Op-ed: The majesty of the black church

  • By Rich Lowry
  • Wednesday, June 24, 2015 5:48pm
  • Opinion

It shouldn’t be a surprise that Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C., has taken an unspeakable crime and made it the occasion for an astonishing Christian witness.

In an unforgettable scene at the bond hearing last week for Dylann Roof, whose own uncle mused about flipping the switch for his execution after he gunned down nine people at an Emanuel Bible study, tearful family members of the victims told Roof that they forgive him and that he should repent.

They were voices of love responding to hate, of unbelievable mercy and forbearance in the face of cruelty and murderous provocation, of an almost miraculous faith.

In his sermon at Emanuel the Sunday after the shootings, the Rev. Norvel Goff Sr. said members of the media wondered how the family members were capable of such heroic grace, before declaring they wouldn’t be mystified if they knew the true “daddy” of those families, God the father.

Goff’s performance was itself extraordinary — exuberant, joyful, unifying and supremely confident that “no weapon formed against us shall prosper,” just days after Roof had wielded a murderous weapon within the church’s very walls.

Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, or “Mother Emanuel,” as it is fondly known, has an honored place in the history of the black church in America, which is one of the glories of our civil society. Betrayed by white churches blinkered by race and beholden to the system of slavery, African-Americans forged their own churches in circumstances of repression and profound injustice.

The founder of the African Methodist Episcopal Church roughly 200 years ago was Richard Allen. Born a slave in Delaware, he converted to Methodism as a teenager and immediately began to preach to everyone around him. He bought his freedom (his master himself converted and came to believe slavery was wrong) and landed in Philadelphia, where he and other blacks attended St. George’s Methodist Church.

The story goes that a black parishioner was lifted from his knees during a prayer by white trustees who wanted to remove him to a black section of the church — and all the black worshippers walked out. Thus was eventually born a denomination that became a pillar of the black community, “a center of gravity for social organization, economic cooperation, educational endeavor, leadership training, political articulation, and religious life,” as Albert Raboteau writes in his book about the black church, “A Fire in the Bones.”

The story of the black church, the “invisible institution,” in the antebellum South is profoundly moving. Church meetings held in secret, with whispered sermons. Preachers so eager to share the word they would they would pretend to read from Scripture even if they didn’t have a Bible. The hymns aching with hope. The focus on the story of Exodus and its promise of ultimate freedom in the Promised Land. (“O Canaan, sweet Canaan/I am bound for the land of Canaan.”)

Exodus, of course, had an unmistakable relevance to people held in bondage in the Land of the Free. Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church itself was burnt down and suppressed prior to the Civil War after a founder, Denmark Vesey, was caught planning a slave revolt.

A century or so later, in a remarkable turnabout, the same black church that had been marginalized for so long in America would change the country forever. It lent the civil-rights movement a prophetic sense of urgency, much of its idiom and foot soldiers. As Albert Raboteau writes, civil-rights rallies often began in black churches and “followed a pattern consisting of song, prayer, Scripture reading, discussion of goals and tactics, and an exhortation that frequently sounded like a sermon.”

While we mourn with Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, we also should marvel at what it represents and at the power of its example. May it stand always as a testament to the American story in all its shame and majesty, and to the better angels of our nature.

Rich Lowry can be reached via e-mail: comments.lowry@nationalreview.com.

More in Opinion

Nick Begich III campaign materials sit on tables ahead of a May 16, 2022, GOP debate held in Juneau. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire file photo)
Opinion: North to a Brighter Future

The policies championed by the Biden/Harris Administration and their allies in Congress have made it harder for us to live the Alaskan way of life

Soldotna City Council member Linda Farnsworth-Hutchings participates in the Peninsula Clarion and KDLL candidate forum series, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, at the Soldotna Public Library in Soldotna, Alaska. (Photo by Erin Thompson/Peninsula Clarion)
Opinion: I’m a Soldotna Republican and will vote No on 2

Open primaries and ranked choice voting offer a way to put power back into the hands of voters, where it belongs

Shrubs grow outside of the Kenai Courthouse on Monday, July 3, 2023, in Kenai, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
Opinion: Vote yes to retain Judge Zeman and all judges on your ballot

Alaska’s state judges should never be chosen or rejected based on partisan political agendas

A vintage Underwood typewriter sits on a table on Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2022, at the Homer News in Homer, Alaska. (Photo by Michael Armstrong/Homer News)
Point of View: District 6 needs to return to representation before Vance

Since Vance’s election she has closely aligned herself with the far-right representatives from Mat-Su and Gov. Mike Dunleavy

The Anchor River flows in the Anchor Point State Recreation Area on Saturday, Aug. 5, 2023, in Anchor Point, Alaska. (Delcenia Cosman/Homer News)
Opinion: Help ensure Alaskans have rights to use, enjoy and care for rivers

It is discouraging to see the Department of Natural Resources seemingly on track to erode the public’s ability to protect vital water interests.

A sign directing voters to the Alaska Division of Elections polling place is seen in Kenai, Alaska, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. (Photo by Erin Thompson/Peninsula Clarion)
Vote no on Ballot Measure 2

A yes vote would return Alaska to party controlled closed primaries and general elections in which the candidate need not win an outright majority to be elected.

Derrick Green (Courtesy photo)
Opinion: Ballot Measure 1 will help businesses and communities thrive

It would not be good for the health and safety of my staff, my customers, or my family if workers are too worried about missing pay to stay home when they are sick.

A sign warns of the presence of endangered Cook Inlet beluga whales at the Kenai Beach in Kenai, Alaska, on Monday, July 10, 2023. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Opinion: Could an unnecessary gold mine drive Cook Inlet belugas extinct?

An industrial port for the proposed Johnson Tract gold mine could decimate the bay

Cassie Lawver. Photo provided by Cassie Lawver
Point of View: A clear choice

Sarah Vance has consistently stood up for policies that reflect the needs of our district

Alex Koplin. (courtesy photo)
Point of View: Ranked choice gives voters more voice

The major political parties are not in touch with all Alaskans