Secularization and Religious Alternatives Flashcards
1
Q
Who wrote “Black America Begins to Doubt”?
A
George S. Schuyler
2
Q
What was “Black America Begins to Doubt”?
A
An essay in “The American Mercury”
3
Q
What was “The American Mercury”?
A
A magazine founded by H.L. Mencken & George Jean Nathan
4
Q
Who was George S. Schuyler?
A
- AA Author, journalist, and social commentator
- Socialist turned conservative
5
Q
In “Black America Begins to Doubt”, what was on the decline?
A
The Church
6
Q
According to “Black America Begins to Doubt”, what evidence was there that the Church was on the decline?
A
- Membership at a standstill
- Financial support withdrawn
- Prestige waned
- General criticism
7
Q
In “Black America Begins to Doubt”, why is the rural negro church slowly dying?
A
- Ignorant & incompetent preachers
- Migration
- Extension of the rural school system
- Cheap & speedy transportation
- Fewer youthful recruits
8
Q
According to “Black America Begins to Doubt”, what is the purpose of the Negro church?
A
Keep the negroes docile
9
Q
What do preachers condemn, according to “Black America begins to doubt”?
A
Everything not precisely in accordance with the orthodoxy they preach
10
Q
In “Black America Begins to Doubt”, how have newspapers aided the decline of the Church?
A
Dissemination of AA news
11
Q
What do atheists demand, according to “Black America Begins to Doubt”?
A
Why Negroes should revere a God who permits them to be lynched, Jim-Crowed, and disenfranchised
12
Q
Who will win over the atheists, warns “Black America Begins to Doubt”?
A
The communists
13
Q
What was “Garveyism”?
A
- Movement led by Marcus Garvey
- Black nationalism
- Charismatic messianism
- Emotional commitment to vision of returning to Africa
14
Q
What shipping company ran from 1919-1922?
A
Black Star Line
15
Q
Who was prosecuted for Mail Fraud in 1923?
A
Marcus Garvey
16
Q
Where was Marcus Garvey born and brought up?
A
Jamaica
17
Q
When did Marcus Garvey emigrate from Jamaica to USA?
A
1916
18
Q
According to Marcus Garvey, who were his main enemies in Jamaica?
A
The “Colored gentry”
19
Q
According to Marcus Garvey, what event aroused racial consciousness in the West Indies?
A
The British army rejecting many black officers in WWI
20
Q
What organisation did Marcus Garvey found?
A
The Universal Negro Improvement Association
21
Q
What was the paper of the UNIA?
A
“The Negro World”
22
Q
According to Marcus Garvey, what does he believe in the purity of?
A
Both races: dangerous to encourage miscegenation
23
Q
What did Marcus Garvey believe that black people should have?
A
A country of their own
24
Q
Who wrote “Organized Religion and the Cults”?
A
Miles Fischer
25
What was "Organized Religion and the Cults"?
An article in "The Crisis"
26
What was "The Crisis"?
The official magazine of the NAACP, founded in 1910
27
Who was Miles Fischer?
Professor of Church History at Shaw University and pastor of White Rock Baptist Church
28
What was the purpose of the "Organized Religion and the Cults" article?
Advocate for the inclusion of other religious movements to be included in the 1936 "Census of Religious Bodies"
29
According to "Organized Religion and the Cults", what were cults?
Faith-healing groups and individual prophets
30
In "Organized Religion and the Cults", who could not compete successfully with the cults?
The mainstream denominations
31
According to "Organized Religion and the Cults", what could 3 things could the mainstream learn from the cults?
1. Mixed congregations
2. Simplicity & Intelligence
3. Equality for women
32
Who wrote "Black Judaism in Harlem"?
Rabbi Matthew
33
What was "Commandment Keepers"?
Rabbi Matthew's version of orthodox Judaism for blackd in 1919
34
Who did Rabbi Matthew try to connect with?
