







































Communication, Society and Media 
ISSN 2576-5388 (Print) ISSN 2576-5396 (Online) 

Vol. 1, No. 2, 2018 
www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm 

135 
 

Original Paper 

Boundary between Religion and Social Conflict 

—Perspective from the Civil Rights Movement  

Qiong Li1* & Jie Yang1 
1 Social and Public Administration School, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, 

200237, China 
* Qiong Li, Social and Public Administration School, East China University of Science and Technology, 

Shanghai, 200237, China 

 

Received: August 29, 2018   Accepted: September 14, 2018   Online Published: September 25, 2018 

doi:10.22158/csm.v1n2p135                    URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/csm.v1n2p135 

 

Abstract 

Based on the background of American civil rights movement in which religious factors participated, 

this study analyzes the function of religious factors in civil rights movement from the perspective of 

political participation and the principle of separation of politics and religion, in order to consider the 

research paradigm of the relationship between religion and social conflict. It is believed that religious 

participation is helpful to exert the positive force of social conflict, the right of religious freedom has, 

to a certain extent, become the “safety valve” of social stability, and the development of religion is the 

embodiment of social pluralism and symbiosis.  

Keywords 

Civil Rights Movement, religion, social conflict, political participation, boundary 

 
1. Background 

This year is the famous speech of Martin Luther King Jr. in 2013—“I have a dream” for the 50th 

anniversary. However, in July 2013, the incident of a white police officer shooting a black youth was 

defined as innocent. This decision has caused widespread social debate due to strong racial factors. As 

one of the earliest groups in the North American continent, black people have made great contributions 

to the development of the United States. But until today, many black people still live at the bottom of 

society; they are difficult to integrate into the mainstream of American society. Lincoln published the 

“Declaration of the Emancipation of Black Slaves”, which once made the blacks feel the light of hope, 

but because of the deep-rooted racist ideas and the long-term existence of the forces, the black people’s 

rights to defend their rights are struggling. The civil rights movement after the Second World War not 



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only promoted the reform of the US federal government to eradicate apartheid, but also won the civil 

rights for black people, and also inspired the new democracy and freedom liberation movement of 

American society, which promoted and influenced the modern women’s movement. A wave of social 

movements, such as the anti-war movement, the New Left movement and the struggle for rights by 

other ethnic groups. Their appeals vary, their scales vary, and their forms are diverse, which has 

far-reaching implications for the development of American and even Western societies. 

As is known to all, religion affects all areas of American political and social life. As one of the 

important ethnic groups in the United States, the influence of religion on black people is self-evident. 

The religious inclination of black Americans is diversified, which can be roughly divided into four 

types: the inheritance of African primitive religion (Note 1) with respect to god, the concept of “black 

god” (Note 2) by Marcus Garvey, the “root-seeking” movement of Islam and the integration with native 

American sects (Note 3). These religious forces, which provided the necessary resources for the 

movement in the form of churches, were influential in the process of the civil rights movement. 

Considering the role of religious factors in the civil rights movement is of great practical significance 

not only for studying the civil rights movement and civil political participation itself, but also for 

correctly understanding and dealing with various social conflicts and contradictions in China and 

promoting social stability and development. 

As a famous social movement, the American civil rights movement not only changed the fate of black 

Americans and endowed them with a certain degree of equality, freedom and dignity, but also 

profoundly affected the life philosophy and value judgment of all Americans. As the civil rights 

movement and the religious factors in the movement are often interwoven together, international 

sociology, political science, and religious circles have a certain theoretical academic research on these 

two major objects and their relations. However, there is still a lack of detailed literature on the civil 

rights movement in domestic related academic circles at present. Therefore, with the help of my study 

visit to Purdue University in the United States, I have made a comprehensive and systematic exposition 

of the relevant literature and theories at home and abroad, so as to deepen my attention to the different 

fields of religion, economy, politics, and society of African Americans. At the same time, it has a 

certain research value for the theory and practice of dealing with religious and social issues in the 

current transition period of China.  

