent Variable (X)

was Social Displacement. I operationalized the Dependent Variable as follows:

Social Displacement = Level of Education

Secondly, as part of my research, I posed a question to an organization called Black Atheists ofAmerica. This organization claims to have over 7,000 members. This is the question that was posted:

I am a political science grad student working on a final paper. Graduating soon! My paper

is on black religion in America and yes, I am black and agnostic/atheist. According to

several studies, black people are still the most religion/devout in the U.S. My theory is that

this adherence during a time of secularization in the U.S. is due to blacks continuing to

feel socially displaced and disenfranchised (i.e., economically and socially, etc.). It would

be really helpful if you would please answer a simple question.

Do you agree with the following statement? (Yes or No):Black adherence to religion during a time of secularization in the U.S. is due to blacks

continuing to feel socially displaced and disenfranchised.

It would be helpful if you indicate if you are college-educated or not.

THANK YOU IN ADVANCE TO ALL THAT ANSWER.

NOTE: Secularization "is the transformation of a society from close identification with

religious values and institutions toward nonreligious (or irreligious) values and secular

institutions". ~ Wikipedia.com

YES NO EDUCATION LEVEL

X 2

X 1

X 3

X 4

X 5

X 4

X 4

X 2

X 5

X 2

X 2

X 3


17/20


17

X 7

X 4

X 3

X 3

X 2

X 2

X 2

X 1

X 2

X 4

X 1

X 3

X 1

X 3

1 Did Not Complete High School/No GED

2 High School Diploma or GED

3 Some College

4 Bachelors Degree

5 Masters Degree

6 PhD

7 Vocational/Technical or Other

I did not receive as many responses as Id hoped on from the black atheist organization. I

speculated that most of those who responded would be somewhat educated. My intent was to use

education level to gauge social displacement and isolation. Those African-Americans that were more

well-educated would be less likely to feel socially displaced, isolated or disenfranchised. It seems that

while participants were happily ready to broadcast their atheist leanings, they were less receptive to

displaying their educational level on a public message board for the world to see. Perhaps this was why

the responses were less than desirable using a venue that had over 7,000 members. The responses I

received were as indicated in the above table.

This section of the research concluded the following:

Those that did not complete high school or obtained GED were equally divided. Those that graduated from high school or obtained a GED leaned strongly towards agreement. Those with some college were equally divided.


18/20


18

Those with a Bachelors Degree leaned strong towards disagreement. Those with a Masters Degree were equally divided. There were no responses from anyone that had a PhD. The one respondent with vocational/technical or other was in disagreement.While this part of my research was inconclusive due to the minimal and unbalanced response, it

does seem that those with less education lean strongly towards agreement and those with higher education

learn towards disagreement.

CONCLUSION

My research revealed that the more educated African-Americans do not feel that African-

Americans in the U.S. are still markedly more religious than any other U.S. racial or ethnic group because

of a continued sense of social displacement and isolation post-slavery, while the less educated seem to

agree. It was also revealed that well-educated African-Americans, who feel fully assimilated into the

American mainstream, while aware of the syncretistic nature of the history of African-Americans in the

U.S., they still lean towards religion. Historically, within all races and ethnicities, an individuals social

and economic position and conditioning affects their political decision-making and political participation.

Joseph R. Washington, Jr.15 summed up the experience of black religion in American as follows:

That dynamism is not the dominant pattern in middle-class black

churches is a virtually undisputed fact, empirically verifiable by any

unbiased investigator in most communities where middle-class blackspractice religion. It is precisely because of this pervasiveness that this

inertia is so disquieting.

15 Washington, Joseph R. (1974). The Black Religious Crisis. Religion Online, The Christian Century Foundation, May 1,1974, pp. 472.475.


19/20


19

REFERENCES/BIBLIOGRAPHY

Articles

Evan, Curtis J. (2007). Urbanization and the End of Black Churches in the Modern World. The American Society of ChurchHistory. 76:4, December 2007.

Raboteau, Albert J. (2001). Slave Autonomy and Religion.Journal of Religious Thought. Fall81/Winter82, Vol. 38, Issue 2.

Frey, Sylvia R. (2008). The Visible Church: Historiography of African American Religion since Raboteau. Slavery andAbolition. Jan. 2008, Vol. 29, Issue 1.

Gin, Kathryn (2010). The Heavenization of Earth: African American Visions and Uses of the Afterlife, 1863-1901. Slaveryand Abolition. Jun. 2010, Vol. 31 Issue 2.

Clardy, Brian K. (2011). Deconstructing a Theology of Defiance: Black Preaching and the Politics of Racial Identity.Journal of Church & State. Mar. 2011, Vol. 53, Issue 2.

Mattis, Jacqueline S. (2001). Religion and African American Political Life. Political Psychology. Vol. 22, No. 2, Special

Issue: Psychology as Politics (June. 2001).

Books

Pinn, Anthony B. The African American Religion Experience in America. Green Press, Westport, CT, 2006.