The Falashas of Ethiopia
35
According to Rabbi Matthew, what were black Jews?
The chosen people of God (White Jews were spurious)
36
What did Rabbi Matthew call the enthusiastic pentecostal worship style?
"Niggeritions"
37
In "Black Judaism in Harlem", who were the two classes of men?
Sons of God and the sons of men
38
According to "Black Judaism in Harlem", who created the Falashas?
Solomon married the Queen of Sheba
39
What details does "Black Judaism in Harlem" set out?
- Curriculum of the Ethiopian Hebrew Rabbinical College of the Royal Order of Ethiopian Hebrews and the Commandment Keepers Congregation of the Living God, Inc.
40
Who wrote "The Realness of God"?
Father Divine
41
What did Father Divine's followers believe about him?
He was God incarnate in a human body, who never taught or represented a single race, but was father of one worldwide family
42
What event helped convince Father Divine's followers of his divinity?
June 7 1932: Judge who sentenced him for disturbing the peace died of a hear attack
43
What did Father Divine put emphasis on?
- His powers of omnipotence
- Victory over death and sickness
- Virtues of a celibate life
44
In "The Realness of God", what is the realness of God not confined to?
- One place geographically
| - One apparent personality
45
In "The Realness of God", what is essential for the realness of God?
That it is received
46
Who wrote "Elder Lucy Smith"?
Herbert Morrison Smith
47
Who was Elder Lucy Smith?
- A pentecostal fait healer in Chicago
- Pastor of All Nations Pentecostal Church
- Conducted Weekly Radio Broadcasts
48
What was "Elder Lucy Smith"?
Essay part of a thesis presented to the Divinity School at the University of Chicago
49
What are the five sections of "Elder Lucy Smith"?
1. Environment
2. The Building
3. The Congregation
4. The Service
5. Pastor Portrait
50
In "Elder Lucy Smith", what is the congregation divided into?
2 groups: saints and sinners
51
Who wrote "Self-Government in the New World"?
Wallace Muhammad
52
Who established the Lost-Found Nation of Islam in Detroit in 1930?
Wallace Fard
53
Who identified Wallace Fard with Allah after his disappearance in 1934?
Elijah Muhammad
54
What 2 groups opposed Elijah Muhammad and the Nation of Islam?
1. Orthodox Muslims- against racial heresies
| 2. Black Civil Rights Organizations- opposed his separatist philosophy
55
Who was Wallace Muhammad?
1. 5th son of Elijah Muhammad
| 2. Took over Nation of Islam after Elijah's dath in 1975
56
In an attempt to conform doctrinally, what did Wallace Muhammad demythologise?
The Yakub story
57
In "Self-Government in the New World", what did Wallace Fard say about the Church?
It was a failure in the Black community
| - As Black people hated their black skin and any connection with Africa
58
In "Self- Government in the New World", what is claimed about Wallace Fard?
Still alive
59
According to "Self-Government in the New World", what did Wallace Fard recognise about the black race?
Too spiritual- wrapped up in the bible
| Ignorant of material worth
60
In "Self-Government in the New World", what needed to happen first of all?
Need to teach the black community to be alive in the social and spiritual reality
61
What was "Darrow's Speech Divides Harlem"?
A newspaper report in the Baltimore Afro-American
62
Who was Clarence Darrow?
- Lawyer & member of the ACLU
| - 1625 Scopes "Monkey Trial"
63
According to "Darrow's Speech Divides Harlem", what 2 sides did the crowd divide into?
1. People who would support him no matter what, due to his defence in the Scope trial
2. Others thought him an infidel
64
What is the message of the speech in "Darrow's Speech Divides Harlem"?
Negroes need to stop relying on the church and get busy themselves
65
Who wrote "Observations"?
Kelly Miller
66
What was "Observations"?
An article in the "Chicago Defender"
67
Who was Kelly Miller?
- "Bard of the Potomac"
| - Mathematician, sociologist, essayist, newspaper columnist, and author
68
Where did Kelly Miller stand in the industrial education debate?