 

2. Review of China and Abroad 

2.1 The Value Argument of Political Participation 

The broadening of political participation and democratization of political life are the important sign of 

political development. But some scholars also voiced doubts; they divided the related theories into two 

categories: “the democracy theory emphasizing citizen participation and the democracy theory 



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restricting citizen participation” (Blackwell Encyclopedia of Political Science, 2002). The classical 

Democrats, represented by Rousseau, Mill and Jefferson, advocated the theory of participatory 

democracy, holding that political participation is the source of social vitality and creativity, a powerful 

tool to resist tyranny, and an important way to concentrate collective wisdom (Walker, 1966; Ryan, 

1959). The government does not have the basis of public opinion if the people who are not involved in 

politics are not properly represented; one of the functions of political participation is to supervise the 

rulers favorably; participation in politics is the best tool to improve the level of citizens’ judgment; 

Widespread indifference to politics is the root cause and manifestation of the weakness of the political 

system. 

However, in view of the horrendous consequences of blind participation in history (such as in Fascist 

Germany), some scholars have argued that broad political participation is not only impossible, but also 

unworthy. They believe that it is not good for society to encourage those who are not familiar with 

politics and have no interest in it. Insisting that every citizen should participate in politics is to replace 

rational judgment of democracy with enthusiasm (Schumpeter, 1979; Dahl, 1999). Elites are better 

suited to be producers of policies, they must be chosen from all sectors of society, openly competing 

with each other, and citizens need only vote to choose; broad political activity is in some ways 

desirable, but also has disadvantages. For example, some of the political problems in the United States 

are caused by a surplus of democracy, and democracy needs moderation (Huntington, 1989), and so on. 

They therefore argued that the expansion of political participation also required a desirable limitation. 

2.2 Social Movement in the West 

From the perspective of social movement research paradigm, the interpretation of social movement in 

western theory can be divided into four categories: structural tension-psychological imbalance model, 

resource mobilization theory, political process model, new social movement theory and so on. The 

former three pay more attention to how individuals make behavioral choices from the micro 

perspective, while the new social movement theory focuses on why social movements occur. 

Structural tension-psychological imbalance model. Macadam (2001) summed up the early classical 

theory of explaining social movements as a model of structural stress/psychological imbalance. These 

theories all express such a relationship-social structural tension leading to individual psychological 

imbalance. Psychological imbalance leads to social movements. But this paradigm fails to explain how 

individual psychological imbalances evolve into collective behavior (Snyder & Tilly, 1972). Is there a 

necessary connection between structural tension and collective struggle? Because of these defects of 

the classical psychological imbalance model, the theory of resource mobilization gradually replaced the 

theory of resource mobilization in the 1970s.  

Resource mobilization theory. Theory of resource mobilization. The core idea of American resource 

mobilization theory is to regard the participants of social movements as a rational actor. Whether they 



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participate in social movements or not, and to what extent they participate, all depend on the benefits 

and costs that they gain and pay in the action. This hypothesis is a “reaction” to the traditional 

American theory of collective behavior. What it wants to know more is how the “discontent” that lurks 

in the minds of individuals translates into collective action on such a large scale as social movements. 

(McAdam, 1999) the theory of resource mobilization holds that the premise of social movement is that 

there are available resources, and the resources are in the hands of the elite. The existence of large-scale 

psychological imbalance in society is only a necessary condition for the emergence of resistance and 

movement, while a scattering of individuals waiting for the mobilization of the elite who control 

resources is a possible sufficient condition. 

The political process model (McAdam, 1999). The theory of resource mobilization can only explain the 

organized changes initiated by the political elite. Based on the criticism of resource mobilization model, 

Macadam introduced the endogenous organization and collective cognitive liberation into his 

theoretical framework, and put forward a more complete political process model. The model includes 

four elements of social movement: political change, endogenous organizational strength growth, 

collective characteristics and changes in other organizational responses. In explaining the rise, 

development, and decline of the movement, these four elements interact and change diachronically. 

New social movement theory. Compared with the theory of resource mobilization, the new social 

movement theory is mainly concerned with the macro-structural level. Why are there so many social 

movements in the western capitalist countries? (Feng, 2003). It regards the social movement after the 

second World War as the result of the transformation of the social structure of the western capitalist 

countries, and answers from the angle of the social structure why these “new social movements” 

occurred and why they have these “new” characteristics. Pay more attention to how to establish a new 

kind of social problems, such as the relationship between heaven and man, the relationship between 

characters, the relationship between body and mind, the relationship between men and women, and so 

on.  

