The Historiography of the Origin of Religion in the United States of America - Essay Example

Introduction It is important to highlight that this paper delves in discussing the historiography of the origin of religion in the United States of America. Under this, the paper will tend to dwell much on the Black Baptist history. It is important highlight that this is all about the beginning of the gospel ministry in the American continent by the African Americans. Several scholars as well as the other religious persons have as well tried to conduct different studies on this area of field, religion and theology focusing on the history of religion in the United States. People such as Albert J. Raboteau did write stories concerning the origin of religion in this continent (Edward 2009, pg 34). It is important to note that the story of the church commenced in this state way back in the year 1892, December 12. History has it that during this time in the mentioned date, the Robert and Mary exchanged a given piece of land. The land is said to be one hundred feet by forty feet. This was at a commercial rate meaning it was not for free but rather sold. It was sold to the various persons that were from the church. Other persons that were involved in the transaction for the land that was meant for the construction of the West End Baptist Church were Joshua Morris, Isaiah Dillard and John Seton (John 2009, pg 121). The land was valued at seventy five thousand American dollars. The transactional was very specific and conditional as the piece of land was purely for the building as well as the construction of the West End Baptist Church. It is important to highlight that there were states of quandaries and the people in question here were wondering what the other members who were the pioneers of the church were actively emulating what the preachers or rather servants of the Lord God were addressing through the preaching, sermons as well as their deeds (Edward 2009, pg 62). It is quite important for the people of the church behave as per the bible require. This therefore means that the church leaders should therefore behave and conduct themselves in a manner that is commendable for the other members. They bare the representatives of God in the name of messengers of the God. It so means that their actions and says have a strong impacts on the welfare of the church members. The construction of the West End Baptist Church continued for a span of eight years and come the year 1901, the church building was complete and the people had their sermons under the roof. This was now under the leadership of another pastor, Pastor Linas (John 2009, pg 11). Earlier on in the days before the construction of the church, the people prayed in a school that is the first black school to have been set up in a European-American community. This was the Bates School House. It was in the city of Hampton in the state of Virginia. These churches that were started by the blacks were quite beneficial in societal matters. One major social impact that the churches played was on the social welfare f the people. These churches were the icons that initiated the formation of the self help groups that were quite helpful in assisting the widows. The churches were consequently quite helpful in the conducting and making of payments for various burials that affected the poor families. Another important aspect of the churches was that the churches helped in the removal of the illiteracy in the children by training them how to read as well as write (John 2009, pg 241). The church experienced a loss of their pastor and the church thereafter was under the leadership of Pastor Beverly Garner who thereby became the successor of Pastor Linas after he had passed on. He was very foused inhis mission and came up with the idea that he wanted a new sanctuary that would be for his followers. This led to the building of another church in the 2916 Shell Road. This was a good dream for the pastor being an ambitious and hard working man. It was quite unfortunate for the congregation and the him too that he passed on before could see the fruits of his labor and dream. The building took two years and come the year 1903, the building of the new church was accomplished. This was now under the leadership of a new pastor who became the successor of the late pastor Garner, Pastor Bray. He also served as the leader for a short while and was thereafter succeeded by Pastor Hall. The church leadership continued taking turns as the leaders kept coming and being succeeded. After Pastor Hall, anew pastor came and succeeded him and that was now Pastor Atkins. Through the researches that have been done, history has it that all these pastors were all well educated and were scholars. This is information that was obtained from the research that was conducted from the congregation taken to be the reliable source of information that concerned all these pastors. The pastors were by then considered and perceived to be the most educated people during those days of the origin of the church (Edward 2009, pg 322). It is important to highlight that all these men were graduates from various colleges in the country and their main concern was on the mission of being founders and pioneers of the church. They were quite active in the mission and as Mr. Raboteau suggest “that the progress and development for the race and escape as well as elope from poverty depended upon education, temperance (abstaining from alcohol consumption as well as other alcohol products and beverages with alcoholic content), thrift, and responsibility, black ministers, pastors and servants of God emphasized and stressed on the importance as well as significance of morally upright behavior and