Multiracial Congregations Research Articles

Trading on Diverse Relationships: The Process of Racialized Social Commodification in Multiracial Congregations

Diverse organizations focus on appearing progressive but, in practice, may reproduce internal and external racial inequalities. Previous research has focused on how organizations with superficial levels of diversity may be detrimental to racial equity; are organizations with deep and sustained, cross-racial relationships any better? Drawing on in-depth interviews, field notes, and surveys of 121 head clergy of multiracial churches, we examine the strategies of leaders of multiracial churches to raise funds for their organizations. Our systematic analysis reveals how these, mostly White, religious leaders act as brokers by leveraging embeddedness with congregants of color, social and cultural capital within institutions valuing diversity, and the racial status of their organizations to gain access to social and organizational benefits. We develop a theoretical concept called “racialized social commodification” (RSC) to explore how leaders convert the racial capital of people of color into social and economic resources in contexts of substantive diversity. Through RSC, even organizations boasting strong, cross-racial relationships continue to reproduce racial inequality by protecting power and resource hierarchies that benefit White Americans.

Religion and race relations in America: Focusing on Christian Evangenicals

Religion and race relations in America: Focusing on Christian Evangenicals Since the second half of the 20th century, several movements based on religion have developed in American society to improve race relations. These include the “racial reconciliation” movement, the “social justice” movement, the “civil disobedience” represented by Jim Wallis, and the “multiracial congregation” movement. Here, Kazunobu Horiuchi explores how several movements based on religion have developed in American society to improve race relations.

Congregations of a Feather? Exploring Homophily in a Network of Religious Congregations

BackgroundHomophily, the tendency for relationships to be more common among actors who share similarities, has been observed in social network studies of individuals and organizations. Homophily can encourage close, supportive relationships but limit exposure to diversity. Homophily may have important implications for religious congregations, but research has been limited due to few social network data collections on congregations.PurposeThis research note uses a new data collection from an inter-congregational network of religious congregations in eight counties encompassing and surrounding a major metropolitan area in the southeastern United States. Its goal is to identify sources of homophily between congregations as well as types of congregations whose immediate networks, which include the congregations to which a congregation has direct relational ties, differ in levels of homophily.MethodsQuadratic assignment procedure correlations are used to identify sources of homophily, and both fractional logistic and negative binomial regression models are used to examine the extent to which congregational characteristics predict levels of homophily.ResultsThree key sources of homophily include sharing the same religious tradition and family, sharing the same racial composition, and having a smaller geographical distance between congregations. Congregations’ religious family, racial composition, community setting, and the extent to which attenders are younger and newer matter for predicting levels of homophily. The results have implications for: LDS and Church of Christ congregations; multiracial congregations; declining denominationalism; rural congregations.Conclusions and ImplicationsCongregations of a feather do, in fact, flock together. The results inform a variety of practical implications for congregations. Because of the time constraints experienced by many ministers, denominational events might provide some of the most accessible opportunities to build relationships with other congregations. Multiracial congregations often serve as bridges connecting congregations of different racial compositions. Distinctive and centralized religious groups, like the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, may also effectively encourage relationships across congregations of different racial compositions. Homophily may also impact the extent to which congregations learn about innovations from other congregations and the extent to which collaborations with other congregations are effective.

Arranging the Chairs in the Beloved Community: The Politics, Problems, and Prospects of Multi-Racial Congregations in 1 Corinthians and Today

If racism is America’s original sin, it is also one of America’s most pressing contemporary problems. Indeed, Edwards’ recent research suggests that even intentionally multi-racial congregations often reproduce and reinforce white hegemony rather than undermine it. In this article, I first bring Edwards’ sociological research into dialogue with the theological critiques of racism within the ecclesia raised by Jennings and Sanders. I then offer a theological interpretation of 1 Corinthians 11:17–12:26 from the social location of American multi-racial churches subject to and complicit with racism for the purpose of those churches’ missional embodiment of an alternative politics. I argue that Paul critiques the church for gathering in ways more Corinthian than Christian. The solution is for the church to rearrange its communal life together in line with the eschatological ‘logic of the cross’. Such a cruciform community affords greater honor within the ecclesia precisely to those who lack it in the broader culture. In the concluding section, I consider how contemporary multi-racial churches might live out this ‘militant, reconciling ecclesiology’ today.

The Bridging Activity of Multiracial Congregations

The growing diversity of U.S. communities has led scholars to explore how racial/ethnic diversity effects social capital, civic engagement, and social trust. Less is known about the relationship between diversity and the work of community-based organizations (CBOs). In this study, we examine how the racial/ethnic composition of one ubiquitous type of CBO, religious congregations, is related to measures of organizational bridging social capital. Analyzing data collected through a census of congregations in one Midwestern county, we explore the relationship between racial/ethnic diversity and the bridging activity of religious congregations. We find that multiracial congregations are more likely to be involved with externally focused service programs, tend to support a larger number of programs, and report more interorganizational collaborators than other congregations. Our findings suggest that multiracial congregations can provide a valuable resource for increasingly diverse communities and civil society.

