MLK

Every MLK Jr. Day brings me back to the good ‘ol religion church my momma and daddy raised me in.

I find the reminiscences interesting in part nowadays because I compare them to the general assumption that anyone with a heavy dose of community religion and a politically involved minister has to be a right wing Bible thumper. My folks had both and were about as yellow dog Democrat as one can imagine.

Heck, I grew up thinking Republicans spoke German, they were so bad.

My parents generally assumed that their neighbors went to some church. Asking them which one was a normal part of an opening conversation, and inviting them to yours and being invited back to theirs was a common pleasantry as a result.

There was a class structure too. Methodists looked down on Baptists, Baptists turned up their noses at Pentecostalists and everyone though the COGIC (Church of God in Church) were nuts with all the hollering and tambourines. One COGIC met in a garage around the corner from me. I could hear the shake, rattle and roll half a block away.

Perhaps the funniest part of it all was watching the big-hatted church ladies fanning themselves on cool, foggy SF days, a snapshot of worshipping across the hot South. It was still important for the church to hand out the fans because the advertising on them which brought in money.

The critical difference is that my parents were African American (“were” because they’ve both passed on). The government, particularly the federal government, paid the key role in opening society up so that everyone had a shot to enjoy the American Dream. In 1964 a white woman who took my mother's seat on a train rolling through Texas had to give it back because state segregation laws didn't apply to interstate railroads. For her and others like her, the traditional conservative nostrum that the government was the route of all evil made no sense in this regard.

They believed in hard work and duty to country. Military service was considered honorable, both for the benefits it conferred but also for the respect it demanded from white Americans.

The critical difference is that they saw their religion as a foundation for social engagement and responsibility. Same faith, different interpretation. The good Rev. Dr. MLK Jr. saw this too. It wasn’t new. American reformist tradition has had a long history of religious inspiration. One author, whose name eludes me at the moment, opined that the biggest force behind the Abolitionist movement were all the daughters of Congregationalist ministers who went to college but couldn’t find comparable work in a sexist society. So they threw their education and energy into social reform, including Abolition but moving on to public health, education, women’s suffrage among other thing. (It also includes temperance but every movement has to get off a few errant salvos).

So there is a good question, which a good minister like the good Rev. Dr. might ask, as to who is truly closer to God. You’d think that the Socialist Right might be worried about this. In the Book of Matthew, Jesus says that those who don’t feed the hungry, clothe the naked or visit the imprisoned end up in everlasting punishment. If the Socialist Right finds themselves in the wrong line come Judgment Day or whatnot, they might have wished that they’d reviewed the fine print a little closer.