respect for one self as well as others” (John 2009, pg 416). The perception, view as well as the opinion of the people concerning the church is quite diverse. The blacks perceived the church as a place whereby the people were trained on how to conduct voting exercises alongside working together for the cause of freedom. The West End Baptist Church is not an exemption for this perception of the church. The history has it that the records that are there ion writing was not kind of pleasing and kind to the early people who were responsible for the initiation of the church development. Their main aim with the church was not for the elections or voting but rather for religious purposes; but the others was kind of politicizing their whole project. This was not therefore quite in order and so was quite unkind for them. It is important to note for the establishment of any church facility, the core aim that is focused is religious based and not any other perspective. In the history of the church, it is important to acknowledge the family of Herbert that it was the family that was kind and generous in a way for the provision of the land that was used in the construction of the church. The Golden family should similarly be acknowledged too in the history of the church especially in the education perspective (Edward 2009, pg 122). In the tracing of the piece of land that was used in the construction of the church, it can be traced from the Herbert family in the sense that Samuel Hebert lived in Hampton as the first free born black. His father was one of the freed slaves that were in the Herbert family. The Herbert family was the slave owners who showed some slight discrepancy in comparison with the other slave owners in the city during those days. They were quite human and liberal minded in their actions as well as thoughts. The family with their generous heart offered the piece of land to Samuel Herbert as a gift. This was not quite normal and other slave owners never offered gifts to their peasants. Samuel Herbert thereafter passed over the piece of land that was given to him as a gift to his son Richard Herbert. Through the continued interactions of the families, Robert became friends with the Golden family who were quite focused and concentrated so much on the educational matters. The explicit point that is quite vivid is that Herbert family was quite religious in their actions and moves (John 2009, pg 231). The good relationship that was established led to the use of the piece of land that was offered to him through the inheritance from his father was then used in the building and construction of the church that was the first black church. The location was at the route along Shell road and the first black school. These were adjacently constructed. What comes out so clearly from this kind of building is that the church was obviously under the management by the Herbert family while the school was under the management by the Golden family (Edward 2009, pg2 62) During the construction, the school building was the first one to be accomplished and it therefore temporarily served as the place that was used for both religious as well as educational purposes at the respective times that each activity was to be conducted. It is worth noting that during this period of time, this kind of construction was not condoned and the people could be seriously harassed on their ways heading for the school activities. The major important point that was quite good was that the buildings remained undamaged despite this kind of pressure that these people were subjected to. One importance of this building was that it helped in enhancement of unity among the blacks and that they could share positive values of life in their gatherings within the building. And on this, earlier black servants of the Lord were quite strong and firm on preaching and encouraging the people to conform and adapt various moral values as well as virtues for the economy and themselves. They urged the people to embrace hard work, tolerance, patience, control of their anger and temper and to develop a spirit of honesty in their operations at any point that is ideal for the better of the welfare (John 2009, pg 423). The church progressed until 1965. This year, a new church leader emerged and this was now a pastor by the name Reverend Hallie Richardson Senior. It is important to highlight that during this time there was a lot of enlightenment and several civil movements came up. The black community views were also showing some kind of variation and shifts. These were the views if the people on the theological view. The therefore led to the various forms of various forms of terror attacks, vandalism as well as hooliganism in the area. Several churches were then burnt and this thus changed the perspectives of the people towards the church. In one of the ways that was used in the getting of the relevant information concerning the effect of the gap that started to develop in the church led to the tearing of the various families that were believers and followers too. This kind of deviation so led to the alienation of the people with the church and so they indulged in immoral acts in the area (Edward 2009, pg 231). What is quite funny is how the rift about the church is not mentioned so much in the records with the fear that it could widen the gap farther. The rift is seen in the case where the leadership of Pastor Richardson is overthrown by the people who never wanted his leadership. He led for a span of twenty five years which was the longest in the history of the church. The people neither supported the good visions that he had for the church and so he had no option but to walk away and leave the church leadership. A new