Charles Irons on Today’s State of Things

Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. called 11 a.m. Sunday mornings “the most segregated hour of the week.” Even today, integrated churches are the exception, not the rule. But that wasn’t always the case. In the colonial and antebellum South, black and white evangelicals frequently prayed, sang, and worshipped together. In The Origins of Proslavery Christianity: White and Black Evangelicals in Colonial and Antebellum Virginia, Charles Irons discusses this history and argues that white evangelicals’ ideas about slavery grew directly out of their interactions with black evangelicals. He’ll be Frank Stasio’s guest today at noon on The State of Things (WUNC 91.5 FM livestream available). The podcast should be available at the end of the day at this link. [update: that link to the podcast works properly now!]