Are religious beliefs the cause or solution to racism? NPR recently, and mistakenly, suggested the answer is cause. But a more thorough analysis of history suggests religion was – and still is – a critical part of the solution.

If a survey were conducted asking Americans who the most influential religious figure of the 20th century was, the answer would almost certainly be the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. He would also be on any list of the most well-known people of the 20th century, religious or not. No one person did more to advance the cause of civil rights than this Christian pastor.

It’s just one of the reasons why NPR’s recent piece, “White Supremacist Ideas Have Historical Roots In U.S. Christianity,” is significantly distorted.

Civil rights activists

In fairness, NPR does note briefly that religious groups and clergy were a critical part of the civil rights movement. But the focus on statements and actions of very few clergy and parishioners “operat[ing] within a cultural context” of the American South who supported racial discrimination, while spending very little space on the enduring contribution of people of faith to the cause of racial equality, is misguided.

The illustration accompanying the NPR article shows John Lewis and James Zwerg, spattered by blood after being violently attacked. They were two of the original 13 Freedom Riders, volunteers who rode interstate buses into the South in the 1960s to ensure that a legal ruling ending discrimination on segregation in interstate travel was enforced.

Lewis went on to lead the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, where he organized and directed civil rights activism. He helped organize the March on Washington, organized free schools for African Americans in the South, organized voter registration efforts in Selma, etc. He was later elected to Congress, representing a district in Georgia. In 2016, he talked about the personal influence of faith on his activism:

The prayers, the songs, the hymns fortified me, made me stronger, gave me the power and the ability, the capacity to keep moving, to pick ’em up and put ’em down. If it hadn’t been for my belief in God Almighty, the civil rights movement and my own participation would have been like a bird without wings.

Zwerg went on to serve as a Christian pastor. He was asked later if he had been religious before he had been involved in the rides and responded:

That was probably one of the reasons why I even had an interest in this [work as a Freedom Rider]. I had been brought up in the church. I had been active in my church. My parents had instilled in me a view that all men are created equal. … [Describing a time when he was violently attacked, he said] I bowed my head and asked God to give me the strength and love that I would need, that I put my life in his hands, and to forgive them. And I had the most wonderful religious experience. I felt a presence as close to me as breath itself, if you will, that gave me peace knowing that whatever came, it was okay.

Sens. Kyrsten Sinema and Mike Lee both noted the “critical role” faith communities played in the civil rights movement during a recent broadcast as part of Brigham Young University’s Religious Freedom Annual Review. Both noted that religious organizations and people of faith, both Black and white, had played a key role in moving the nation in the direction of equality.

Abolition leaders

Religious organizations and people of faith also played a central role in the civil rights struggle of the previous century – the abolition of slavery. Of course, there were many terrible instances of hypocrisy with nominal Christians justifying the practice of slavery, as Frederick Douglass noted so powerfully, but as one historian summarized: “The abolitionist movement was primarily religious in its origins, its leadership, its language, and its methods of reaching the people.”

Harriet Tubman, the heroine of the Underground Railroad, “led about a dozen rescue missions” and during the Civil War “helped guide three Union steamboats around Confederate mines and then helped about 750 enslaved people escape with the Federal troops.” Professor Robert Gudmestad from Colorado State University noted, “Tubman’s Christian faith tied all of these remarkable achievements together,” saying her “belief in God helped Tubman remain fearless, even when she came face to face with many challenges.”

Presbyterian minister John Rankin was another participant in the Underground Railroad. It is estimated that 2,000 fleeing slaves stayed in his Ohio home on the way to freedom. When he learned that his brother had purchased slaves, he wrote a series of letters arguing the immorality of slavery: “God ‘hath made of one blood all nations of men.’ [Acts 17:26]. Whenever we find a man, let us treat him as a brother without regard to his color; let our kindness sooth his sorrows and cheer his heart.”

Rankin’s letters worked. Soon after, his brother freed his own slaves.

Contemporary attitudes about race

The mediating influence of religious participation is still important. Recent research found that “[c]onservatives’ views of black people, Hispanics, and Asians improve the more frequently conservatives attend religious services” and “[f]requent conservative churchgoers also say they care more about racial equality.” Additionally, “nonreligious white Trump voters are about three times as likely as churchgoing white Trump voters to say their white racial identity is ‘extremely important’ to them (26 percent vs. 9 percent).”

Religious people will not be surprised that even some who profess religious faith harbor prejudicial views. They believe that all are susceptible to base motives and actions. They also believe that they are accountable to God for their actions, including in relation to others who are different than they are, and this reality makes people of faith powerful proponents of human rights.

When we look at the history of the United States more carefully, we can see both the good and bad that religious people did, but – on balance – religion was and continues to be a key motivator for efforts to ensure racial equality.