APRIL 2, 2007

RACE
Race and religion in America

The presidential run of Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., has energized discussion about the interplay between race and religion in the United States. The debate draws political scientists, historians, theologians, sociologists, political politicians and citizens.

It generates big, wide questions: Is religion used to justify racism? Does it help combat it? Or both? Does religion offer hope for erasing inequalities closely tied to race? How often does religious faith affect people’s view of other races and ethnicities? As the country becomes more ethnically diverse, how will that affect the various faith groups and their public voice on social policy?

At the same time, religion and race affect issues that play out in concrete ways in communities and through government policy on issues such as immigration, health care, education and criminal justice. ReligionLink offers a guide to experts on race and religion who can illuminate issues large and small.

Why it matters

People’s core beliefs about how others should be treated are often defined by religion and, sometimes, their view of race and ethnicity. The relationship between race and religion affects government policies on dozens of issues.

Jump to Background

Click the map for interview sources in your state and region

National sources

For more national and regional sources, see ReligionLink’s guides to:
• African-Americans and religion
• Buddhism
• Hispanics and religion
• Hinduism
• Immigration
• Judaism
• Islam in the U.S.
• Native American religion
• Pentecostalism
• Roman Catholicism (an index of issues)
• Sikhs

• Anthea Butler is assistant professor of religion at the University of Rochester in New York and specializes in African-American religions. She edits The North Star: A Journal of African American Religious History. Contact 585-275-5378, anthea.butler@rochester.edu.
• Former U.S. Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen, who is Republican, wrote Love in Black and White: A Memoir of Race, Religion and Romance (Rowman & Littlefield, 2007) with his wife, Janet Langhart, president and CEO of Langhart Communications. Cohen is white and the son of a Jewish father and a Protestant Irish mother, while Langhart is African-American and the daughter of a Southern Baptist mother, a single parent. Contact through publicist Max Pulsinelli, 703-717-5015, max@maximumimpactpr.com.
• Elizabeth Conde-Frazier is associate professor of religious education at Claremont School of Theology in Claremont, Calif. Her interests include immigration/migration and ecumenism. She wrote Hispanic Bible Institutes: A Community of Theological Construction (University of Scranton Press, 2005) and co-wrote A Many Colored Kingdom: Multicultural Dynamics for Spiritual Formation (Baker Academic, 2004). Contact 909-447-2530, ecfrazier@cst.edu.
• The Rev. James H. Cone, an ordained minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, is Charles A. Briggs Distinguished Professor of Systematic Theology at Union Theological Seminary, New York City. He originated a systematic black theology. His numerous books include A Black Theology of Liberation (Orbis Books, 1990), Martin & Malcolm & America: A Dream or a Nightmare (Orbis, 1995), Speaking the Truth: Ecumenism, Liberation and Black Theology (Orbis, 1999) and Risks of Faith: The Emergence of a Black Theology of Liberation, 1968-1998 (Beacon Press, 2000). He is on sabbatical in spring 2007. Contact jcone@uts.columbia.edu.
• Ed Gilbreath, who lives in the Chicago area, is editor of Today’s Christian magazine and editor at large for Christianity Today. He wrote Reconciliation Blues: A Black Evangelical’s Inside View of White Christianity (InterVarsity Press, 2006) and Gospel Trailblazer: An African-American Preacher’s Historic Journey Across Racial Lines (Moody, 2003). Contact edgilbreath@yahoo.com.
• Douglas Hartmann is an associate professor of sociology at the University of Minnesota and, with colleagues Joseph Gerteis and Penny Edgell, a principal investigator of the three-year American Mosaic Project. The project has been exploring issues of race and religion. Contact 612-624-0835, hartm021@tc.umn.edu.