2.3 Relationship between Religion and Social Conflict 

At present, the mainstream paradigm of analyzing the relationship between religion and social conflict 

is nativism and instrumentalism.  

The basic idea of nativism is that religion is the driving force of political conflict (Zhong, 2003). 

Because of religion, religious culture and the national cultural tradition formed by the influence of 

religion, it will inevitably have an impact on all areas of social life. Especially when making value 

judgment and deciding value orientation to things and problems, it is always restricted by the judge’s 

religious belief, the traditional culture education and the national condition. Samuel Huntington (1993) 

is the most prominent and representative figure. In his view, nation-States remained the main actors in 

international affairs, and the main conflicts in global politics would take place in countries and groups 



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of countries with different civilizations. “Clash of Civilizations” will dominate Global Politics 

(Huntington, 2002) of all the objective factors that define civilization, religion is usually the most 

important. 

However, instrumentalist view is the opposite. The fundamental cause of conflicts between nations and 

nations is economic and political interests. On the surface, religious conflicts and sectarian disputes are 

conflicts of beliefs and ideologies, but in essence, such conflicts and disputes are still ethnic, and even 

caused by differences in political and economic interests within the same ethnic group (Jin, 2002). The 

representative is Marx (1995): religion is the ruling class used to paralyze the masses of the people’s 

spiritual tools, “Religion is the opium of the people”. Of course, Huntington’s paradigm of conflict of 

civilizations has also been strongly criticized by instrumentalists in the contemporary era. According to 

Fowler (2011), the worldwide conflicts caused by power, wealth, unfair distribution of influence and 

lack of respect by big countries for small countries are far more than the clash of civilizations between 

Christianity, Confucianism and Islam. Culture is a vehicle for expressing conflict, not a cause (Mazur, 

2011). The real cause of the conflict is socio-economic, not civilization. While it is true that differences 

in civilizations have contributed to many undesirable conflicts, they are not necessarily related to some 

conflicts, but are only functioning as one of many factors. The focus of the debate is: where is the 

origin of the social conflict with religious background? Is it spiritual or material? The two sides are at 

odds with each other.  

 

3. God and Caesar 

If the “reality” of the success of the American civil rights movement has been proved by practice, is it 

“justified” for religious factors to participate in the political movement? The political and academic 

circles are still arguing about the boundary between the government and the church. The first Congress 

of the United States was convened to amend the Constitution of 1787 (Note 4) for the first time. Among 

them, the amendment to article 1st of the Constitution stipulates that: “the National Assembly shall not 

make laws on the establishment of religion or on the prohibition of freedom of religion”. Jefferson, the 

president of the United States, famously said, “My neighbor said that God has twenty or none. It didn’t 

do me any harm. Neither took out my purse nor broke my legs (Note 5)”. One of the leaders of this 

far-reaching civil rights movement was Martin Luther King, a Baptist pastor. So are pastors and 

churches represented by Martin Luther King suspected of religious interference in politics?  

3.1 Role Identity 

In modern society, people’s role conflict is inevitable. Can the “Baptist” pastor, a social function of 

Martin Luther King, be evidence of religious interference in politics? When we judge its behavior 

attribute, we must carefully analyze the influence and the consequence which its behavior brings. Some 

Protestants and churches suffered from political embarrassment, they did not want to hear any political 



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issues, but also believe that religion and politics are opposed. But the truth is that Martin Luther King’s 

church did not revoke his pastor status because of his involvement in the civil rights movement. Martin 

Luther King was acting in his own capacity, not on behalf of the church. The African-American civil 

rights movement he led was aimed at opposing racial discrimination and racial oppression, and fighting 

for the right to political, economic, and social equality. This right is a legitimate civil right guaranteed 

by the Declaration of Independence. It is a matter of social justice, not a religious right. In this sense, 

Martin Luther King is leading a civil society movement, not just a religious movement. 

