Race, Religion, and Beliefs about Racial Inequality

Abstract

This article focuses on stratification beliefs and racial policy opinions among white and black Americans who differ in religious preference. First, it summarizes earlier research on white conservative Protestants and outlines characterizations of Black Protestant church congregants. It then reports patterns of stratification beliefs and racial policy opinions among blacks and whites varying in religious preference who responded to the 1996 through 2006 General Social Surveys. Comparisons across twelve race-by-religion categories did not provide persuasive evidence that white conservative Protestants are uniquely conservative in their stratification beliefs, once background characteristics are controlled, nor was the Black Protestant group distinctive. Compared to blacks, whites were less inclined to structuralist explanations of racial inequality, slightly more inclined to individualist explanations, and consistently more negative about policies and programs to aid blacks. What is more, white Christians were more racially conservative in all these ways than non-Christian whites.

Neighbors Like Me? Religious Affiliation and Neighborhood Racial Preferences among Non-Hispanic Whites

“…Evangelical and mainline Protestants have the strongest preference for same-race neighbors, while those of various -other‖ faiths and the unaffiliated have the weakest. This finding closely mirrors the general pattern observed for a range of whites' racial attitudes, in which Protestants have the most conservative attitudes, religious minorities (Jews, other faiths, and the unaffiliated) have the most progressive, and Catholics are somewhere in between [55,56]. Interestingly, it also mirrors the racial diversity within each of these traditions, as Protestant congregations are the most racially homogeneous, followed by Catholic and non-Christian congregations [27,28].…”

“…However, their conclusions have not been universally echoed in other social science research [49,51,52]. This study and recent work by Taylor and Merino [55,56] indicate the need for important qualification to claims about the influence of religion on racial attitudes. Individuals whose denominational preference is evangelical Protestant have significantly more conservative racial attitudes than other white Americans and prefer more racially homogeneous neighborhoods.…”

“…Evidence for the distinctiveness of evangelical Protestants' attitudes is mixed, however, and these studies have varied widely in their methodological approaches to the question. Whether their racial attitudes are distinct from other whites depends both on how one measures evangelical Protestantism and to whom one compares them [55,56]. Emerson and Smith's work, for example, focuses on the roughly 8 percent of whites who self-identify as -fundamentalist,‖ -evangelical,‖ or -Pentecostal‖ and express a belief in the Bible and in an afterlife.…”

“…Emerson and Smith's work, for example, focuses on the roughly 8 percent of whites who self-identify as -fundamentalist,‖ -evangelical,‖ or -Pentecostal‖ and express a belief in the Bible and in an afterlife. Taylor and Merino [55,56] report that, even after controlling on background characteristics, these self-identified conservative Protestants are more likely than other religious groups to cite motivation or will power as reasons for black-white inequality and less likely to cite structural causes like discrimination or access to quality education. However, only in their high levels of opposition to spending on blacks do these Protestants show distinctive racial policy opinions.…”

“…Members of dominant groups may be more likely to be exposed to the dominant ideology regarding race and racial inequality. In contrast, religious groups outside the Protestant/Catholic mainstream are minorities of a sort and may share a -religious underdog‖ perspective that positively inclines them toward other -out-groups‖ [58] Indeed, Taylor and Merino [55,56] find that the primary attitudinal divide among whites is between Christian groups and the more racially progressive non-Christians. In sum, if religious tradition helps to shape white Americans' racial attitudes, it may also contribute to their neighborhood racial preferences, as numerous studies have linked negative stereotypes about and negative attitudes toward minorities to a stronger preference for same-race neighbors [9][10][11][12][13].…”