Prophetic Religion: A Transracial Challenge to Modem Democracy

Most contributors approach the secularization question out of concern with intolerance and repression. But a peculiar kind of religion may impinge upon secular life in a different way: a prophetic religion may generate the solidarity and will-to-sacrifice that oppressed peoples need to fight for freedom and equality. The tradition of the Hebrew Prophets (shared by Islam and Judaism) played a key role in the American civil rights struggle (though it was not confined to black churches). Frederick Douglass, Martin Luther King, and other exponents of the tradition rejected the idea that minority rights could ever be secured automatically or predictably. They viewed their fellow Americans' faith in progress with severe skepticism. The distinction between prophetic religion and normal (priestly) religion will clarify the secularization debate, because it helps us see that some forms of religion are skeptical of official and/or popular beliefs. A prophet may reject the prevailing religion (or other prevailing dogma) as strongly as an atheist does. Members of the prevailing religion will often call the prophet irreligious. Pagan Romans, for example, called the early Christians "atheists," since they believed in a mere man. There are sometimes religions that foster skepticism and critical thinking, that is. These Prophetic religions may at times be more effective against repression (and against popular complacency about it) than secular efforts to organize opinion.