3.2 Separation of Church and State 

The phrase “give Caesar to Caesar and God to God” from the New Testament is Jesus’ perfect 

interpretation of the combination of earthly and spiritual life. The Pharisees sent men with the 

Herodians to ask Jesus if he could pay his taxes to Caesar. Herodians belong to the Herod Party, a 

political party, while the Pharisees belong to a faction of Judaism. The question they ask Jesus is really 

whether a religious believer can do his civic duty. Jesus answered, “Caesar’s things should go to Caesar, 

and God’s things to God”. This was Jesus’ idea of the separation of religion from politics, and this 

phrase became the principle of the separation of church and state in the modern political system.  

Many scholars have a lot of misunderstandings about the relationship between church and state, church 

and state, rather than politics and religion. It refers to the separation of government from religious 

organizations, not from politics and religion. We know that the United States is in history with a strong 

Christian color of immigration, can be called a “Christian country”. Now, in the public and private lives 

of the American people, everywhere there is a strong religious color. For example, when the Supreme 

Court sits daily, it prays for God; when both houses of Congress meet, it prays; and when a president 

takes office, he or she asks for God’s blessing and help. And in the relationship between the party and 

the church, as a personal political belief, if the candidate is an atheist is certainly not the president. 

Because voters need to know the candidate’s religious beliefs, determine the choice of religious 

believers. Christian beliefs, norms of conduct, habits and other deeply rooted in all aspects of American 

society and culture, and is generally recognized by society.  

Religion becomes the “tool” used by political forces. Such “politicized religion” is an extreme. What is 

this extreme? Religion is not indifferent to social problems. Biblical truth covers every aspect of social 

life, and it cannot be confined or enclosed within certain spheres. Separation of church and state does 

not mean that Christians and churches give way to the political sphere. The true meaning of the 

separation of church and state is not to replace the government with the church, not to rely on the state 

machine to suppress other religious beliefs. It is to be deeply involved in national politics with respect 

for the authority of legitimate government. 

 

 



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3.3 Political Legitimacy 

The civil rights movement led by Martin Luther king, who was premised on the recognition of the 

authority of the American authorities, did not constitute religious interference in politics. John Locke, 

an English philosopher, points out in his book on religious tolerance: “Religion is not a matter of state, 

but a private affair of citizens. The state should treat all churches equally, and implement a policy of 

tolerance”. But church activities must not harm the public interest, must not oppose the national 

government, and have to be subject to certain restrictions. Jefferson also formally and publicly 

expressed his views on the separation of church and state in his speech when he became the second 

president in 1805. “In religious matters, freedom of worship is provided for in the Constitution, which 

should be independent of the authority of the government,” he said, “I do not interfere in religious 

affairs in cases where religious groups recognize the authority of the State, as is the principle created by 

the Constitution”. But there is a very important premise that there is an institutional environment of 

freedom and the rule of law. In particular, freedom of religion and freedom of the press. When these 

fundamental civil rights cannot be guaranteed, the resistance side will not accept them passively.  

 

4. Conflicts and Effect of Citizens’ Participation in Politics and Society 

Almond and Verba, in their book Civic Culture, point out that “the individual’s conviction that he 

should participate in the political life of the community or the country does not mean that he will in fact 

do so”. What this means is that there is a gap between what citizens think and what they do, and that 

changes in behavior tend to lag behind improvements in consciousness; or that there is still a need for a 

bridge between the two. On the one hand, this kind of bridge is the space and necessary participation 

channel provided by the political system arrangement, but on the other hand, it depends on the citizen’s 

own desire to participate in activities and personal interests.  

4.1 Dynamic and Orderly Social Stability and the Effective Political Participation of All Citizens  

The orderliness and continuity of social development are the preconditions for the realization of 

political participation, and the realization of political participation will promote social stability. Under 

normal circumstances, countries with well-developed political participation generally have a higher 

degree of social stability. This is because: first, political participation satisfies citizens’ increasingly 

strong desire to participate in political life, strengthens citizens’ sense of ownership, and promotes 

citizens’ recognition of social system and political authority.  

The civil rights movement promoted the awakening of black political consciousness. To achieve results 

through the boycott and other movements, the foundation of black political power must be established 

to guarantee racial equality, and the best weapon for black people to eliminate apartheid is to use their 

right to vote. Therefore, by the cooperation of “southern Christian leadership conference”, “student 

non-violent coordination committee”, “racial equality conference”, “naacp” and so on, a campaign of 



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election education was launched in the southern states, which had played an inestimable role in 

awakening black people’s political awareness and active participation in politics. Since the civil rights 

movement, black political awareness in the south, enthusiasm for political participation, turnout and the 

number of black people holding public office have significantly increased, gradually breaking the ice of 

white monopoly politics. “If Martin Luther King had lived to this day, he would have been pleased, and 

take everything”, Lewis said, “But the bottom line is elections”. 

