Today, we think the best way of representing our religious beliefs is by going to church, temple, mosque, or synagogue.

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Today, we think the best way of representing our religious beliefs is by going to church, temple, mosque, or synagogue. Although this way of expression has been around for centuries, it has evolved a great deal over time. For many years people were confused about God and just exactly whom they were worshipping. Certainly many fathomed if there even was a God and if there was, how come he wasn’t saving them from their troubles and sufferings. Frederick Douglass, one of the most profound African Americans who escaped slavery only to devote the rest of his life to help the advancement his fellow man, especially believed this true. He was considered one of the reformers most affected by the conservative response of the nation’s orthodox religious establishment (Van Deburg 218). Throughout his life many ideas and practices surfaced pertaining to religion that he did not approve of. These very practices and rituals were the very reason Frederick Douglass had a mixture of thoughts concerning religion.

        As Christianity spread through America, its main goal was to attract new members. Christianity groups in the south developed plantation missions that were designed to bring slaves into the church. Although the missions were prominent, they never attracted all the slaves. As a result, a majority of rural slaves had not joined a church (Albanese 197).

Douglass was not very old when he first “discovered” religion as a slave working on the eastern shore of Maryland. According to him he was no more than thirteen years old when he met a white Methodist minister named Hanson. He longed for someone to talk to about his loneliness and for someone to confide in as the father he never knew. Hanson was the first person that told Douglass that God was his friend. It is certainly

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evident that Hanson’s beliefs rubbed off on Douglass for Hanson believed that all men, great and small, bond and free, were sinners in the sight of God; that they were by nature “rebels against his government; and that they must repent of their sins, and be reconciled to God through Christ” (Douglass, 1892, 90). Douglass not only confided in Hanson but also began to confide in God as he began to love all of mankind, even slaveholders. With this new found light, his goal became to convert everyone. His desire to learn and his understanding of the Bible rapidly increased as his exposure to religion became more detailed. Douglas even went so far as to collect pages from the bible that he found in the street in hope to get a thoughtful word out of them (Douglass, 1892, 90).

        In his quest to learn more about religion, Douglass became acquainted with a colored man named Charles Lawson. Not only was Lawson his spiritual father, he loved him intensely. He learned much through Lawson and his daily ritual of praying three times a day as he meandered the streets, at his work, basically everywhere (Douglass, 1892, 90). Douglass recalls going to numerous prayer meetings and spending much of his leisure time with him. Contrary to Douglass, Lawson was a man that knew much about reading and English. In turn, Douglass was not a man that knew much about religion and scripture. While Lawson taught Douglass “the spirit,” Douglass taught Lawson “the letter” (Douglass, 1892, 90). Charles Lawson was the cornerstone in Douglass and his religious awakening. His principles became deeply rooted in what Douglass stood for and believed in. Lawson once said to Douglass “The Lord can make you free, my dear; all things are possible with Him; only have faith in God. If you want liberty, ask the Lord for it in faith, and He will give it to you.”  Consequently, Douglass worked and prayed with a

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light heart and always prayed that God would, of His great mercy, and in His own good time, deliver him from his bondage (Douglass, 1892, 92).

        Charles Lawson was one influential source of the idea of a benevolent and millennial God, a God who had the welfare of the downtrodden at heart, and who would one day intervene on their behalf. Douglass’ God was the God of black Christianity: benevolent and loving, but also a deliverer with a special concern for the oppressed (Blight 8). Black Christianity has often been called the “invisible institution” – a church or ...

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