The Indianapolis leader., 1882-01-28
sKEPTICIsM AMONG NEGROES.
By REV. WIN. WARING
Read before the Literary Society OF Bethel
Church January 8, 1882.


views of all who do not believe in the inspi-
ration OF the Bible, although they may differ
in the degrees OF their skepticism and in the
terms OF expressing it.
In approaching the subject of ''skepticism
among Negroes" by first determining the cir
under which it is uttered and
the character of its growth, we find that
much of it does not set out with rejecting an
inspired Bible, and scarcely stands i'm oppo-
sition 30 the gospel itself.
Among colored people in this country the
utterance of skeptical opinions is confn-
ed almost exclusively to our most intelligent |
classes; but oftener than otherwise, those |
who utter such opinions couple them with |
the unfaithfulness of the white American |
church on questions affecting their political |
and social welfare, and their object has al
ways plainly been to express hostility to the
church rather than to the Christian system.
The intelligent eolored people of the
United States have been a unit in the opin-
ion that the organized churcl, of this coun-
try has promised to them but little more
than good things to come after death, while
it has offered to other men rich fruits To be
gathered in this life The same pulpits that
taught white men to lay down their lives if
necessary, Tor the preservation of their liber-
ties and Tor the happiness of their children,
taught the Negro to wear the badge of slav-
cry meekly in this world, and to wait pa
tiently for the time when he would wear a
crown of gold in the "sweet bye and bye.n
The same religious teachers that taught their
hearers the doctrine of brothery love and
the oneness of Christ's family on the earth.
whispered confidentially to the Negro that
he was an honorable exception to this rule.
and that while III the flesh he had better
have his brotherly love to himself, assuring
him nevertheless that, when we become an
gels, we would all be white, and then we
could live and love together through the
undying eternities.
1t lis always just tosay, however, that there
were few pnlplts that preached and few
churches that defended the gospel of love
and good will toward all men, but every
body who is old enough to remember the
days before the war, knows that the white
man who attempted to carry that doctrine
into practice, soon fell under the ban of his
friends and himself became an object of aver
sion And to this day the difference between
the white church and the black church is SO
marked that in practical religious inter
course the one scarcely remembers the exist
ence of the other Intelligent Negroes look
ing upon this state of things with unmixed
disgust, have despised the church as heartily
as the church has despised them, and seeing
| III its prejudices one OF the most formidable
obstacles i'm the way of their advancement.
they have not hesitated to denOunce it i'm the
most vigorous terms. With bitterness i'm their
hearts and anathemas on their tongues, it is
not strange that some of them have found
| their way among those who are fighting the
Christian religion itself. But il seems clear
enough that they have not r. ched this po-
| sition through the channel ofdsbelief in the
inspiration of the Bible, for if this question
has come to them all, it has been only after
they have taken ground against the church
because of its failure to extend to them the
hand of fellowship and love- This class of
Negro skeptics, if they can properly be call
ed skeptics, are further strengthened in their
practical antagonism to the Bible by what
they regard as the inability of the colored
churches to furnish them with religion
suited to their needs.
And at this point We find strong tenden-
cy among intelligent colored people, especi-
ally among our young, toward skepticism.
They turn away from the colored churches
on account of the real or supposed deficien-
cies OF these organizations, and as there is no
hearty welcome for them at white churches
|
| and drift into a state of mind, which they
Justify by expressing contempt for Negro
churches hardly daring to express contempt
for the Gospel itself Much of our church.
going is at best nothing more than the pursuit
OF Intellectual food, and when our inte eIligent
Negroes fail to find this at colored churches
and knowing that they are not expected to
look for it in white churches, they seek men
tai sustenance in some other direction. We
poor, much-criticised, and sometimes abused
colored preachers, have indeed, shown won
derful capacity for keeping behind the times
In our educational requirements, vet if oul
| hearers breathe the same intellectual atmos-
phere that We breathe, our preaching salts
fes them; but the intelligent Negro hears our
tangled expositions of law and doctrine our
bad grammar and worse logic, and measures
| the Gospel we preach by our uncultured
manner of preaching it, which, by the way
is not a very high compliment to the intelli-
gence of those Negroes; but this is what they
do, Notwithstanding, and the consequence is
they grow cold and Indifferent toward us
Indifference toward the poor and ignorant
church rapidly ripens into Indifference to-
ward the holy cause that it represents and
the wanderer soon reaches the ground where
on contempt for the ignorance of colored
churches and contempt for the Gospel itself,
can stand without jostling each other. But
in this case, as when the Negro protests
against the unseeming attitude of the white
church, his skepticism is an aiterthought,
his divergence having begun with his reiec.
ton OF the Negro church on account cf its
inadequacy to supply religion of as high
an order as he thinks he needs.
There is still another kind of skepticism
among Negroes that has one feature peculiar
to itself. There is no getting away from the
fact that avery large proportion of American
Negoes at least like to do what white people
do. We love to dress like them, to live like
them and to go through any snowy perform
ances that are common among them. | do
not know that this is necessarily wrong since
the white people are ahead of us in wealth,
culture and all things that make a people
great and strong; but good thing may be
overdone, and when Negro in his efforts to
be like white men does not stop to find out
whether white men are right or wrong, we
have case in point:
| Skepticism has become eminently respecta-
BILE. 1t has among its adherents some of the
brightest intellects of our day, and people
who occupy the highest social positions 1t
would be strange, indeed if in this particu-
lar alone there were no Negroes who aimed
at being like white people. And especially
would this be strange when we have so many
among us who are thirsting for that kind of
netoriety that comes from mental attainments
have met colored skeptics whose skeptcsm
/ felt sure, rested on just such a foundation
as this; but / always have found vanity to be
their prev railing characteristics, and the best
medicine that can be administered i'm their