In between the Niagara Movement and Booker T. Washington
69
Who does "Observations" call out?
White and Black religious hypocrites
70
According to "Observations", what would happen if Christ came back as a black man?
He would be denied membership of his own church
71
What does "Observations" call for?
The Negro to take the opportunity of white hypocrisy and take up the cross
72
Where was "A Discussion: The Religion of the American Negro" published?
The Crisis
73
Who were the two people in "A Discussion: The Religion of the American Negro"?
1. Clarence Darrow
| 2. Bishop R. E. Jones
74
According to Clarence Darrow in "A Discussion", what made the AA religious?
Bondage: Church taught "servants. obey your master"
75
According to Clarence Darrow in "A Discussion", which is the only church that doesn't discriminate?
The Catholic Church
76
According to Clarence Darrow in "A Discussion", what could never be conceived of?
That God was black
77
According to Bishop Jones in "A Discussion", why is it easy to find fault in the church?
It is a man-made institution
78
According to Bishop Jones in "A Discussion", what the church has been what in racial uplift?
The most dominant, persistent, and successful
79
According to Clarence Darrow in "A Discussion", what does the Negro spend too much of his money on?
The Church
80
According to Bishop Jones in "A Discussion", the Negro has gotten more from the Church than what?
Politics
81
Who has given Negroes only 'empty resolutions', according to Bishop Jones in "A Discussion"?
The Republican Party
82
What 6 things has Christianity given the Negro, according to Bishop Jones in "A Discussion"?
1. A start in education
2. The technique of organisation
3. Developed leaders
4. Influenced Negro financial life (influence on business enterprises)
5. Power of co-operative effort
6. Source of political strength
83
Who wrote "Things Nobody Believes"?
William Pickens
84
Where was "Things Nobody Believes" published?
The Messenger
85
Who was William Pickens?
- AA author, educator, journalist, and essayist
| - Methodist
86
What did intelligent people no longer believe in "Things Nobody Believes"?
1/2 of what an "orthodox" preacher says
87
Who does Pickens call an idiot in "Things Nobody Believes"?
A man who believes anything simply because someone believed it 2/3 thousand years ago
88
What are 6 examples in "Things Nobody Believes"?
1. Adam made of nothing, Eve made from Adam's rib
2. Mohammed anything more than a strong. energetic, and far from faultless man
3. Whale swallowed Jonah and he survived
4. Materialistic heaven somewhere in space
5. Hell of fire & brimstone
6. Red sea parted & there was a gigantic flood
89
Who wrote "The God of an Eternal Penitentiary"?
E. Ethelred Brown
90
What was "The God of an Eternal Penitentiary"?
An article in The Messenger
91
Who was E. Ethelred Brown?
- Jamaican Unitarian
- Formed the Negro Progressive Association & Secretary for the Jamaican Progressive League
- 1921: Formed the Harlem Community Church
92
Where does the title of "The God of an Eternal Penitentiary" come from?
Robert G. Ingersoll
93
In "The God of an Eternal Penitentiary", what is God ignorant of?
The idea that the punishment must fit the crime
94
According to "The God of an Eternal Penitentiary", what does not exist?
Hell as a real deep pit filled with fire
95
Who wrote "Who is Friend of Negro: God or Darrow"?
Rev. A Wendell Ross
96
What was 'Who is Friend of Negro: God or Darrow"?
A newspaper article in the Pittsburgh Courier
97
Who was Rev. A Wendell Ross?
Pastor at the Mt. Calvary Baptist Church
98
In "Who is Friend of Negro: God or Darrow", whose ideas is Rev. A Wendell Ross refuting?
J. Louis Clarke, who has taken up the ideas of Darrow
99
According to "Who is Friend of Negro: God or Darrow", what % of Negro businesses had clerical help?
75%
100
According to "Who is Friend of Negro: God or Darrow", who is a dangerous enemy?