From this, we can see that the embodiment of political democratization at the behavioral level is mainly 

political participation. But the premise is that people have a full right to know. “Silent citizens may be 

ideal subjects for dictators, but it is a disaster for democracy”. Political participation of interest groups, 

It is “a source of civic education and enlightenment from which citizens receive not only information 

but also opportunities for discussion, consultation and the development of political skills” (Note 6). 

This is not only the necessary quality for the people to become politicians with independent personality, 

but also the subjective resource for the development of democratic politics. At the same time, the 

expansion of political participation is bound to greatly strengthen the sense of ownership of all citizens, 

and strengthen the political identity of the public to the social system and its political authority.  

Second, political participation strengthens the channels of political transmission and feedback, which is 

conducive to the correct decision-making of the government and the timely resolution of various social 

contradictions or conflicts. The function of the “social safety valve” put forward by the famous scholars, 

such as Corse and Simmel, can vent negative emotions, which is not only beneficial to the maintenance 

of the social structure, but also conducive to promoting the benign operation and coordinated 

development of the society. It also advocates the institutionalization of the safety valve mechanism. In 

modern society, the expansion of political participation actually expands the channels of political 

transmission and feedback. At this time, in addition to the system of special channels of transmission 

and feedback created by the government itself. There is a frequent and multifaceted political 

transmission and feedback channel system caused by public political participation. 

Third, the legitimacy of political participation is conducive to alleviate social conflict. In the process of 

social development, the political system assumes the responsibility and function of authoritative 

distribution of social resources. Because the legitimacy of any political rule is derived from identity, but 

also lost in identity. According to Lipsett’s analysis, legitimacy refers to the ability of the political 

system to make people believe in the existing political system (Note 7). The extensive participation of 

the interest groups in the political process can give strong support and cooperation to the operation of 

the political system, and cultivate the profound mass inside information of the legitimacy of the regime. 

In a sense, the legitimacy of the regime is that it can meet the needs of the people to the maximum 

extent. 

Finally, political participation itself is a broad and powerful social supervision, which is conducive to 



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overcoming the bureaucracy of various political institutions and curbing the growth of political 

corruption. The active participation of multi-interest groups in political life has developed their own 

ability of autonomy and autonomy (Note 8), and cultivated and exercised the independent political 

personality of the people. Bureaucracy and political corruption are the ills of the political society, it is 

not easy to control it, eradicate it, and the only way to deal with such problems is social supervision. 

One of the important functions of citizen participation in political life is to supervise the 

implementation of state power; the expansion of participation can play a better role in the supervision 

of citizens. The strength of such supervision lies in its mass character and political nature: it is not 

enough to be mass without political because it lacks political binding force; neither can it be political 

without mass because it lacks the broad support of the masses. Lonely politics is powerless politics. 

Citizens’ political participation can effectively combine the two, especially as a means of political 

participation in the supervision of public opinion, has an irreplaceable important role.  

4.2 Imperfect Political Participation Can Easily Lead to Social Conflict 

The development of everything has two sides, and there are many potential and possible factors in the 

process of political participation that lead to social conflicts. 

First, the high expectations of political participation will lead to social conflict. In the process of 

political democratization, based on the consideration of their own interests, various interest groups 

have a strong desire and request for political participation. It reflects the importance of social forces. 

Political participation may lead to social conflicts, mainly due to the contradiction between 

participation and institutionalization, and “the disconnection between the capacity of the political 

system and the needs of society” (Note 9). This is particularly true in developing countries. Political 

participation exerts too much pressure on the political system, which affects the stability of the political 

system. The disorder caused by the excessive participation of citizens will also cause social disorder, 

and some people may take the opportunity to make trouble, thus leading to social conflict.  

Second, the emergence of non-institutionalized participation, protest participation and violent 

participation has a negative impact.  

