sAlice Walker has identified her own religious development as a major influence on The Color Purple and has

described the novel as a theological

work which traces a journey, undertaken by a number of principal characters, from conventional religious belief to a more universal
spiritual awareness.

In context, Walker’s presentation of religion in the novel is a church-based, patriarchal Christianity, practised within black communities in America’s
rural south and also in Africa. The teachings of the church in both countries are derived from the teachings of white people, even though, in the
African context, they are delivered by black missionaries. God is perceived, in both locations, as male and white and a father-figure with absolute
authority and power.

More on Christian patriarchy: Christian patriarchy is the belief that God has ordained a specific family order which must be followed. The husband
leads, the wife submits and the children obey. This is regarded as the natural order ordained by God. Men and women have different roles to play,
the man as protector and provider, the woman as carer and home maker. Women must submit to male authority, daughters obeying their fathers
and wives obeying their husbands. Male leadership in the home carries over into the church, where only men are permitted to be leaders or elders.
The belief is that both church and family prosper when God’s created roles are fulfilled.     

Context Relevance to The Colour Purple Quotes!

Variety and fusion of beliefs The Epistolary structure of the novel, “Dear God”
addressed to God in the first half, is typical of
The majority of Africans today are Muslim or Christian, although the idea that prayer and thanks to God were
traditional religious rituals and beliefs still exist. Religious and used in times of need.
spiritual belief underpins all aspects of African daily life and has
done for many centuries, through prayers of thanks in times of The beginning of the novel centres heavily
plenty and prayers for help in times of need. There are many around monotheistic beliefs, where Celie’s
different religious practices that could be said to share some interpretation of God is purely the white “He big and old and tall and
common features:  representation of him, representing how God graybearded and white”
represents nothing other than himself at the
 A belief in one God above a host of lesser gods or semi- beginning of the novel, where the relationship
divine figures between religion and philosophy/spirituality
 A belief in ancestral spirits has not yet been achieved.
 The idea of sacrifice, often involving the death of a living
thing, to ensure divine protection and generosity
Rites of passage from childhood to adulthood or from life to
death

African-American beliefs and practices In ‘The Colour Purple,’ the Olinka people This can be seen through Netties’
maintain worship through the form of singing, description of how the Olinka people
Enslaved Africans, transported to the New World from the beginning dancing, and music. celebrate Christmas – ‘with prayer and
of the fifteenth century, took with them religious beliefs and practices song and a large picnic.’
that reflected the many cultures and language groups from their
places of birth.

In West Africa (the largest source for the American slave trade) there
was widespread belief in a Supreme Creator and a pantheon of lesser
gods who maintained a balance between the natural and the spiritual
world. Music, singing, chanting, and dancing were vital elements of
worship.

European missionaries had been active in converting Africans to

Christianity from the beginning of the fourteenth century and some
slaves, therefore, brought Christian beliefs with them when they were
transported into slavery. Other slaves converted to Christianity when
they reached America.

Preserving religious traditions in the New World
In America, enslaved men and women tried to create an individual
spiritual space by keeping African ceremonies, rituals, and beliefs alive
through stories, song, the healing arts and other forms of religious
and cultural practice.
Slaves lived under harsh conditions with high death rates and forcible
separation of families and tribal groups. In addition, the efforts of
white owners to wipe out what they considered to be heathen
The Olinka people share the story of the
‘roofleaf’ upon welcoming Nettie and the other
missionaries. The story surrounds a greedy
chief who wanted more of the crop which was
plentiful on the settlement in which they lived,
by taking more of the common land for himself.
A great storm came destroying the existing
rooves and all the roofleaves. Following 6
months of winds, a few of the old roots
“The villagers celebrated by singing and
dancing and telling the story of the
roofleaf”
“We know a roofleaf is not Jesus Christ,
but in its own humble way, is it not
God?”
customs made it difficult for slaves to preserve their African heritage. remained in their place in which it took 5 years
to replenish and make the roofleaf plentiful
Some songs, rhythms, movements, and beliefs in the existence of a
again. This led to the Olinka people celebrating
spirit world did survive and were gradually combined with the various
forms of Christianity to which white Europeans and Americans the roofleaf itself as if it were their God, in a
introduced African slaves. sense. They celebrated its replenishment
through the tradition of song and dance – and
Fusions of African spirituality and Christianity also led to distinct new continue this through continuing the story.
ways of practising religion among slave populations, including voodoo
or vodun in the South, where the density of the black population was
greater.

