I would like to believe that the principles were Faith, Hope and Charity, but clearly this is not the case with most Christians, or with what we call the Christian world” ( 31 ). In this passage he is telling the reader that people don't understand what it means to be a true Christian; that most people follow through because they believe they are supposed to. Baldwin wishes to influence changes in the world of religion; especially for blacks. In his essay he points out that there is no love in the church and that love stops once people leave the church. Baldwin ends the book with "God gave Noah the sign of the rainbow, no more water, next time fire!" (106). What he means by this is that we must all work together to make this world better. Baldwin does an excellent job of portraying the difficulties of being a black man and how he tries to make a positive impact on the world, and not just religion. The Fire Next Time tells various stories about what it was like to live in the 1960s as a black man. Overall, I think this was an informative read about racial tensions, religious issues, and the difficulties of being an African American right now. It was very enlightening when James Baldwin had a meeting with Elijah Muhammad about how he wanted to make changes in the church. While reading this book I found it interesting how important religion was to some and how routine it was to others