African American Pentecostalism and the Public Square, 2017

Abstract

In the United States, a commonly held assumption is that the Constitutional separation of church and state necessitates a separation also ofreligion and politics, justifies a secular state, and commends reason as the "neutral” language of the secular state as well as the public square itself. Against this assumption, this article argues that, in our pluralist society, if our moral and religious convictions unavoidably influence our interactions with one another, then African American Pentecostalism, as a distinct expression of belief, morality, and thought, has a place in the public square. The article not only extols African American Pentecostalism ’s qualities that contribute to social and political improvement, but also points out its aspects that are irrelevant to, obstructive, or impractical in the public square. Still, Pentecostalism ’s witness of encounter with the Transcendent (God) establishes a locus of value for challenging the secular state ’s judgements about matters having moral and religious undercurrents.