Fusion of some Voodoo and Christian beliefs and symbols
 A belief in one God and many spirits
 A belief in the spirits of good and evil
 Honour for God and respect for life
 Belief in blood sacrifice
 Shared use of symbols such as charms, holy water and the
Cross
 Images of Christian saints used to represent voodoo deities
and spirits.
 Healing rituals
 A belief in life after death
 A belief in the existence of the soul.
Shugs interpretation of Christian belief comes
through the love and respect for Gods creation.
She expresses her honour, respect, and
gratitude via appreciating what is in front of
her. The Christian belief of respecting life is
particularly shown through the continuous
natural imagery during the descriptions of what
God seeks as important.
Netties own idea of God is expanding through
respect for life and physical things than a
supreme being.
“I think it pisses God off if you walk by
the colour purple in a field somewhere
and don’t notice it”
“God love admiration”.
“We know a roofleaf is not Jesus Christ,
but in its own humble way, is it not
God?”

Many white missionaries and church leaders working to convert slaves

to Christianity in the South disapproved of what they considered to be
idolatrous dancing and the African practice of polygamy. Meanwhile,
many slaveholders feared that conversion would lead to unrest and
demands from the slave population for emancipation.
 Celie and Nettie are clearly brought up with “With God help.”
Revivals and camp meetings Christian values by their parents, influencing
Celie’s non-critical beliefs towards Gods “I say God took it.”
By 1810 the slave trade between Africa and the United States had
existence for the first half of the novel. Typical
come to an end and native born African-Americans greatly increased
the slave population in the Americas.
for slaves who would have been alive not long
before Celie, as religion was the only power
The early nineteenth century also saw a period of intense religious that they could hold mentally within
revivalism known as ‘awakenings’. In the southern states large themselves when their entire identity had been
numbers of slaves were converted to the Methodist and Baptist owned by plantation owners.
expressions of Christianity.

During Celie and Shugs conversation about “God is inside you and inside everybody
Slave response to the awakenings who/ what God represents, Shug shares an idea else. You come into the world with
of the holy spirit and omnipresence. Shug God.”
Increasing numbers of slaves did convert to evangelical Christianity
argues for the indwelling of the holy spirit.
such as Methodism and the Baptist church. In these churches some,
but not all, ministers taught the idea that all Christians were equal in
the sight of God. Worship that included enthusiastic singing, clapping,
dancing and even recognition of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit were
also recognisably African.

Other clergy and many white slave owners feared that, if slaves were
allowed to worship independently, they would become rebellious, so
they insisted on slave attendance at white-controlled churches. These
churches, in which white ministers preached obedience to the white
slave master as the highest religious ideal, were seen by many black
worshippers as a mockery of the true Christian message of equality
and liberation, so slaves devised alternative ways of worshipping
independently, free from white control.
 Celie utilises worship as a form of release or “You better tell nobody but God”
The invisible institutions and hush harbours comfort through traumatic experiences as well
as exciting events in her life. Her prayers are
In the slave quarters African-Americans organized their own religious
isolated from any other individuals, but she is
ceremonies which were known as ‘invisible institutions’. Through
signals, passwords and coded messages believers were called to ‘hush
also encouraged into this solitary belief system
harbours’ - secret outdoor meeting places on the edges of plantations through Alfonso after his sexual assault of her,
where slaves would meet together at night to worship. Worshipping in caging religion to be a consistently oppressing
secret hush harbours gave enslaved blacks the opportunity to meet and trauma-ridden experience for Celie. This
and worship together and also to speak freely to one another about wasn’t typical for the use of religion for slaves
their hopes for a better future. just generations before, as explained through
the role of religious belief in coping with the
Spiritual songs, with double meanings of religious salvation and
extremities of plantations. However, remains a
freedom from slavery, developed from these meetings and black
preachers, who believed that they had been called by God to speak, secretive negotiation between God and person
gave ‘chanted sermons’. throughout.

