Divided by Faith: Evangelical Religion and the Problem of Race in America

When I was a kid, I was taught in school that racism was an issue of the past.  I was taught that white people used to own black slaves.  I was taught that America went to war over slavery and that after the war the slaves were freed.  I was taught that roughly 100 years later white people were still not treating black people well, so a woman named Rosa Parks and a man named Martin Luther King Jr. helped end that.  I was taught that skin color didn’t matter, that everyone was equal and everyone had equal opportunity.  I was taught that racism had ended.And then I grew up.In recent years, the issue of racism has seemed to get more and more attention.  It seems like a white police officer shoots an innocent, young, black male every other day and the media fires up a conversation about racism.As a Christian, I believe that the Gospel gives dignity to every human being.  I believe that the Gospel is for every tribe, nation and tongue.  I believe that the Gospel is powerful enough to fix our broken relationships with God and with one another.  And, for those reasons, racism and the divisiveness that it causes is not okay with me. We all have different perspectives on racism in America and I picked up this book because I wanted to try to understand perspectives that are different than my own.  And this book did not disappoint.A couple of take-aways:HISTORYIt is amazing to me how history impacts society.  I have never been a history lover, but the more that I discover about the past, the more I understand the present.  The history of racism has caused a lot of ripple effects in our society.  This book did a great job of unpacking the history of racial issues in America.  The history alone is worth the price of the book.THE FORM OF RACIALIZATIONAs a white evangelical male, it is difficult for me to see racism in society.  One thing that was helpful was how they showed different forms of racism.  Prior to reading this book, I understood racism to be hatred and intentional discrimination.  That view was formed mostly by my understanding of the Civil Rights movement and the violence that I’ve seen in videos.  I assumed that as long as I didn’t do that, then I was ok.  What I realized after reading this book was that racism exists in a lot of different forms.INDIVIDUALISM VS. COMMUNITYWhat the authors found in their research was that racism for a white evangelical is viewed on an individual basis (“I don’t have a problem with blacks and if other individuals didn’t either then racism wouldn’t exist”).  But, most blacks view racism as a systemic problem.  The issue of individualism is very challenging in white evangelicalism.  There is often an over emphasis on our personal relationship with God and very little emphasis (or none at all) on my “white culture.”  As a white evangelical, I find no affinity or connection to other people who happen to be white.  My perception is that other cultures feel more of an affinity for one other because of their shared history, their shared experiences, their shared language, etc.  These opposite approaches to the race issue often make it difficult to have helpful dialogue.THE CALL TO ACTEarly in the book, the authors said,"If anyone should be doing something about the racialized society and if anyone has the answers to the race problem, they said it is Christians.” The authors pointed out the emphasis that Christians put on evangelism and discipleship to the detriment of handling social injustices as well.  The book ended by saying:"Our analysis has not led us to specific solutions for ending racialization, and we will not attempt such a grandiose leap into policy. But this work does suggest some general paths that white evangelicals might want to explore in their quest for racial reconciliation.” And then, "With a few exceptions, evangelicals lack serious thinking on this issue. Rather than integrate their faith with knowledge of race relations, inequality, and American society, they generally allow their cultural constructions to shape one-dimensional assessments and solutions to multidimensional problems. This will not do. The first new step evangelicals might consider, therefore, is engaging in more serious reflection on race-relations issues, in dialogue with educated others: What are the problems? In what directions are the United States and its people heading? What influences will class, growing racial-ethnic diversity, changing occupational and political structures, and complex systems of stratification play in altering the landscape of American race relations? How is the problem understood from different racial and ethnic group perspectives? How do individual-level versus group-level phenomena operate differently and simultaneously in the problems of race relations? What solutions have already been tried? What else helpful is currently known about these questions and solutions?”   I thought that this was extremely helpful in getting to the root of the issue of dealing with race in the Church.  We must engage this issue through the Gospel-lens. Period.I did not receive a free copy from a publisher, I joyfully paid for my copy. Therefore, my review is 100% honest and unbiased. Check out more of my reviews at aaronnichols.net

