Conclusions from the AP report on the past and present…

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Two historic churches in Philadelphia are less than a mile apart. Christ Church is where some of the Founding Fathers worshiped and where colonial America broke with the Church of England. Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church is located on the oldest piece of land continuously owned by Black Americans.

Generations after their birth in this country, first conceived in Philadelphia, both churches continue to serve as a spiritual home for hundreds of city residents.

Church members see their congregation’s role as crucial, a beacon ahead of the disputed presidential election in Pennsylvania, the most important swing state. But they also express concern about the political division that the Founding Fathers once feared could split the nation.

The Christchurch congregation included enemies and supporters of independence.

Christchurch was founded in 1695 by a group of colonists from Philadelphia as the first Anglican parish in Pennsylvania. Later worshipers included slaves and their owners, loyalists and patriots. They listened to sermons in favor and against independence.

Anglican clergy loyal to the British king prayed for the monarch weekly. But on July 4, 1776, the vestry of Christ Church struck the king’s name from the Book of Common Prayer—a brazen act of potential treason. The book is today kept in an underground museum, a testament to the revolutionary spirit of the church on Independence Day.

In the 1780s, debate raged over how to apply Revolutionary-era principles such as liberty or liberty to all Americans. From the pulpit, the Rev. Jacob Duchet, rector of the church, was considered a moderate and led the prayers as the first chaplain of the Continental Congress. But then he sided with the loyalists.

When the British occupied Philadelphia in 1777, Rector wrote a letter to Washington, urging him to surrender and make a deal with the British. After the letter became public, Duchet went to England. Pennsylvania authorities later called him a traitor and banned him from returning to the country. His successor, Reverend William White, became the first presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church. He is praised for keeping his community united during times of unrest.

Christchurch’s current senior pastor is the Rev. Samantha Vincent-Alexander, the first woman to serve as rector in the church’s more than 300-year history.

The church’s complicated history regarding slavery

Members remain proud of Christ Church’s critical role in securing American freedom. But they also struggle with contradictions. Some church members traded slaves and are buried in the church yard next to signers of the Declaration of Independence. Franklin’s grave is in nearby Christ Church Cemetery.

One church member, Absalom Jones, attended services while enslaved by a man who served in the church leadership. Jones bought his freedom and eventually became the first black priest of the Episcopal Church. He also co-founded the Free African Society of Philadelphia, which, according to Fea, “sought to apply the rights secured by the American Revolution to the approximately 2,000 free black men and women living in the city at the time.”

Methodism was the fastest growing denomination in America in the 1790s. But some Methodist Episcopal churches still segregate black parishioners during services in the upstairs galleries. This encouraged free black Americans to found their own community.

Mother Bethel AME fought for freedom from the beginning

African Methodist Episcopal Church was involved in the struggle for freedom and equality from the very beginning.

Its founder, the Rev. Richard Allen, was born into slavery in Philadelphia in 1760 and then purchased his freedom in Delaware before he was 20 years old. He returned to the city in the 1780s and became a minister.

After white Methodist church leaders sequestered Allen, Jones and other black congregants into the upper galleries for a prayer service, the group left the church and formed what eventually became Mother Bethel AME. The church became a place of refuge for black people escaping slavery via the Underground Railroad and then a major rallying point for the Civil Rights Movement.

What’s ahead for Mother Bethel and AME?

Today, the AME Church has more than 2.5 million members and thousands of congregations in dozens of countries around the world.

“We’ve certainly made progress,” says the church’s pastor, the Rev. Mark Tyler, citing Kamala Harris’ campaign to become the nation’s first black woman president. But he also believes much more needs to be done to overcome racial inequality in America, and he worries about the potential of another Trump presidency. The AME Church, he said, “has not outlived its usefulness.”

“The fact that we have a man who openly supports white supremacists, who was once president and could potentially become president again in the 21st century, is all the proof you need to know that we still need places where black people can come together. and organize as a Black church,” he says.

During a recent Sunday service, Tyler encouraged his congregation to vote. Some members later reflected on America’s beginnings, its progress, and its shortcomings.

After the service, parishioner Taiza Hill, 25, led the group on a tour of the church museum. It retains the original wooden pulpit used by Reverend Allen and Black leaders, including abolitionist Frederick Douglass and civil rights pioneer W.E.B. Du Bois, when they addressed parishioners.

“It’s important to see that there is still a building that has history and is constantly being talked about because it refuses to be erased from history,” Hill says. “As a nation and as a church, we must indeed defend the rights and respectability of those who are deprived of all opportunities of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

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Associated Press religion coverage receives support from the AP. cooperation in association with The Conversation US with financial support from the Lilly Endowment Inc. AP is solely responsible for this content.