Faith in the City: Preaching Radical Social Change in Detroit

Foreword

FOREWORD “By Their Institutions Shall You Know Them” For the better part of my life I have been a preacher and pastor; therefore , I am intrigued, grati‹ed, and most delighted by the subject, substance , and excellence of Dr. Angela Dillard’s Faith in the City: Preaching Radical Social Change in Detroit. It is a refreshing and resourceful presentation of how private faith can serve effectively to create public institutions that act valiantly, impartially, and noncoercively to bring about positive and universal social change. Such religious activism as is described by Doctor Dillard as being responsible for the birth and rearing of organized labor unions, civil rights groups, and human rights institutions does not portray religion as loving and serving religion but religion that is willing to pour out its life and energy into institutions and associations that serve the common good. In most instances of human progress in art, science, politics, and economics, there is the presence of the hidden, unsel‹sh, altruistic, af‹rmative, loving, lifting, life-giving, freedomdirected hand of faith at work in the world to redeem and advance the interests of all humankind. James Luther Adams, late Harvard professor of Christian social ethics, used to say of churches, “By their institutions you shall know them.” Professor Adams was paraphrasing a favorite Bible reference that was constantly quoted in every one of his sermons by the salient protagonist of this book, the late Rev. Dr. Charles Andrew Hill Sr.: “Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are rav- enous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or ‹gs from thistles? In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the ‹re. Thus, you will know them by their fruits” (Matt. 7:15–20). If labor unions have served and still serve the public good, if such associations stem inordinate corporate greed and foster the reasonable and fair redistribution of wealth, if democracy is still being advanced, if the inclusive masses of people are bene‹ted and sustained in a society that provides opportunity for all, requires responsibility from all, and builds a just community of all, Angela Dillard’s book demonstrates and documents the “good fruit” that has been harvested from the social institutions that were spawned in, by, and through the churches in Detroit that encouraged, backed, and supported the birth of labor unions “way back in the day” when it was not popular, safe, or easy to do so. Sixty-‹ve or seventy years ago, three black pastors turned their backs on the rich automobile-manufacturing companies that opposed the organization of labor unions and threw the weight of their faith and in›uence behind the movement to organize factory workers to protect their material interests by using the power and tools of collective bargaining . Corporate power resisted and violently opposed such a movement . There were rich corporate rewards for the pastors and churches that would discourage their laboring members from organizing. The majority of the pastors in Detroit, white and black, backed the owners and managers of the corporations and discouraged unionization. Charles A. Hill of Hartford Baptist Church, Malcolm Dade of St. Cyprian’s Episcopal, Horace White of Plymouth Congregational (now Plymouth United Church of Christ), Henry Hitt Crane of Central United Methodist, and several others took an oppositional stance against corporate power and in favor of the laborers who, without unionization, had no power to protect themselves, advance themselves, or sustain their communities. Citing the evidence presented in this book, it can be brilliantly and successfully argued that without the life and work of religious faith common people could not have organized themselves into effective institutions. How sweet it is that this book has arrived at such a critical time for religious institutions, particularly those that are located in the inner city. I look at my own city, and it is very evident that the downsizing of the automotive industry, the automation of manufacturing processes, the globalization of production and sales, the undermining of the labor xii FOREWORD movement, and the ›ight of jobs and the middle class from the city, coupled with the intensi‹cation of urban social...