Christianity and Evangelicalism

Harpviken and Roislien (2008:351) recognise that religion is an integral dimension within many armed conflicts. The religion of Christianity is no exception to this. Like any other religion, Christianity has been involved in instances of both peace and violence throughout history.

In their essay, Ehrenhaus and Owen (2007:276) reflect on the performance of ritual lynching within the white Christian evangelical worldview that predominated among members of the white supremacist community responsible for lynching African-Americans. They state that, through a fusion of cultures with faith centred on the violent death of Christ on the cross, this practice of lynching can be read as a ritual re-enactment of blood sacrifice, or “propitiation for the sin of blackness and expiation for the white supremacist community” (Ehrenhaus & Own 2007: 276).

Between the 1880s and 1930s, Evangelicalism was the dominant religious perspective worldwide, serving as a foundational pillar of a national white supremacist culture (Ehrenhaus & Owen 2007: 278). It affirmed the primacy of emotion over intellect and rationalism. Within this worldview, sacrificial lynching reaffirmed a sacred covenant among the members of the white Christian community and between that community and their God (Ehrenhaus & Owen 2007: 278). Especially for white Southern Evangelicals, that covenantal social order had been violated by the Reconstruction Era, by the federally mandated intrusion of blackness into the now defiled sacred public space of the white community (Ehrenhaus & Owen 2007: 278). This commonly resulted in sadistic torture and the burning (often alive) of victims. According to Ehrenhaus & Owen (2007: 281), “by lynching African Americans accused of breaching social boundaries, the white community produced and reproduced the sacrificial act of blood sacrifice that was at the centre of their faith.”

Salvation from sin is the central tenet of Evangelical faith (Ehrenhaus & Own 2007: 1278). As Christ was sacrificed for humanity’s salvation, Evangelical adherents concurrently believe sacrifice, as a symbol of torture and death, is at the heart of salvation. This logic permeated the moral susceptibilities of the white community and served as a legitimating rationale for a culture of violence (Ehrenhaus & Own 2007: 278). How could such obscene acts of human immortality take place in what were understood to be the most devoutly Christian portions of the nation? How could these adherents engage in these unimaginable communal acts of brutality that were so clearly un-Christian?

The explanation for such bloodletting is not found in a retreat from Christian doctrine and scripture, but in its embrace. Public ritual lynching was a performative affirmation of fundamentalist Christian faith in a white supremacist national community (Ehrenhaus & Own 2007: 277). It functioned, for the dominant white Christian community, as acts of devotion, as blood sacrifices to a God whose covenant with the white Christian community had been “violated by the intrusion of blackness” into the sacred spaces of that covenant (Ehrenhaus & Own 2007: 277).

It is interesting to think that this religion, being Christianity, can be responsible for both sides of this war. Whilst Evangelicalism followers see the religion as a source of violence and an explanation for the violent sacrifice of black people, the African American community used the faith as a source of endurance and resistance (Ehrenhaus & Own 2007: 280). Additionally, other religious institutions and white ministers expressed their collective opposition to lynching by drawing upon scripture, the same scripture that began the violent acts in the first place (Ehrenhaus & Own 2007: 280). So, this occurrence perfectly exemplifies that religions have been involved in both violent and peaceful acts throughout history. Religious adherents can take scripture out of context to commend violence, or read it in its entirety and act towards peace and justice.

References

Ehrenhaus, P. & A. Owen. (2004). Race Lynching and Christian Evangelism: Performances of Faith. Text and Performance Quarterly 24(3/4): 276-301.

Harpviken, K. & H. Roislien. (2008). Faithful Brokers? Potentials and Pitfalls of Religion in Peacemaking. Conflict Resolution Quarterly 25(3): 351-373.