Michael Emerson and Christian Smith argue in their book Divided By Faith that the values and beliefs that are central to evangelical religion - freewill individualism, relationalism, and antistructuralism - actually help to increase the racial divide in America, even though they are the biggest supporters of racial reconciliation. The book is based a deep probing of evangelical Americans' feelings of race issues through an extensive nationwide survey of over 2000 people. The authors give rock-solid proof for their argument which is presented in a very concise and logical manner. The effective use of statistics and quotes from interviews help solidify the argument. In addition, they describe how the structure of American religious organizations is continually pushed towards internal similarity, leading to racially separate congregations. After reading the book, one will find it difficult to respect the views of evangelicals and their attitudes on race issues.The book begins with a close look at just how racialized our society really is, citing mostly examples of economic disparity between whites and blacks. The problem also exists in the lack of interracial marriages, segregated communities, and in religious affiliation choices. Next the authors give a historical overview of how Christians, particularly evangelicals, have thought of race in the past, and what sorts of actions they have taken to address racial issues.Racial reconciliation was started by blacks in the 1960s as a theology for reconciling the division between races. Its primary tenet is that individuals of different races must develop primary relationships with each other and recognizing social structures of inequality. Evangelicals have since popularized the idea and made it one of their top priorities for bringing and end to racial division. The original message was lost in the translation however, for evangelicals stress individual reconciliation as opposed to challenging social systems of injustice and inequality.Evangelicals see the race problem of one of three types: prejudiced individuals, other groups trying to make race problems a group issue when it is only individual problems, and a fabrication of the self-interested. Emerson and Smith use the idea of a cultural tool kit - ideas and practices that shape one's perception of reality - to explain these views. They explain how accountable freewill individualism, relationalism, and antistructuralism are the racially important cultural tools for white evangelicals and how most do not think America is racialized because of their tools; in addition, most are racially isolated. White evangelicals see no race problem other than bad interpersonal relationships. These tools lead them to "minimize the race problem and racial inequality, and thus propose limited solutions." This strong evidence supports the claim that evangelicals perpetuate a racialized society without any intention to do so.The authors asked people in the survey for their explanations on the reasons for blacks having worse jobs, income, and housing than whites. White evangelicals were significantly more likely to cite individual reasons than structural reasons; most felt that it was due to lack of motivation or will-power on the part of blacks. However, when black evangelicals were asked for their explanations, they overwhelmingly cited less individualistic and more structural reasons; most felt that it was due to discrimination. This shows that evangelical religion "intensifies the different values and experiences of each racial group, sharpening and increasing the divide between black and white Americans." Emerson and Smith also give anecdotal evidence that by not seeing how societal structures impact individual initiative, the racialization problem will continue.The survey also asked people about how to solve the race problem. The results again show that evangelicals overwhelmingly felt that people should "try to get to know people of another race" and that almost none felt that racially integrated residential neighborhoods could solve the problem. What's more, white evangelicals were much more likely to respond this way than non-evangelical whites, further evidence of the cultural tool kit explanation.The authors also give an in-depth examination of the structure of American religious organizations and the view that America has become a "religious marketplace." They explain why congregations are internally similar with the idea that "internally homogeneous congregations more often provide what draws people to religious groups for a lower cost than do internally diverse congregations" in addition to social psychological reasons. The book concludes with a look at how these internally similar congregations produce and maintain racialization.This book is rock-solid evidence for the idea that evangelical religious teachings - although candidly supportive of racial reconciliation - actually do more to perpetuate a racialized society than they do to terminate it. Although the authors provide almost no suggestions for exactly how to end this racialized society, they definitely present a shocking argument along with rigorous proof of the contradiction that exists in American evangelical religion.

Well worth a read, particularly as someone new to understanding more about systemic racism and the role of Christian faith. Extensive references to previous studies and clear description and discussion of the study conducted by the authors. Written clearly and succinctly, and flows through to their conclusions. Based on American evangeliscm specifically, but has parallels for Christian churches elsewhere. Would certainly recommend unless you already know this area in depth.

Good

As a white Protestant, who has lived racially isolated almost my whole life, this book challenged alot of my racial beliefs. The book is centered around US evangelicals and how they affect the black white relationship there. There is alot of data, albeit a social science so nothing is exact. A good read but my only criticism is that the book often does not define words such as "segregation" "inequality" or "structural systems" in a way that is comprehensible for the "white US evangelical" who believes these issues only exist on a individual level.

An excellent and informative read that I could not put down until it was read completely. As a person with a mixed parentage father who is a retired minister and two mixed parentage grandparents I am saddened to see that the racial divide persists even in the church but I will do my best to reach across that divide.