Anyone who gets the Negro to turn from the Church, regardless of any other work they do
101
In "Who is Friend of Negro: God or Darrow", what happens when you start businesses without God?
Prostitute the soul to the use of the body
102
In "Who is Friend of Negro: God or Darrow", what 2 things are in danger of being crowded out by the modern world?
1. God
| 2. The Soul
103
What is "R. R. Wright Scores Mencken's Attack on Ministry"?
A newspaper article in the Pittsburgh Courier
104
In "R. R. Wright Scores Mencken's Attack on Ministry", what does Wright call Mencken?
Clever, but no thinker
105
In "R. R. Wright Scores Mencken's Attack on Ministry", what is Mencken's claim?
That Negroes have been impoverished because of the Church
106
In "R. R. Wright Scores Mencken's Attack on Ministry", what does Wright claim that the church has done?
The Church has inspired Negroes to economic independence
107
In "R. R. Wright Scores Mencken's Attack on Ministry", what does Wright claim is unique about the Church?
The only organisation of Negroes that has tried to save the race as a whole
108
What is "White Minister Quits"?
A newspaper article in the "Afro American"
109
Who is the minister in "White Minister Quits"?
Adelbert Helm, minister at Bethel Evangelical Church, Detroit
110
Who founded the Bethel Evangelical Church, Detroit?
Reinhold Niebuhr
111
In "White Minister Quits", why did he quit?
As a protest against the refusal of the white membership to receive two colored candidates who sought admission to the Christmas class
112
In "White Minister Quits", why does Helm claim the church doesn't belong to its members?
It is either God's church or a a convenient city club
113
In "White Minister Quits", what would Jesus say if he returned?
Would call it a city club
114
According to "White Minister Quits", what is the way to fix the situation?
Honest leaders
115
What was "The Christian Religion"?
A debate in the North American Review between Robert G. Ingersoll and Jeremiah Black
116
What was the North American Review?
1st literary magazine in the USA, founded in 1815
117
Who was Robert G. Ingersoll?
- "The Great Agnostic"
- Radical views on religion, slavery, & women's suffrage
- Advocated Freethought and Humanism
- Attacked the Doctrine of Hell
118
Who was Jeremiah Black?
Attorney General & Secretary of State
119
In "The Christian Religion", who does Ingersoll claim are trying to set themselves above the pulpit?
The pews
120
In "The Christian Religion", what are three of the fundamental truths of the gospel that Ingersoll set out?
1. There is a personal God, the creator of the material universe
2. Man created & turned out of the Garden of Eden
3. Drowned all his children except 8
121
In "The Christian Religion", who does Ingersoll claim the Old Testament is a product of?
A Barbarous People
122
In "The Christian Religion", what does Ingersoll claim every believer in the bible must declare?
That there was a time when slavery was right
123
According to Ingersoll in "The Christian Religion", what 2 problems are there with the idea that there was no general atonement till Christ?
1. Shedding of innocent animal blood
| 2. No heaven before atonement: all those who died before Christ went to Hell
124
What is the problem of eternal damnation, according to Ingersoll in "The Christian Religion"?
A finite being can neither commit an infinite sin nor a sin against the infinite
125
According to Black in "The Christian Religion", why is he responding to Ingersoll?
Priests have no time: like a policeman silencing a rude disturber
126
What claim of Ingersoll's about the church does Black refute in "The Christian Religion"?
That the church is declining
127
According to Black in "The Christian Religion", what has changed, if the church is not declining?
A change in the methods of attack by people hostile to religion
128
According to Black in "The Christian Religion", what would happen if you gave Christianity a common trial?
The court would rule in its favour
129
Why are we poor critics of God, according to Black in "The Christian Religion"?
We have neither the jurisdiction nor the capacity to judge him
130
According to Black in "The Christian Religion", what is the fundamental problem with Ingersoll's claim that hell is not just?
