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THE ATHENAEUM 19 | Exchange Department THE FAITH OF THE AMERICAN NEGRO (Comment on article in The Nation, July, 19, 1922, by Mordercai W. Johnson.) By E. E. Riley, ’23. Since their emancipation from slavery the masses of American Ne groes have lived by the strength of a simple but deeply moving faith. They have believed in the love and providence of a just God; they have believed in the principles of democracy and in the righteous purpose of the federal government; and they have believed in the disposition of the Whole American people in the long run to be fair in all their dealings, dealings. In recent years, and especially since the Great War, this simple faith has suffered a widespread disintegration. When the United States Govern ment set forth its war aims, called upon the Negro soldiers to stand by the colors and Negro civilians to devote their labor and earnings to the cause; and when the war shortage of labor permitted a quarter million Negroes to leave the farmer slave States for the better conditions of the North, the entire Negro people experienced a profound sense of spiritual release. Some of our college men are giving up the Christian religion, think ing that their fathers were fools to have believed it so long. One group among us repudiates entirely the simple faith of former days. It would put no trust in God, no trust in democracy and w“ould entertain no hope for betterment under the present form of government. It believes that the government is through and through controlled by selfish capitalists,, who have no fundamental good-Will for Negroes or for any laboring class Whatever. Another group of us believes in religion and believes in the principles of democracy, but not the one man’s religion and not in one man’s democracy. It believes that the creed of the former slave States is the tracit creed of the whole nation, and that the Negro may never expect to acquire economic, political, and spiritual liberty in America. This group has held congresses with representatives from the entire Negro World, to lay the foundations of a black empire, a black religion and a black culture. It has organized the “Provisional Republic of Africa,” established a multitude of economic enterprises, institutions and branchei ATTENTION! Please Trade With Our Advertisers.