Читать книгу The Craft of Innovative Theology. Argument and Process онлайн

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In 1915, the SBC voiced its optimism that African Americans would elevate their standing with education, moral, and religious development. Among the African American values the convention praised were their docility, respect, thrift, and being law abiding. What was needed, however, was patience and helpfulness by the “dominant” race.²⁵ This resolution’s racist and paternalistic views of African Americans were reflected in their belief that African Americans not only were docile, but that the SBC’s ideal was the “worthy white man.” The SBC believed in working for African Americans’ equal opportunity along “parallel lines,” that is, within the structures of segregation. While it lauded some African American ministers as superior, it asserted that the mass of them was ignorant and deficient in moral character. What African Americans craved, according to the SBC’s resolution, was “the aid of their favored white brethren.”²⁶ Finally, the SBC concluded that African Americans never could come into their own in American life without Christianity to overcome their defectiveness of character.²⁷