The Church and Prejudice: Main Idea
The Church and Prejudice: Main Idea
Main Idea: The Church Is Prejudiced
In case the title "The Church and Prejudice" doesn't totally give it away, let's spell it out.
Douglass is talking about the Church. And prejudice.
Er, prejudice in the Church.
How else can we put it?
It might not be surprising that churches in slaveholding states supported slavery. But Douglass experienced prejudice even in Northern churches that were trying to be more progressive…and failing. Douglass blames slavery for the prejudice. When it comes down to it, the very existence of slavery makes white people view black people as inferior.
Yep, even at church.
Questions
- According to Douglass, how is prejudice in Southern churches different from prejudice in Northern churches?
- Think about the effects of the Second Great Awakening. (Check out "Historical Context" for more.) How does the practice of slavery conflict with the idea that race and class don't matter to God?
- According to Douglass, how does prejudice in society make its way into the Church? How does the practice of slavery affect how white people respond to black people in church?
Chew On This
Northerners may have abolished slavery, but they didn't abolish their racism.
Douglass convincingly demonstrates how hypocritical it is that people can go around all holier-than-thou and quoting Jesus and then beat other people to within an inch of their lives.
Quotes
Quote #1
Then he took a long breath, and looking out towards the door, exclaimed, "Come up, colored friends, come up! for you know God is no respecter of persons!" (5)
Douglass heard this from a Methodist minister in the North after he escaped from slavery. The sad part is that this guy probably thought he was being really progressive and inclusive by inviting black people into his church in the first place. But as Douglass realizes, the phrasing is insulting.
Quote #2
But it seems, the kingdom of heaven is like a net; at least so it was according to the practice of these pious Christians; and when the net was drawn ashore, they had to set down and cull out the fish. Well, it happened now that some of the fish had rather black scales; so these were sorted out and packed by themselves. (8-9)
By starting with "The kingdom of heaven is like," Douglass borrows a parable form frequently used by Jesus in the New Testament. Except in this case, he's not describing what the kingdom of heaven is like according to Jesus; he's telling us what white people have decided it's like. And, yes, white people decided that the kingdom of heaven is segregated.
Quote #3
Thus you see, my hearers, this prejudice goes even into the church of God. And there are those who carry it so far that it is disagreeable to them even to think of going to heaven, if colored people are going there too. (19-20)
People love the idea of a Design Your Own Heaven Kit, in which you get to decide who's in and who's out—instead of leaving that up to the Almighty. Douglass attributes this kind of thinking to the prejudice in the larger society, which seeps into the Church.
Quote #4
But all this prejudice sinks into insignificance in my mind, when compared with the enormous iniquity of the system which is its cause—the system that sold my four sisters and my brothers into bondage—and which calls in its priests to defend it even from the Bible! The slaveholding ministers preach up the divine right of the slaveholders to property in their fellow-men. (30-31)
Now we get to the source of this prejudice in society. Newsflash: it's slavery.
Because slavery is (and, let's be honest, always was) so obviously a bad thing, people had to come up with all kinds of ways of defending it. And one of the more effective means was to look in the Bible and pull out some verses that could be used to defend slavery and create an argument that God was all for it. After all, who's going to argue with God? It's an appeal to the ultimate authority.
Quote #5
I used to attend a Methodist church, in which my master was a class leader; he would talk most sanctimoniously about the dear Redeemer, who was sent "to preach deliverance to the captives, and set at liberty them that are bruised" —he could pray at morning, pray at noon, and pray at night; yet he could lash up my poor cousin by his two thumbs, and inflict stripes and blows upon his bare back, till the blood streamed to the ground! (41-42)
This example gets at the very heart of Douglass' speech, which is pretty much a collection of examples of "good Christian people" (in the North and the South) treating other people like garbage. Douglass contrasts the way Jesus says we should treat people with how this super holy slaveholder actually treats people—while pretending to be so pious and good.