‘Race’, Black Majority Churches, and the Rise of Ecumenical Multiculturalism in the 1970s

Abstract

At the beginning of the 1970s, relations between the historic British churches and the new black-led churches were usually non-existent or marked by prejudices or ambivalences. This article examines the emergence, development, and significance of a cross-cultural ecumenical dialogue sponsored by the British Council of Churches. It places this in a context of both growing white liberal interest in the ‘multi-racial’ society and the increasing public assertiveness of collective black Christian consciousness. In doing so, it contributes to our understandings of religious change in the twentieth century: both in terms of perceptions of ‘secularization’ and the complex relationship between Christianity and race relations in the decades after Windrush.

People of Color, People of Faith: The Effect of Social Capital and Religion on the Political Participation of Marginalized Communities

“…This understanding, then, begets a consideration of race as well, given that race and religion are co-constituted, meaning they are "defined, in part, by each other, both in their meanings and in their political effects" (Jacobson and Wadsworth 2012, p. 4). If religious identity is a potential explanation for political socialization and mobilization, then so too must we consider the impact of social capital, which is a measure of one's dedication to and relationship with their community-and those who help provide their identity (Alba et al 2009;Gordon 1964;Haddad et al 2003;Lin 2001). Furthermore, places of worship have been argued to be the largest repository of social capital in the U.S. (Gordon 1964;Brady et al 1995;Putnam 2000), and social capital has consistently been found to promote civic engagement (Wong et al 2011;Djupe and Calfano 2012;Ocampo et al 2018).…”