Generally speaking, political participation can enable the political system to adjust the public’s interest 

demands in a timely manner, ease the dissatisfaction of social interest groups with social distribution, 

and increase the public’s sense of identity with the political system. But it does not necessarily lead to 

the stability of the political system, because “the stability of any particular form of government depends 

on the degree of political participation and political institutionalization between the degree of 

correlation”. If we want to maintain social stability, when political participation increases, the 

complexity, autonomy, adaptability and cohesion of the social and political system must also be 

improved (Note 10). If the political system cannot provide the public with a smooth channel of interest 

expression, perfect coordination mechanism of interests and the channels of individual political 



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participation, the public will exert external pressure on the political system, leading to social conflicts. 

Public participation is both a process and a result. As a process, it has objective inevitability; as a result, 

it has realistic inevitability. 

 

5. Participation Boundary and Religion 

5.1 The Consciousness of Participation Boundary 

Through the above analysis, there is a problem to be discussed, that is, social development and political 

participation is not a one-to-one relationship, the development of political participation in a certain 

period of time can’t play a positive role in the development of society as a whole, which is a paradox. 

Huntington had a special study of this, and he had a formula (Note 11):  

Social mobilization/economic development=social frustration.  

Social frustration/mobility=political participation.  

Political participation/political institutionalization=political conflict 

Huntington used this formula to illustrate the relationship between political participation, political 

institutionalization and political unrest. According to this formula, the stability of the political system 

depends on the ratio between political participation and political institutionalization. If the ratio of 

political participation to political institutionalization is 1, the situation is balanced and the political 

system is stable. If the expansion of political participation exceeds the level of political 

institutionalization, it will bring about imbalance and conflict in the political system. In the period of 

social transition, political enthusiasm is excessive relative to the economy, which leads to social 

frustration, so people have to balance this frustration in their search for self-realization. However, the 

society of this period did not provide more opportunities, and people were dissatisfied and needed to 

seek change through political participation. However, the political system of this period was not perfect, 

and there was no strong regulatory capacity. As a result, there will be political instability, which in turn 

will have an impact on economic development.  

Can political participation bring about immediate social development? We cannot generalize about this 

issue. Political participation does not necessarily bring about social development naturally; the key lies 

in how to find the boundary of participation.  

The participation boundary mainly refers to the restriction of subjective and objective factors, which 

leads to the number of participants and behavior, the effect of participation, the realization of 

participation goal and so on, all of which will be restricted, restrained and restricted in one way or 

another. There are boundaries of participation. That is, there is scope for participation, and it does not 

create a transcendent social public sphere.  

To some extent, establishing the consciousness of participating in the boundary means the dilution of 

political participation: first, from the main body of political participation, the consciousness of 



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participating in the boundary does not advocate the participation of the whole people in politics; second, 

from the scope of the object of political participation, consciousness of participating in the boundary 

requires political participants to position themselves in the political field, instead of misplacing their 

roles; finally, from the perspective of political participation, political participation requires political 

participants to make use of legitimate political participation channels. Instead of engaging in politics 

through illegal means. Therefore, from the main body of political participation, the scope of objects and 

ways, political participation is defined and subject to certain restrictions, rather than unconditional, 

unlimited.  

In view of this, it is all the more necessary to emphasize the establishment of the consciousness of 

participation boundary, require the moderate political participation of the people, change the concept of 

political participation, that is, the political participation of citizens is no longer as a duty, but as a right. 

This will not only cause a change from the traditional concept of political participation to a modern and 

democratic view of political participation, but also mean that citizen participation in politics should not 

be a passive, forced, or blind behavior. It is a kind of active, voluntary and rational behavior, which 

protects citizens’ freedom of choice in the process of participation.  

5.2 Right to Freedom and Religion Symbiotic Development 

In my opinion, in the past, Chinese society, state and government had a relatively conservative attitude 

towards religious organizations and always adopted the way of restriction and control, which made 

religious organizations marginalized and developed. The main reason is that the government is worried 

that the political participation of religion may lead to the weakening of government authority. In 

particular, when religious belief evolves into religious bigotry and fanaticism, the political participation 

of religion will cause social instability, which then threatens the stable development of political society.  