Raboteau, Albert J. Canaan Land: A Religious History of African American, Oxford University Press, New York, NY, 1999.

Raboteau, Albert J. Slave Religion: The "Invisible Institution" in the Antebellum South, Oxford University Press, New York,NY, 2004 (New Ed.)

Berger, Peter L, Berger, Brigitte and Kellner, Hansfried. The Homeless Mind: Modernization and Consciousness. VintageBooks, A Division of Random House, New York, NY, 1974.

Gauchet, Marcel. The Disenchantment of the World. New French Thought. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 1999.

Mark Lilla. The Stillborn God: Religion, Politics and the Modern West. Knopf Publishing, 2007.

Miscellaneous

U.S. Religious Landscape Survey, Pew Research Centers Forum of Religion & Public Life.http://religions.pewforum.org/reports.

American Identification Religion Survey, http://commons.trincoll.edu/aris/,http://commons.trincoll.edu/aris/files/2012/09/GENXreport2012_05_22.pdf.

Source: Washington Post-Kaiser Family Foundation Poll of Black Women in America,http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/nation/black-women-in-america/.

BlackDemographics.com: http://blackdemographics.com/culture/black-politics/

Wikipedia.com

Center for Political and Economic Studies New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/1996/09/19/us/gop-tries-hard-to-win-black-votes-but-recent-history-works-against-it.html http://www.factcheck.org/2008/04/blacks-and-the-democratic-party/ http://www.people-press.org/2012/11/07/changing-face-of-america-helps-assure-obama-victory/
http://religions.pewforum.org/reportshttp://commons.trincoll.edu/aris/http://commons.trincoll.edu/aris/files/2012/09/GENXreport2012_05_22.pdfhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/nation/black-women-in-america/http://blackdemographics.com/culture/black-politics/http://www.people-press.org/2012/11/07/changing-face-of-america-helps-assure-obama-victory/http://www.people-press.org/2012/11/07/changing-face-of-america-helps-assure-obama-victory/http://blackdemographics.com/culture/black-politics/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/nation/black-women-in-america/http://commons.trincoll.edu/aris/files/2012/09/GENXreport2012_05_22.pdfhttp://commons.trincoll.edu/aris/http://religions.pewforum.org/reports


20/20


20

G.O.P. Tries Hard to Win Black Votes, but Recent History Works Against It, R.W. APPLE Jr., Sept. 19, 1996(http://www.nytimes.com/1996/09/19/us/gop-tries-hard-to-win-black-votes-but-recent-history-works-against-it.html%20http://www.factcheck.org/2008/04/blacks-and-the-democratic-party/%20http://www.people-

press.org/2012/11/07/changing-face-of-america-helps-assure-obama-victory/)

The Pew Center on the States, Public Safety Performance Project, State of Recidivism: The Revolving Door of AmericasPrisons, April 2001.

Washington, Joseph R. (1974). The Black Religious Crisis. Religion Online, The Christian Century Foundation, May 1,1974, pp. 472.475.
http://www.nytimes.com/1996/09/19/us/gop-tries-hard-to-win-black-votes-but-recent-history-works-against-it.html%20http://www.factcheck.org/2008/04/blacks-and-the-democratic-party/%20http://www.people-press.org/2012/11/07/changing-face-of-america-helps-assure-obama-victory/http://www.nytimes.com/1996/09/19/us/gop-tries-hard-to-win-black-votes-but-recent-history-works-against-it.html%20http://www.factcheck.org/2008/04/blacks-and-the-democratic-party/%20http://www.people-press.org/2012/11/07/changing-face-of-america-helps-assure-obama-victory/http://www.nytimes.com/1996/09/19/us/gop-tries-hard-to-win-black-votes-but-recent-history-works-against-it.html%20http://www.factcheck.org/2008/04/blacks-and-the-democratic-party/%20http://www.people-press.org/2012/11/07/changing-face-of-america-helps-assure-obama-victory/http://www.nytimes.com/1996/09/19/us/gop-tries-hard-to-win-black-votes-but-recent-history-works-against-it.html%20http://www.factcheck.org/2008/04/blacks-and-the-democratic-party/%20http://www.people-press.org/2012/11/07/changing-face-of-america-helps-assure-obama-victory/http://www.nytimes.com/1996/09/19/us/gop-tries-hard-to-win-black-votes-but-recent-history-works-against-it.html%20http://www.factcheck.org/2008/04/blacks-and-the-democratic-party/%20http://www.people-press.org/2012/11/07/changing-face-of-america-helps-assure-obama-victory/http://www.nytimes.com/1996/09/19/us/gop-tries-hard-to-win-black-votes-but-recent-history-works-against-it.html%20http://www.factcheck.org/2008/04/blacks-and-the-democratic-party/%20http://www.people-press.org/2012/11/07/changing-face-of-america-helps-assure-obama-victory/

Divinity, Democracy and Syncretism: Black Religion in America by Tarra Hamilton

Documents

Transcript of Divinity, Democracy and Syncretism: Black Religion in America by Tarra Hamilton