pastor again who was a trainee of the former pastor thereby became the latter pastor for the church. This neither altered the perception of the people towards the church and in the consideration as well as critical evaluation of the various pastors, it is quite vivid that the most successful pastors during his time as the leader of the church for the twenty five years of leadership (John 2009, pg 81). This led to the calling of the new pastor by the name pastor Hill. His main point of concern was on the burning of the house and thereafter collecting the people as his followers. This was another separation of the church for the third time just in a span of thirty years. According to this kind of movement in this church, the positive progress of the church could therefore not be realized and its growth thereby hindered. The current church therefore has transformed and is not called the West End Baptist Church but rather New West End church to show the new move that is quite different from the older one (Edward 2009, pg 362). In the doing of flashback in the evaluation of the church members ranging from the people who had been in the church from way back 2916 to 1982, these are perceived and seen as the people who have walked with the church fully. They are thus seen as the full members of the church. These people have shown the highest level of trust and faith in the church (John 2009, pg 142). The unity of the people therefore led to the loss of the various major key components that were in the church as it is highlighted in the records, it is true to say that the various values that were shared were therefore lost due to the continuous splitting of the church. key components in a church are very vital as they help in the continuous monitoring of the church activities and they as well help since the persons that lead therefore become rest assured that there are some key eye witnesses who are there to speculate all the movements as they happen in the church (Edward 2009, pg 62). It is also important to highlight that the trust that these people had in the church was quite important for the church development. Being open is quite important as the people freely share and are quite open to one another in one way or the other. This therefore fosters development of the church for the better of the hopefuls as well as other believers. It is very disappointing to accept the fact that this open sharing is not shown in the West End Baptist Church. The people are not willing to share resources yet the people are there. This is not a good picture for the people who believe in the Lord and they should therefore better this way (John 2009, pg 132). Another factor that requires to be put so much into consideration is that there is a way that should be looked into so as to lead the church appropriately. The question is on the way that the leader should lead the people. This is based on the fast that others are kind of considering the church as either being exclusive or being inclusive. It is important to highlight that the most critical point is that it is not quite easy to lead a two groups of people who perceive the church view in two dimensional ways. This is because the different persons will desire and prefer their demands to be met differently in the church and this will continuously lead to the widening of the rift that already exists in the church. This is like it said that you jump out of the frying pan into the fire (Edward 2009, pg 131). It is therefore important to do a lot of biblical analysis in leading this kind of people. Just as the commandment of the Lord says that we should love our neighbors as we love ourselves. The love that Jesus had was unconditional and he loved everybody without any kind or discrimination of any form. He was not unidirectional in his love. We should therefore practice that kind of love for the better church leadership to be realized. Love is the greatest commandment as it indicated in the bible and this is what can lead to a good relationship among the very many people who follow Jesus Christ (John 2009, pg 127). . It is important to envisage it to the various people who discriminate others and exclude other in church missions in one way or the other that the image of God is seen on earth from the face of the person next to you and as the bible puts it, your neighbor. It is therefore to show them the value of the Lord to them and the value of the people whom they exclude in the kingdom of the Lord. The Lord dwells much on the love that he gives unto the people and his love is free and in abundance we should not deny others. As a leader, one should emulate the moves, actions and various ways that Jesus used in leading his people (Edward 2009, pg 21). As followers of the Lord it is therefore important to be like him through actions and not behave in a manner likely to disapprove him in another way. His love surpasses all and so is the love that we need to practice for our neighbors. It is important to highlight that we need to develop the church through working together as a team in the church and this can only be realized through the steadfast love that we need to express top our neighbors. By this, the church will therefore grow to greater heights and thereby the gospel of the Lord will be well spread and many will be transformed for the better of the world as the angels of the Lord will be rejoicing happily in heaven for the word transforming (John 2009, pg 314). References Edward, E.(2009) The New Black Gods: Arthur Huff Fauset and the Study of African American Religions, Indiana University Press. John, E. (2004) Liberation Historiography: African American Writers and the Challenge of History, Univ of North Carolina Press. Read More