New Book Examines Spirituality of Civil Rights Icons

Posted 9-26-08

GREENSBORO —Dr. William Hart wrote “Black Religion: Malcolm X, Julius Lester and Jan Willis,” to challenge the idea that black identity is wedded to Protestant Christianity.

To prove his point, Hart, a professor of religious studies, examines the spiritual lives of three icons of the Civil Rights Movement – each of whom eventually left the Christian faith.

“There has always been religious diversity among African Americans, but it’s been obscured by the standard narrative,” Hart says. “Black religion has been reduced to the Black Protestant Church. There is a complex relationship between racial identity, religious affiliation and political commitment, especially because of the peculiar history of Black Americans.”

Malcolm X, who claimed that Western culture and religion were inherently racist and opposed Martin Luther King Jr.’s nonviolent protest strategy, was the most radical of the three. He was raised a Baptist but joined the Nation of Islam as a young man. Before his assassination, he converted to the more traditional Sunni Islam and made a pilgrimage to Mecca.

Lester is known for his activism with Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. Lester, a retired academic and a children’s book writer, was raised an African Methodist. He became disenchanted with Christianity as a child and converted to Judaism as an adult.

Willis, a professor of religion at Wesleyan, grew up Baptist. She was part of a group of student protestors who seized control of the administration building at Cornell. Although she considered joining the Black Panthers, she instead travelled to India to study in a temple. Willis now calls herself a Baptist Buddhist.

“Part of their struggle is to make sense if new religious traditions in a primarily Christian culture,” Hart says. “For all three, Christianity did not answer the questions they had. They had to construct their own Jesus—a Jesus that allowed them to become the Muslim, Jew and Baptist-Buddhist, respectively, that they are.”

"Black Religion," 244 pages, is published by Palgrave MacMillan.