Describe Experience of Time Spent at a Black Church (Research Paper Sample)

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Experience of time spent at a black church
Spending a day at black church at Charleston African church in America is enough to tell the gravity of racism that still take dominion over these churches. While the majority of people and mostly scholars reinstate that the American religion dates back in 14th and 15th century, being the earliest time when the element of racial identity begun taking roots, it become difficult to establish the interconnection between religious type of worship that the people who were slaves in America Upheld and how it conformed with what the Original American believed. Talking to the congregation of this church before, during and after service poses a serious concern on what the African in the church believe and what they uphold in terms of race and relationship. Therefore, considering the encounter that I had in Charleston African church, I will point out the effect of racism, how I have overcome racism and how improvements can be made in terms of racial relationship in America in regard to the experience and response that I gathered from the congregation while I was this church.
For instance, while in the church, the way the service was carried out was clear indication on the impact of racism to the congregation. The leaders are always preaching while they relate the preacher’s summon to the journey that the blacks underwent while serving as slaves under the white rulers. When I ask the leaders why they still relate to the past racial experience, all of them assert that though the blacks have been liberated, there are still more cases of segregation of the blacks not only in the political sphere but also in terms of religion. They claim to take charge of ensuring that every African generation is aware of the suffering that the early Africans were subjected to.
Again, in reference to Blokke, he explains the mission of the churches that “the significance of historic African American churches was considered in light of the fact that their central role in the community made them a popular target for racial violence” (73). Thus the church of Charleston has also suffered the same violence not only once but many times which has increased religious racism. To the responses I received from the congregation, in Charleston black church, I can attest that racism has affected members of not only this church but also other black churches in America ad this is due to the below reason provided by the members I talked; first in their church, the majority of the people champions the africanism only by re-introducing and re-establishing their original form of worship that they believe it suits the African beliefs. This means that if one is not an African, it’s hard to adapt with numerous cultural beliefs being championed in African churches. Another racism has taken dominance is that in this church, the majority of them still have the same attitude about the whites being bossy and manipulative as it was during slavery period. Again, they confirmed that apart from the Charleston church, many African churches have the overseers or the leaders of the church from the African race, and the majority of people around them are from African racial group which becomes difficult for other races to adapt with such leadership. They also reiterated that the essence of Africans wanting to have their own churches and leadership has in fact widened the racial rift between the them and the whites which in turn has created a sense of hatred between the Africans and the whites, on the other hand, the whites perceive Africans as mare uncivilized people who are illiterate and that’s why it’s difficult to closely relate on the basis of religion.
Another effect of racism that the congregation portrayed was the element of segregation which they claim that it was and it’s still heavily evident in the church and other areas like Louisiana where blacks still want to have their own churches where they can carry out their worship and this behavior date back in 19th century where people were to worship in houses for example the house of John G. Lewis that was converted into a parish for worship (Blokke, 62). The element of Africans having their place to sit in the church was evident and the congregation asserted that it’s a system that has existed for centuries and it has become difficult to change it considering that many African churches could not carry out evangelism without the consent of the whites, besides, organizing seminars and conference on racial lines in the United States and the imbalance of all races in churches has a serious affect to the whites in any black church (Harold, 14). In most cases, for the whites who attend service in this church, they partially participate in the events of the church since they are considered less important which still widen the racial gap. The blacks in the church asserted that they own the church and therefore the whites who attend service have no right participate in the decision making process in the church the way the blacks do.
By the look of things, overcoming racism in a black church is one difficult thing. The congregation confirmed that overcoming racial relationship in the church is one of the hardest test in life, for instance, they said that racism has been there since the slavery period in the United State for about the last six centuries and they still live under the second type of slavery which is racism. For instance, they said that living by what people and the country want them to live is what makes them withstand effect of racism. Besides, the segregation of the whites in African churches will still remain; however the whites becoming persistent and trying to adjust with what the blacks implement will help them overcome religious racism.
Furthermore, the black congregation asserts that the other way to overcome racism is by showing value for the African cultures and beliefs which will compel the Africans to accept other races in their churches when they discovered that the whites have value for their cultures. Another issue that affect how people can overcome racism is the fact that the majority of the black or African race believe that the whites are the most racist both politically and in religion and they attest that the political system in America has compelled them to separate themselves since the whites use the advantage of political power deny them their right hence many have made decisions to worship at their homes and their specific African churches where they can handle their racial specific affairs (Blokke 58-63. However, many blacks are optimistic that despite the fact that there are churches specifically know to be for the Africans and the Whites, the current governments work together with religious leaders to unify the believers and ensure that aspect of African Specific churches and Whites specific churches is eliminated and at the end it will help overcome religious racism.
In terms of facilitating improvement in racial relationship, the leaders of the church at Charleston confirm that there is still a lot more to be done. For instance, they said that most of the states in the Southern part of America are dominated by the blacks; hence the churches in this region have the majority of the congregation as Africans. This applies to the northern part of United States where the majority of the people are whites and so the churches are dominated by the whites. In line with religious racism, the leaders said that the churches known to be specifically for whites have recently been in limelight over the issue of gay marriage, polyandry and violation of women sexuality and gender for African women which has heavily been opposed by the Elite African women (Collins 110). They said that the...