Estranged Pioneers: The Case of African American and Asian American Multiracial Church Pastors

AbstractThis article draws upon 121 in-depth interviews from the Religious Leadership and Diversity Project (RLDP)—a nationwide study of leadership of multiracial religious organizations in the United States—to examine what it means for African American and Asian American pastors to head multiracial churches. We argue that African American and Asian American pastors of multiracial churches are estranged pioneers. They have to leave the familiar to explore a new way of doing church, but their endeavors are not valued by their home religious communities. African American pastors face challenges to their authenticity as black religious leaders for leading multiracial congregations. Asian American pastors experience a sense of ambiguity that stems from a lack of clarity about what it means for them to lead multiracial congregations as Asian Americans. Yet, despite differences in how they experience this alienation, both are left to navigate a racialized society where they are perceived and treated as inferior to their white peers, which has profound personal and social implications for them.

Worshiping across the Color Line: The Influence of Congregational Composition on Whites’ Friendship Networks and Racial Attitudes

Religious participation has reinforced the color line in American society for generations. Despite rising racial and ethnic diversity across U.S. communities, most Americans continue to belong to congregations composed primarily of others from their own racial/ethnic groups. Yet recent scholarship suggests that the presence of multiple racial or ethnic groups in the same congregation is increasing. The authors examine how the racial/ethnic composition of U.S. congregations is related to white attenders’ friendship networks and comfort with other racial/ethnic groups (i.e., blacks, Hispanics, and Asians). Using national survey data, the authors find that whites in multiracial congregations report more diverse friendship networks and higher levels of comfort with nonwhites than do whites in nonmultiracial congregations. However, the influence of worshipping with another race/ethnicity seems to be most pronounced for whites in congregations with Hispanics. Moreover, neighbors and friends of other races have more impact on whites’ friendship networks and attitudes than do congregations. The authors discuss implications of these findings for understanding U.S. intergroup relations and the potential of congregations to address the color line.

The Changing Complexion of American Congregations

AbstractThe only constant in life is change, or so goes the familiar refrain. But when it comes to research on multiracial congregations, studying change has largely been overlooked. Questions loom about the changing prevalence, leadership, and composition of racially diverse congregations. Using three waves of data from the National Congregations Study (1998, 2006, and 2012), we offer an overarching examination of racial composition in U.S. congregations across approximately 15 years. Both the percentage of multiracial congregations and the amount of racial/ethnic diversity in congregations have increased. The increase has been most dramatic in Protestant churches. In addition, blacks are more common in the pulpit and the pews of America's multiracial congregations than they were in the past. Blacks now surpass Latinos as the group most likely to worship with whites in multiracial congregations. Location and religious tradition continue to be influential factors in a congregation's racial diversity, but the significance of several congregational characteristics have changed over time. We discuss the implications of these findings.

Conceptual Pathways to Ethnic Transcendence in Diverse Churches: Theoretical Reflections on the Achievement of Successfully Integrated Congregations

The concept of ethnic transcendence—defined as the process of co-formulating a shared religious identity among diverse members that supersedes their racial and ethnic differences through congregational involvement—captures a critical aspect of successfully integrating different racial and ethnic groups into a single, commonly shared, multi-ethnic congregation. Drawing on classic theoretical resources from Max Weber and Emile Durkheim, this paper expands on previous scholarship by conceptually articulating two different paths for the achievement of ethnic transcendence in multiracial congregations. In the first path, ethnic transcendence supports and encourages congregational diversification by inspiring members and mobilizing them to contribute their efforts to accomplish a common religious mission. In the second path, the achievement of ethnic transcendence involves the sublimation of congregational members’ religious selves to an overarching moral collective. Both paths involve privileging religious identities in favor of a particularistic ethnic or racial identity. Moreover, through both paths, the development of congregationally specific religious identities results in joining with co-members of different ethno-racial ancestries as a type of spiritually-derived kinship. Due to the fact that ethnic transcendence is an interactive process, congregational diversity is a bi-directional phenomenon representing the extent to which members allow for the integration of separate ethnicities/races into a common congregation through idealized and richly-symbolic notions of connection and belonging to a congregation. Overall, this paper suggests a heuristic framework that productively expands the concept of ethnic transcendence, allows an approach for observing cross-ethnic/inter-racial organizational processes, and ultimately contributes toward understanding how congregations (whether church, temple, or mosque) pursue alternative identity reconstruction projects to sustain cohesive collective identities.

United by Faith? Race/Ethnicity, Congregational Diversity, and Explanations of Racial Inequality.

This study examines the extent to which the racial composition of a congregation moderates explanations for Black/White inequality among White, Black, and Hispanic congregants. Using nationally representative data from General Social Surveys and National Congregations Studies, we find that religiously affiliated Blacks and Hispanics tend to hold different racial attitudes than religiously affiliated Whites, but these differences largely disappear inside multiracial congregations. Importantly, we find that attending a multiracial congregation is unassociated with Whites' explanations for racial inequality, and Blacks who attend multiracial congregations are actually less likely to affirm structural explanations for Black/White inequality than Blacks in nonmultiracial congregations or Whites in multiracial congregations. We find little evidence that multiracial congregations promote progressive racial views among attendees of any race or ethnicity. Rather, our findings suggest that multiracial congregations (1) leave dominant White racial frames unchallenged, potentially influencing minority attendees to embrace such frames and/or (2) attract racial minorities who are more likely to embrace those frames in the first place.

