Excerpt #54 from my book, Religion, An Obstacle to Human Progress
As a congressional candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives, I was invited to a tent revival meeting in a nearby African American community plagued by drugs and drive-by shootings.
The charismatic black minister who invited me was also active in politics.
I was told the meeting was to begin at 7:00 p.m.
I showed up at the tent at 6:45 p.m.
I was invited to sit in the “stage” area with ministers who would later speak.
Shortly after 7:00 p.m., people from the sparse audience went forward to the stage area and performed.
They sang.
They danced.
The quality of these performances was astonishingly good.
Then the ministers, men and women, each extraordinary speakers took the stage one after another.
Finally, my minister friend, the central figure and speaker, took the stage.
He said that everything had been said and there was not much more he could add.
He was right.
The speakers and performers for two and a half hours were incredible.
Then he started speaking . . . and speaking . . . and speaking . . . and dancing . . . and singing.
It was a Broadway-caliber show.
Astonishing.
All of the presentations that evening were peppered with the same message that Jesus is our salvation.
When my minister friend finally got to the end of his performance, he sang “Come, come to Jesus” over and over and over.
At that point people from the audience went forward to join the ministers up front in a huddled assembly.
Under cover of that activity, I slipped away quietly to my car.
Several weeks later, that same minister friend invited me to his church for a Sunday morning service.
He wanted me to be there when a congressman from our adjoining congressional district was in attendance.
On my way, after a few wrong turns, I discovered in that neighborhood there was one of these small Black churches on just about every other block.
I sat next to the congressman.
It was a small church, probably held 150 at best.
Only about thirty people attended the service.
Nevertheless, in the front of the church with the minister was a handsomely robed choir of a dozen singers.
Again, the singing and preaching was broadcast quality.
Just amazing.
And again, the core message was that Jesus is the answer.
As much as I loved being with the people in this church and enjoyed thoroughly their singing and preaching, I could not help but be haunted by a thought.
It would be extraordinary if all of this incredible energy could be channeled not into mythical gods, but into what is real and sacred, here and now, on this planet.
No rational argument will have a rational effect on a man who does not want to adopt a rational attitude. – Karl Popper