Why Religious Literacy Matters in the Age of Secularism

There is an ever growing rise in the number of Americans who disassociate themselves from traditional religious groups. Church attendance has been falling since the 1970s, and one of the largest growing groups are those who identify themselves as “spiritual but not religious”. Many of these people still believe in God, or aspects of traditional religions, but find themselves out of place in organized religious institutions that have dominated America’s social scene for centuries. But even in the growing age of secularism, religious literacy is crucial.

America’s Religious Origin

America’s self identity has been long driven by religious roots: from the Spanish Catholic missions to the seperatist puritans who landed on Patuxet (Plymouth), the New World has been marred by religious conflicts from the start. Anglo-saxon colonizers sought to form a place where they could create a voluntary community of true believers, away from the pressures and turmoil of the crown. Spanish colonizers sought to bring religion to the Americas in support of King and Country, Spanish catholicism was deeply infused within political and worldly affairs.

As groups that moved into America struggled to assert and define themselves, they contrasted themselves against the religion that was already present: the many unique and ornate religious traditions of the native peoples present. Spanish colonizers forced conversions en masse, even after decrees that this enterprise should not be taken in force. As colonialism continued throughout the centuries, these people were removed from their native lands, and many Native American visionaries like Neolin sought to emphasize a return to their lands and original practices in the wake of colonialist influences. This resistance is ongoing in the face of oppressive American colonialism and it is an important part of our country’s cultural make up.

Another dark underbelly of America’s religious past is the conncetion between Chattel slavery and early Christian presence on the continent. Early Christians drove the narrative that Chattel slavery was a vehicle for conversion, as well as the idea that black peoples were not equal to anglo-saxons or other Europeans. A careful programme of cultural amnesia has taken place in regards to the history of Chattel slavery in the south, trying to sanitize the history of Christian involvement in the enterprise. From the beginnings of Chattel slavery until the Civil War, religion was used to justify and further the cause of White supremacy.

The Civil War and the Religion of the Lost Cause

The Black Lives Matter movement has reignited the controversy surrounding confederate monuments and vestiges throughout the south. Many southerners argue that the connection between the Confederacy and slavery is tacit as best, and holding onto these monuments is a matter of family history rather than one of racial bias. They argue that the civil war was never about slavery, but the southern assertion of independence, and confederate monuments and graveyards honor soldies who have the right to a dignified burial. Most confederate soldiers had nothing to do with slavery they say, and there were even black confederate soldiers.

But historical evidence scarcely supports these claims: the leaders of the confederacy explicitly describe slavery as what sparked the civil war, and most confederate soldiers either owned slaves or their head of household did. For those that did not, propaganda describing a world of Black and White equality was used to spur them into action. The presence of Black confederate soldiers is up for debate, but any that were fighting were likely conscripted into service rather than volunteering. In fact, the leaders of the confederacy argued that if slaves could serve as soldiers their entire understanding of slavery was invalidated.

Jim Crow and White Terror

Many of the confederate monuments were built in the period after reconstruction, as a symbol of ongoing White supremacy over formerly enslaved peoples. Instead of seeing a very large surge in confederate monuments directly after the war, we see them crop up en masse during the time of Jim Crow. They served as a reminder that even though the south had lost the war, they would not let go of their way of life so easily. They would do everything it took to restore their vision of moral order to the world: one wherein black people were subordinate to whites. They were a piece of a larger campaign of white terror in this period: one that included extrajudicial punishment like lynchings, burnings of churches, and the rise of the KKK. These monuments, as much as anyone tries to extrapolate them from it, are harrowed markers of America’s deeply racist past.

Another important indication of this is the fact that confederate monuments were even allowed to be put up in the first place. At the very least, celebrating the failed attempt to secede is a sign of being a sore loser, and at the worst it is treasonous. Why would the North allow the South to so flagrantly celebrate their attempt to dissolve the union? Why would symbols of rebellion be allowed to crop up all over the south?

Probably because even though the North was committed to end slavery, they did not unilatterally see Black and White equality as an option. The withdrawal of federal troops during the reconstruction sent a chilling message to newly freed Blacks in the south: good luck. The federal government ended slavery, but it did not take the necessary steps to ensure the freedom or safety of Black citizens in America, and it sent the message that the South had control over its own affairs. The period of White Terror against newly freed Blacks in the South was with the assent and knowledge of the federal government: after all, they had just won a war with the South against the cause of slavery.

The Civil Rights Era

Martin Luther King and other civil rights leaders came out of a very strong, independent Black church tradition that had separated itself from white churches after the war ended. These newly founded Black churches grew quickly, and many pre-established Black churches from the north expanded in the south as well. These institutions formed an important center of strength and support for Black folks in the period of reconstruction, within the tumultuous fight for true Black emancipation. These groups were part of the essential foundation for the civil rights movement that would finally turn the tide against Jim Crow and secure more rights for African Americans.

But White majorities were not a fan of this campaign. Many polled thought that the movement was too aggressive, even before the Voting Rights Act was passed. Many White church leaders gathered together in opposition to the Black fight for emancipation. Martin Luther King famously rallied against them in his letter from a Birmingham jail, identifying the Christian white moderate as the greatest stumbling block in the fight for emancipation. King, and many other vocal Black leaders like James Cone, identified exactly what the White church could do to help the position of their black brothers and sisters and they still have largely failed to do so.

Now: Black Lives Matter and White Silence

The huge uprising against the carceral system and America’s violent police force is part of this ongoing fight against white, Christian supremacy. The movement has largely been talked about as a secular one, but many black religious leaders have been involved, like Rev. Al Sharpton. The movement is not explicitly tied to religious institutions, but it operates within a cultural heritage of Black Church organization and advocacy.

Unsurprisingly, many of the White responses are the same. Many find the Black lLives Matter movement too aggressive, an affront to their identities and values. The calls for the destruction of many confederate monuments has been taken as a personal affront to family heritages, rather than a symbol of the ongoing fight for emancipation and liberation. The struggle for black equality has been characterized as an affront to traditional american values.

In some ways, it is exactly that. America was founded on white supremacy, on the idea that the people the colonizers interacted with and the enslaved people brought here were inferior. Years of Lost Cause propaganda has clouded the truth of America’s deeply racist past, and until White churches and communities fully reckon with this, they are complicit in continuing the oppression of marginalized peoples.