2015/01/28 by Ryon J. Cobb, R. J. Cobb, Samuel L. Perry +3 · 5 citations
Social Sciences · #Racial and Ethnic Identity Research #Religion and Society Interactions #Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology
paper · pdf · doi:10.1093/socrel/sru067
crossref issued 2015/01/28 · crossref published 2015/01/28 · crossref published-online 2015/01/28 · openalex publication_date 2015/01/28 · crossref created 2015/01/30 · crossref published-print 2015/06/01 · crossref deposited 2017/08/24 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · crossref indexed 2026/07/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
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.