The American Negro and the Christian Religion

Abstract

When one speaks of the Christian religion, it is almost impossible not to confuse it with the organized church. When the word is heard, most of us think instantly of the organized institution. That is quite understandable. It is the institution conspicuously erected, with its steeple reaching toward high heaven, that is considered to be the embodiment of the Christian ideals, the body of and a witness to the world that Jesus, the Christ, still lives. When that Church, preaching the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man, shuts its doors in the face of members of another race or class and denies to them Christian fellowship, it is easy to see how the Church and Christianity may be looked upon as synonymous. Certainly it is difficult not to confuse the two when the Church, the only institution in the world that exists for the sole purpose of carrying forward the work of the Crucified Christ, has nourished and blessed all the major wars of history. Both Catholics and Protestants blessed the World War. It is more than difficult to separate the Catholic Church and the Christian Religion since it exists on the authority of the hierarchy and since the Pope speaks with authority for the Catholics throughout the world. One must sympathize with a student who is confused when one's attention is called to the fact that the Roman Church has approved unconditionally Franco and everything he has done in Spain. On March 29, the Osservatore Romano. organ of the Vatican, in its editorial thanked God for Franco's victory. Several days later, Pope Pius sent a telegram to the victorious Spanish Generalissimo: Lifting up our heart to the Lord, we give sincere thanks with your excellency for Spain's desired Catholic victory. We express our vow that your most beloved country, with peace attained, may undertake with new vigor the ancient Christian traditions which made her great.' In this article, the Church may be considered as the organization whose task it is to carry forward the work of Christ and to strive to bring the world to God through Jesus Christ. This may be the individual Protestant Churches, the individual Protestant denominations, the Eastern Orthodox Church, or the Roman Catholic Church. And yet, it is not the aim here to confuse the institution with the Christian religion, though at times the institution and the Christian religion may be identical. For example, when the Church as an institution stands for the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man and for the Christian emphasis set forth by Jesus that the supreme values of the universe are human values and exemplifies these ideals in service, practice, and fellowship, then the Church and the Christian religion become one. But it does not necessarily follow that the practices of the organized church are wholly representative of