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As a reporter in southwest Ohio, I came in contact with the Wesley Center, a community center on Dayton's largely black west side. What I saw there taught me something of the faith of those whose ancestors had been slaves to Christian "owners" and who were often denied the right to even hear the gospel their owners claimed. The Wesley Center was a faith-based organization long before that term was used. Their annual parade drew neighbors to their front lawns and allowed youth groups to showcase their talents. The center combined social programs, powerful preaching, and a neighborhood hangout for the black community.

One doesn't have to look hard to see the vibrancy of the faith of black Christians, but it was a program on the radio show Speaking of Faith that showed me what a miracle it was that any African slaves accepted Christianity at all. Those slaves accepted Jesus, the religion of their masters, despite the barbarous institution that held them in bondage. Thankfully, the power of the gospel message is able to speak where Christians fail. Ironically, it was that religion, which was often used to justify slavery, that inspired the slaves' hope of freedom and their fight to defeat the oppressive segregation system 50 years ago.

Not only were slaves forbidden almost anything other than what was necessary to keep them alive and working, they were often denied religion. In Christian History's cover story, Mark Galli writes, "Many masters believed Africans were too 'brutish' to comprehend the gospel; others doubted Africans had souls. Anglican missionary to South Carolina Francis Le Jau reported in 1709, 'Many masters can't be persuaded that Negroes and Indians are otherwise than beasts, and use them like such.'"

To add to the complications, many slave owners believed it was un-Christian to own a Christian. For the benefit of those masters, laws were passed allowing whites to own black Christians. This cleared the consciences of many whites, who then allowed missionaries onto their plantations.

Another problem was that the white style of worship simply was not attractive to Africans. One slave said, "White fo'ks have deir service in de mornin', and niggers have deirs in de evenin', a'ter dey clean up, wash de dishes, an' look a'ter eve'thing. . . . Ya' see niggers lake [like] ta shout a whole lot, an' wid de white fo'ks all round 'em, dey couldn't shout jes' lack day want to." It was only when revivalist Methodists and Baptists arrived with their camp meetings that African slaves began accepting Christianity in large numbers.

"Black Methodism in the U.S. grew from 3,800 in 1786 to nearly 32,000 by 1809," Galli writes. Membership in black Baptist congregations increased as well, from 18,000 in 1793 to 40,000 in 1813."

Still, even as whites began to see religion as a positive influence on slaves, they severely restricted services and the ability for blacks to freely exercise their faith. Albert J. Raboteau notes, "the extent to which the Christianity of American slaves was hindered, proscribed, and persecuted justifies applying the titles confessor and martyr to those slaves."

Slaves were punished for attending secret prayer meetings. Black pastors were forced to limit their messages to "obey your masters." One slave, Eli Johnson, "claimed that when he was threatened with 500 lashes for holding prayer meetings." Still, many slaves blossomed, culturally and spiritually, despite their limitations. It was the stories of the Exodus and of a suffering servant that captured black imagination and spiritual life. The musical heritage of the spiritual is a longstanding testimony to their faith.

After slaves gained their freedom, they were only a little better off for the next 100 years. Charles Marsh argues in his book The Beloved Community that it was blacks' Christian faith that inspired and sustained the civil rights movement of the '50s and '60s.

In a Books & Culture article, Marsh says that activists' faith contrasted starkly with white Christians. When Edwin King, a white minister, would try to enter white churches with his black brethren, Marsh says, he heard these responses: "Please don't try to appeal to my conscience," "Just leave Jesus out of this," or "this is a Christian church, and we intend to keep it that way."

"King could then ascend to speak the prophetic word to the historical moment. In full view of divine and public scrutiny, authority was relinquished to the 'outsiders'—and in a way that became deeply empowering, even reassuring. God must be on our side. He's surely not with all these white folks!"

A Southern evangelical himself, Marsh writes, "The struggle for black equality under the law was, at the core, a struggle for the integrity of the gospel." He echoes the writing of Carl F. H. Henry when he says that because of an evangelical theology of personal encounters with Christ, "the Christian obligation to do right by black men and women lost what force it may have otherwise had. Justice became secondary to faith's real intent, to my own walk with Christ in my own private spiritual garden."

Martin Luther King Jr. had a more holistic view of faith. "The Christian gospel is a two-way road. On the one hand, it seeks to change the souls of men, and thereby unite them with God; on the other hand, it seeks to change the environmental conditions of men so the soul will have a chance after it is changed."

In Christianity Today's original coverage of the march to Montgomery, King alludes to Romans when he is quoted as saying, "We don't have much education and some of us don't know how to make our nouns and verbs agree. But thank God we have our bodies, our feet, and our souls. We want to present our bodies and feet so the world will know the truth as we see it."

While the civil rights movement has done much to further the economic and social rights of blacks, it has largely failed to achieve full reconciliation between blacks and whites. We too often still live in different neighborhoods, attend different churches, and our culture shows we can look at each other with suspicion.

But, once again, it is the Christian faith that is energizing reconciliation movements. People like Philip Yancey and Chris Rice say it is faith that motivates black and white Christians to reach out to each other, learn, and work for true justice. For as much as it was motivated by the gospel, Dr. King's dream is very much alive. Rice says racial reconciliation is possible because of God's forgiveness. "What is so amazing about grace is that God forgives us and embraces us with open arms even though we don't deserve it. And because we're so grateful for what God did for us, we allow God to do the same for others through us."