Role of Religion

           Religion plays a major role in the fight for equality by many leaders during and after slavery.  Many prominent leaders use religion in their movements to place an end to slavery and unequal treatment.  During times of slavery, Nat Turner and his vision with God help to gain him support.  As we discussed in class, these visions may either act as propaganda, true visions, or he may be delusional.  We also see the use of religion as propaganda to gain favor less successfully by James Meredith.  Both of these leaders used religion as a source of guidance, but for Meredith, religion also acted as a tool to gain greater favor for black rights. 

            We can take Nat Turner’s visions with God in many ways.  He could be using religion as propaganda to gain favor amongst other slaves, which works as his visions gain him many more followers.  He could be delusional or seeing things, which I believe is unlikely.  In my opinion, Nat Turner saw the use of religion as an opportunity to gain favor in his rebellion.  Religion helped slaves to place trust and hope in Nat Turner as he appeared to represent God’s desires.  His visions also share a similarity to that of Moses, and it is possible that he could be having visions. He takes on a role similar to Moses in many ways.  Moses rebels against the King and helps lead the Israelites to safety while killing many Egyptians during his escape.  Similar to Nat Turner, these two leaders help enslaved people escape and rise up against their oppressors.  Religion for Nat turner helped to gain greater favor and trust among slaves. 

            James Meredith uses religion during the Meredith marches to gain favor as propaganda.  Meredith uses religion solely as propaganda in his march contrasting to Martin Luther King Jr.   James Meredith brings a Bible along with him on his march and states after getting shot that he wishes he would have brought a gun. In the readings, his binging of the bible is a small point and has no effect on his march.  Why was Meredith’s use of religion less successful?

            These two leaders among many others used religion to play an important role in helping to gain them favor.  For Meredith, bringing the Bible brought little attention and little favor for his goals.  For Nat Turner, religion would help him to gain a lot of favor through his use of visions.  Leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr. found religion to be a source for inspiration in their guidance during the Civil Rights movement.  Specifically for Martin Luther King Jr., religion played a major role in his nonviolence policies.  Furthermore, we see the rise of black churches and black leaders with backgrounds in religion receiving the greatest favor from the public. A mixture of religion and politics was seen as most favorable in rising leaders during and before the Civil Right Movement How did other leaders use religion in gaining greater rights and placing an end to slavery?