Perspectives and Limitations of Current Theories in Neuroscience and Cosmology in Describing “Full, Conscious and Actual Participation in Liturgical Celebrations”

Mother Church earnestly desires that all the faithful should be led to that fully conscious, and active participation in liturgical celebrations which is demanded by the very nature of the liturgy....

Racial Diversity, Religion, and Morality: Examining the Moral Views of Multiracial Church Attendees

Previous research has identified an important link between participation in a racially diverse faith community and more progressive views on racial, political, and social issues, but researchers have yet to examine whether multiracial church attendees differ from racially-homogeneous church attendees in terms of their moral views. This research note utilizes national data (2005 Baylor Religion Survey) to examine the relationship between involvement in a multiracial congregation and views toward activities that are understood to be morally contentious. I estimate logistic regression models to isolate the relationship between multiracial church attendance and support for nine morally contentious activities related to sexuality, families, substance use, and suicide. Analyses reveal that, net of other factors, persons who attend multiracial congregations are more likely to express support for extramarital sex, premarital cohabitation, planned unwed pregnancy, marijuana use, and euthanasia, compared to persons who attend homogeneous congregations where they are the majority race. Multiracial church attendees thus appear to hold more permissive moral views on certain issues relative to attendees of racially homogeneous congregations. Significant interactions are also found between multiracial church attendance, race, and religious tradition. Alternative explanatory accounts (social contact vs. self-selection) are considered.

Religion and Whites’ Attitudes Toward Interracial Marriage with African Americans, Asians, and Latinos

Religious factors have been shown to influence whites’ attitudes toward interracial marriage, but this relationship has yet to be studied in depth. This study examines how religious affiliation, beliefs, practices, and congregational composition affect whites’ attitudes toward interracial marriage with African Americans, Asians, and Latinos. Employing data from Wave 2 of the Baylor Religion Survey, I estimate ordered logit regression models to examine the influence of religious factors on whites’ attitudes toward racial exogamy, net of sociodemographic controls. Analyses reveal that, relative to evangelicals, religiously unaffiliated whites report greater support of intermarriage with all minority groups. Biblical literalists are less likely to support interracial marriage to Asians and Latinos. However, whites who frequently engage in devotional religious practices are more likely to support interracial marriage with all racial groups, as are whites who attend multiracial congregations. My findings suggest that the relationship between religion and whites’ attitudes toward racial exogamy is more complex than previously thought and that the influence of religious practices and congregational composition should not be overlooked.

Worship Across the Racial Divide: Religious Music and the Multiracial Congregation

Worship Across the Racial Divide: Religious Music and the Multiracial Congregation

Gerardo Marti, Worship across the Racial Divide: Religious Music and the Multiracial Congregation

Gerardo Marti, <i>Worship across the Racial Divide: Religious Music and the Multiracial Congregation</i>

Worship across the Racial Divide: Religious Music and the Multiracial Congregation

Worship across the Racial Divide: Religious Music and the Multiracial Congregation

Worship across the racial divide: religious music and the multiracial congregation

Worship across the racial divide: religious music and the multiracial congregation

Shifting Boundaries within Second-Generation Korean American Churches

This study, based on 108 interviews and participant observation at 22 churches, examines the tension among newly formed second-generation Korean American churches in Los Angeles over its ethnic boundaries. Although all of the newly formed churches are open to non-Koreans, not all envision or desire a multiracial church. First, some pastors want their churches to remain predominately Korean American because they believe that the church is the main institution responsible for preserving the Korean culture and passing it down to subsequent generations. Others want to stretch their boundaries to include all Asian Americans. They argue that the similarities in life experiences and cultural orientation, largely derived by their shared status as children of immigrants and as racial minorities in the United States, among different Asian American groups serve as the common denominator. Finally, several pastors are determined to transform their churches into multiracial congregations. Documenting the current stage of experimentation and transition, this study of second-generation churches provides important insights on the role of religion and religious organizations in immigrant adaptation and identity formation.

Book Review: The Power of Stories: A Guide for Leading Multiracial and Multicultural Congregations

Book Review: The Power of Stories: A Guide for Leading Multiracial and Multicultural Congregations

Affinity, Identity, and Transcendence: The Experience of Religious Racial Integration in Diverse Congregations

How do members of disparate ethnic and racial heritages come to identify and achieve stable affiliation with multiracial congregations? This article specifies an approach to understanding member experiences of corporate belonging in diverse congregations using ethnic identity theory. Synthesizing ethnographic data drawn from two extensive case studies, the article provides a heuristic model for understanding the process by which members of disparate ethnic and racial heritages come to identify and achieve stable affiliation with multiethnic/multiracial congregations. Three “moments” (affinity with the congregation, identity reorientation, and ethnic transcendence) represent key phases in the lived religious experience of members as they co‐construct common bonds of spiritual kinship. Cautions and suggestions are provided for future research.