The north-south divide
Not all African-Americans were slaves during the nineteenth century
and the realities of life for blacks in the North and South were quite
different.
In the North, educated black people were often able to integrate
successfully into white culture. Black and white churches followed
similar evangelical worship patterns, although social work always
carried a strong anti-slavery message in African-American
congregations. A strong abolitionist movement existed in many parts
of the northern states, which gave opportunities for black and white
activists to work together, to bring about emancipation for all people
Based in Georgia in the South of America, Celie “Now Millie, he say. Always going on
remains isolated during her assaults and racism over coloured”
is extremely common. White and Black people
“He slap her”.
remain very separated, so much so that the
only white people we meet through Celie are “They crack her skull. They blind her in
the mayor and the prison guards, who both
one eye”.
inflict severe violence to the black characters
in the book, despite progressive events such as
the abolishment of slavery.
of colour.

In the South, slaves remained much more isolated from whites and
the white church often seemed to be insincere in its attitude towards
African-Americans. However, the invisible institutions ensured that
African practices and beliefs were preserved within the framework of
white-dominated Christian worship.

More on revivalism and awakenings:  Written during a time of religious revival, “I don’t write to God no more.”
contrasts to Celie’s’ transformation away from
A renewed interest in religion, called the Second Great Awakening
traditional monotheistic Christianity towards a
(1790-1815) spread through every region of the United States.
more philosophical perspective of life.
Hundreds of travelling preachers began to travel the country, setting
up revivalist camps in rural areas. Thousands of new converts were
made and those who attended meetings, mainly from poor white
communities, were often so overcome with the experience that they
would roll, jerk, shake, shout and even bark at the height of the
services.

The movement also attracted many slaves and free black people to
evangelical Protestantism. The Methodists emerged as leaders in the
development of religious instruction among slaves. Following its
creation in 1845, the Southern Baptist Convention also began
missionary work among slaves. The Baptists may have been successful
partly because baptism by immersion resembled some initiation rites
associated with West African cults.

The slaves worshipped in a wide variety of congregations; with whites,

with free blacks, exclusively by themselves, and in private. Slave
masters often took house slaves to religious services at white
churches, where they sat in separate galleries or in balconies. With
white ministers presiding over these services for slaves, the latter
often chose instead to hold meetings in their quarters, in ‘praise
houses’ or ‘hush harbours’, or even deep in the woods or swamps.     
How the Bible was used to justify slavery - the curse of Ham
The primary Christian justification of the use of African slaves was
based on a story from the Old Testament book of Genesis, which
recounts the story of a curse which was laid on Noah’s son, Ham. It
then passed on to Ham’s son, Canaan and his descendants, who were
all condemned to become the lowest of slaves. (See Genesis 9:18-27.)
According to legend, Canaan then settled in Africa, so the dark skin of
Africans became associated with the ‘Curse of Ham’. Thus, the
enslavement of Africans was justified through Old Testament teaching.
The white men who give orders to destroy villages “This man who knew about the Olinka only
and cultures knew nothing of them than the from a map”.
location. This idea that they are so sub-human that
“The Olinka no longer own their village”.
their entire residence is irrelevant to the white man
reduces them to this slave-like identity even post-
slavery abolishment. By reducing their race to be
associated with cursed slaves, during slavery, using
the Bible – these racist views would have continued
even after slavery ends due to such passionate
religious beliefs at the time.