Conservatism Among Immigrants is No Excuse for Nativism
And arguing that it is shows a lack of confidence in our own beliefs
There are perhaps few figures in the history of American thought to more thoroughly expose the hypocrisy of authoritarian American religious clergy than Frederick Douglass. His denunciations of slave-owning and slave-justifying Christians in the American South in his Life of Frederick Douglass are famous and as biting today as they were then. Perhaps less appreciated but equally astute are his observations in regarding Christian opposition to Chinese immigration in his “Composite Nation” speech. Douglass notes:
But it is said that the Chinese is a heathen, and that he will introduce his heathen rights and superstitions here. This is the last objection which should come from those who profess the all conquering power of the Christian religion. If that religion cannot stand contact with the Chinese, religion or no religion, so much the worse for those who have adopted it. It is the Chinaman, not the Christian, who should be alarmed for his faith.
The logic is difficult to argue with - shouldn’t a Christian confident in his faith be eager to bring more ‘heathens’ into contact with it? Indeed, wouldn’t its inevitable victory be a triumph of the religion (and if victory is not inevitable, what does that say about the creed?) Douglass’s tone is wry but the observation has merit - and application today.
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