In fact, this fear stems from the government’s biased understanding of “political stability”. Political 

stability is not only reflected in the orderliness and continuity of the political system, but also in the 

dynamic balance of various elements in the interaction process. That is to say, political stability is the 

unity of authority of government and identity of all citizens. We tend to value the stability of national 

sovereignty, power, government and policy, while ignoring the support of the social psychological 

system, namely the political consensus of citizens, political identity and public political participation.  

This neglect is also reflected in the development of religion. The political participation of religion is an 

aspect of political democratization and political stability in modern society. As an interest group, 

religious groups at least represent the interests and political aspirations of believers. However, as the 

Chinese house churches, religion has its own specific belief system and the way of association, and its 

political participation has a complex impact on the development of social and political stability. 

“Religion can both sustain and shake the world”. In modern society, religious groups, as a civil society 

or one of the social forces, play a certain public role in civil society and cultural life. Therefore, the 



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political participation of religion is helpful to strengthen the organized public participation in modern 

society, which is the way of political expression and interest appeal, and becomes the “safety valve” of 

social stability. In this way, religious symbiotic development is a major force to promote social progress, 

a major manifestation of the road of social pluralistic symbiosis, but also the trend of future social 

development. God’s to God, Caesar to Caesar. 

 

6. Conclusion 

Religion and conflict are two different social phenomena, but they are closely related. Social conflict is 

the realistic condition and soil on which religion comes into being, and it plays a decisive role in the 

development and evolution of religion. Religion is not only the practice of “true and alive”, but also the 

belief; it is not only a special political actor, but also a special social ideology.  

Since the 1960s American Civil Rights Movement, with the rise of political participation, the United 

States has launched a fierce debate on these phenomena, some scholars believe that religion has played 

a negative effect on the American Black Civil Rights Movement; Some scholars believe that religion 

played a catalytic role in the African-American civil rights movement. Clearly, the great practice of the 

African-American civil rights movement has provided the answer. Pastors played a leading role in the 

civil rights movement, while the church played a better organizational role in the civil rights movement. 

The majority of blacks actively participated in the civil rights movement by participating in the 

religious way of the civil rights movement and made great achievements, so that Martin Luther Kings’ 

“dream” gradually shone into reality. 

Social conflicts or social movements with religious participation are not all “great scourges”. Excessive 

demonizing of social conflicts and religions is not desirable. It is not important that social conflicts 

should be allowed to occur, that religious factors should be allowed to participate in them; It is how we 

view them, how we standardize and institutionalize this approach of political participation, and how we 

can become a positive force for social adjustment, balance, reconstruction, integration and 

communication, so that the value identification of all parties in society can reach a new height, and the 

consensus of social symbiosis can be formed, so that Chinese society can be more optimized and 

perfected.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



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Published by SCHOLINK INC. 

 

Notes 

Note 1. Gayraud S. Wilmore:Black Religion and Black Radicalism, An Interpretation of African 

Americans, New York: laryknoll, 3rd, 1998, p.6. 

Note 2. Michael Battle. The Black Church In American: African American Christian Spirituality [J]. 

Black Well Publishing, 2006. 

Note 3. Hans A. Bear, “Black Mainstream Churches”: Review of Religious Research, Vol. 30, p.163. 

Note 4. Religion and God in the Constitution of the United States. 

http://www.110.com/ziliao/article-3950.html, 2004. 

Note 5. Zuochang Liu. About Jefferson. http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_597e55b10100a210.html, 2008. 

Note 6. Robert Dahl, The democracy, the Commercial Press, 1999 Edition, p. 107. 

Note 7. Seymour Martin, “Political man, the social foundations”, Shanghai People’s Publishing, 1997 

Edition, p. 55. 

Note 8. Gu Xin, of the Restriction of Power by Society, SDX Joint Publishing Company, 1995, pp. 

148-167. 

Note 9. Huning Wang, the analysis of comparative politics, Shanghai Renmin Press, 1987 Edition, p. 

251. 

Note 10. Samuel. Huntington, Political Order and Changing in Societies, Joint Publishing, 1996, p. 54. 

Note 11. Samuel. Huntington, Political Order and Changing in Societies, Joint Publishing, 1996, p. 56. 

http://www.110.com/ziliao/article-3950.html

	doi:10.22158/csm.v1n2p135                    URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/csm.v1n2p135

