Recommendations and Religion
We take great pride that we have always concluded the articles and essays with a set of recommendations suggesting how to address the problem discussed. Sometimes the recommendations are specific; sometimes they are philosophical. Sometimes they call for a reassessment of existing programs and strategies; sometimes they call for funding new programs and developing new strategies. Often, the recommendations call for a connection or reconnection of African Americans to a sense of “Black history, heritage, culture and value systems” (Benton, 1989). The same connection is recommended for persons who provide services to African Americans. Improving and building on the strengths of the Black family are also recommended (Corley, 1990), as are reforms, particularly in the social welfare system, that would provide encouragement and opportunity for disadvantaged persons to become self-reliant, and would strengthen marital bonds and family stability (Rodgers, 1988; 1989).
The foundation and direction provided by religious institutions, especially the Black Church, permeates many of the recommendations. Three chapters have been devoted to religion and the Black Church. The Rev. Latta Thomas, a Benedict College professor and a pastor, wrote in 1989 that the church has to come from behind its walls and “eliminate accommodationist, other worldly religion and safe-issue thinking in favor of bold, relevant and prophetic action on behalf of hurt and needy people” (p. 89). He urged the implementation of programs, including motivational efforts for youths, educational programs, financial enterprises, development of political leaders, and health education and promotion. Some of these types of efforts can now be seen in many African American churches, especially medium-sized and large congregations and the new phenomenon of Black megachurches like Bibleway of Atlas Road and Brookland Baptist Church in Columbia.
In 2000, the Rev. Joseph A. Darby wrote a forward-looking article titled “To Serve the Present Age: The Role of the Historically Black Church in the 21st Century.” He stressed that “(t)he Historically Black Church has always had a traditional African focus on the well-being of the community as well as the individual, and has been the agent for economic action, social well-being, and positive change.” Now, he says, the “church must create a new sense of community in a more mobile time and in an era when the concept of ‘community’ means different things to different people” (p. 219-221).
Dr. Andrew Billingsley (2000), a nationally prominent sociologist on the Black family and Black religion, made a similar pronouncement in the same edition in “The Church, the Family and the Community in the African American Experience.” He argued that because it is still the strongest institution in the Black community, “The Black Church has a special responsibility, opportunity, and perhaps obligation to come to the rescue of the Black family and the Black community” (p. 229). We agree. But faith without works is dead!