Justice is obedience to the rule of God, and Ingersoll does not believe in God
131
How does Black refute Ingersoll's claims about innocent animals in "The Christian Religion"?
Ingersoll eats meat
132
According to Black in "The Christian Religion", what is there no reason to doubt?
That the statements of the evangelists are not genuine
133
According to Black in "The Christian Religion", why can we never understand the spiritual world?
All our conceptions of the spiritual world are derived from an analogy to material things
134
Who wrote "Treatise on the Gods"?
H. L. Mencken
135
What was the purpose of "Treatise on the Gods"?
Survey of the history and philosophy of religion (companion to "Treatise on Right & Wrong")
136
In "Treatise on the Gods", what did ancient people not bother with?
State of their souls after death
137
In "Treatise on the Gods", what has modified Christianity?
Priestly embellishment
138
According to "Treatise on the Gods", why were the gospels altered and edited?
To bring them into harmony with the developing theology of the infant church
139
In "Treatise on the Gods", why has there been an attack on the primary assumptions of religion?
- Rapid accumulation of scientific knowledge since 1859
| - Proliferation of democracy
140
In "Treatise on the Gods", who does Mencken call cowards?
Scientists who try to prove that they are not at odds with theology
141
What evidence does Mencken cite in "Treatise on the Gods" that the Church supports bad things?
Former apologist for slavery
142
According to "Treatise on the Gods", the idea that science does not concern itself with what is wrong?
Origins and causes
143
In "Treatise on the Gods", what does not necessarily make men better citizens?
Religion
144
Who wrote "Postscript"?
W. E. B. DuBois
145
What was "Postscript"?
The Postscript in The Crisis
146
What does DuBois lament in "Postscript"?
The attitude of black ministers in DC towards Darrow
147
According to DuBois in "Postscript", what are ministers most interested in?
Mouthing of creeds and the orthodoxy of men's beliefs than in the christianity and unselfishness of their deeds
148
According to "Postscript", why should the ministers accept Darrow?
Should accept his inevitable criticism, as they are spending too much on church edifices, and too little on social uplift
149
Who wrote "Intelligent Christianity: Not the Fear of Hell"?
William Pickens
150
What was "Intelligent Christianity: Not the Fear of Hell"?
An article in The Messenger
151
What is the purpose of "Intelligent Christianity: Not the Fear of Hell"?
Answer the preachers who attacked "Things Nobody Believes"
152
According to "Intelligent Christianity: Not the Fear of Hell", what view do intelligent ministers take?
A spiritual view of the ideas set out in "Things Nobody Believes"
153
What does "Intelligent Christianity: Not the Fear of Hell", call on the young to do?
Must not swallow dogmas uncritically
154
Who wrote "Negro Folk Expressions"?
Sterling Brown
155
Who was Sterling Brown?
- Professor at Howard University: studied Southern black culture
- Poet: influenced by content, form, and cadence of AA music
- Part of the Harlem Renaissance
156
In "Negro Folk Expressions", what elements of religious songs are mocked in slave seculars?
Otherworldiness and bible stories
157
According to "Negro Folk Expressions", what songs expressed pure Negro bitterness?
Work songs & social protest songs
158
In "Negro Folk Expressions", what 3 things are contributing to the breakup of Negro folk culture?
1. Newspapers (sense of belonging to a wider world)
2. Migration
3. Changing industry
159
Who wrote "The Negro's God as Reflected in his Literature'?
Benjamin Mays
160
According to "The Negro's God Reflected in his Literature", what 2 things lead to people abandoning God?
1. Cannot rationalize God and the changing social situation
| 2. Cast aside the white man's God
161
In "The Negro's God Reflected in his Literature", who does James Weldon Johnson have little patience for?
Atheist convertors: some people need religion
162
In "The Negro's God Reflected in his Literature", who is George S. Schuyler critical of, and who is he not critical of?
- Not critical of those who need religion
| - Critical of institutionalised religion
