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Chapter 40. The Negro Church 873
President of Howard University, that he is a Baptist minister and has the
backing of the Negro Baptist world.
Potentially, the Negro church Is undoubtedly a power institution. It has
the Negro masses organized and, if the church bodies decided to do so,
they could line up the Negroes behind a program. Actually, the Negro
church is, on the whole, passive in the field of intercaste power relations.
It generally provides meeting halls and encourages church members to
attend when other organizations want to influence the Negroes. But viewed
as an instrument of collective action to improve the Negroes’ position in
American society, the church has been relatively inefficient and uninfluential.
In the South it has not taken a lead in attacking the caste system or even in
bringing about minor reforms j
in the North it has only occasionally been
a strong force for social action.
This might be deemed deplorable, but it should not be surprising.
Christian churches generally have, for the most part, conformed to the
power situation of the time and the locality. They have favored a passive
acceptance of one’s worldly condition and, indeed, have seen their main
function in providing escape and consolation to the sufferers. If there is
any relation at all between the interest of a Negro church in social issues
and the social status of its membership, the relation Is that a church tends
to be the more other-worldly the poorer its members are and the more they
are in need of concerted efforts to improve their lot in this life. The
churches where the poor white people in the South worship are similar to
the common Negro churches.^®
Even in this respect the Negro church is an ordinary American church
with certain traits exaggerated because of caste. Of lOO sermons delivered
in urban Negro churches and analyzed by Mays and Nicholson, only 26
touched upon practical problems.^ The rural Negro church makes an even
poorer showing in this respect.^ Too, the Negro church is out of touch with
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