• José Irizarry is an associate professor of cultural studies in religion and education and dean of doctoral level programs at McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago. He can discuss public theology, religious education, ecumenism, intercultural issues and the arts. Contact 773-947-6332, jirizarry@mccormick.edu.
• Sherman Jackson is a professor of Arabic and Islamic studies at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. His books include, as author, Islam and the Blackamerican: Looking Toward the Third Resurrection (Oxford University Press, 2005). Contact 734-763-4671, sajackso@umich.edu.
• Khyati Y. Joshi is an assistant professor of education at Fairleigh Dickinson University in Teaneck, N.J., and the author of New Roots in America’s Sacred Ground: Religion, Race And Ethnicity in Indian America (Rutgers University Press, 2006). Contact 210-692-2836, khyati@fdu.edu.
• Mark Noll, Francis A. McAnaney Professor of History at Notre Dame University in Indiana, gave a three-part lecture series on “Race, Religion and American Politics from Nat Turner to George W. Bush” in October 2006. An expert on evangelicalism, his books include The Civil War as a Theological Crisis (University of North Carolina Press, 2006). Contact 574-631-7522, mnoll@nd.edu.
• Mbaye Lo teaches Arabic at Duke University, Durham, N.C., and studies Islam in America. He is the author of Muslims in America: Race, Politics and Community Building (Amana, 2004). Contact 919-660-4356, mbayelo@duke.edu.
• Jesse K. Martin is 2006-07 editor in chief of the student-published University of Maryland Law Journal of Race, Religion, Gender and Class. Contact Martin, the journal at 410-706-7151; or faculty advisers Michael Pinard, 410-706-4121, mpinard@law.umaryland.edu, and Richard Boldt, 410-706-2727, rboldt@law.umaryland.edu.
• Fumitaka Matsuoka is Robert Gordon Sproul Professor of Theology of Pacific School of Religion, Berkeley, Calif., where he is executive director of the Institute for Leadership Development and Study of Pacific and Asian North American Religion. He is an ordained minister in the Church of the Brethren. He co-edited Realizing the America of Our Hearts: Theological Voices of Asian Americans (Chalice Press, 2003) and wrote The Color of Faith: Building Community in a Multiracial Society (United Church Press, 1998) and Out of Silence: Emerging Themes in Asian American Churches (United Church Press, 1995.) Contact 510-849-8209, fmatsuoka@psr.edu.
• Brenda Salter McNeil is president of Salter McNeil & Associates, based in Oak Park, Ill., and a nationally known consultant on racial healing and diversity within Christian organizations. She co-authored The Heart of Racial Justice: How Soul Change Leads to Social Change (InterVarsity Press, 2004). Contact 773-583-8085, saltermcneil@aol.com.
• Patricia Raybon, a professor emeritus in journalism at the University of Colorado at Boulder, wrote My First White Friend: Confessions on Race, Love and Forgiveness (Penguin, 1997) and I Told the Mountain to Move (Tyndale House, 2005). She writes often about religion, family and race. Contact patricia@patriciaraybon.com.
• Rabbi Marc Schneier is founder and president of the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding and a leading figure in building up relationships between the Jewish community and African-Americans, Latinos, Christians and Muslims. He wrote Shared Dreams: Martin Luther King Jr. & the Jewish Community (Jewish Lights, 2000). Contact 917-492-2538, ffeu@ffeu.org.
• Fernando Segovia is Oberlin Graduate Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn. His interests include biblical scholarship, conversations across ethnic and racial lines, culture studies, diaspora Cubans and Latin American theologies. Contact fernando.f.segovia@vanderbilt.edu.
• Benjamin Valentin teaches theology and culture at Andover Newton Theological School in Newton Centre, Mass., where he directs Latino/a studies. He co-chairs the AAR Latina/o Religion, Culture and Society Group. His expertise includes the intersection between Latinos and African-Americans, liberation theology and Hispanic theology. Valentin authored Mapping Public Theology: Beyond Culture, Identity and Difference (Trinity Press International, 2002); edited New Horizons in Hispanic/Latino(a) Theology (Pilgrim Press, 2003); and co-edited The Ties That Bind: African American and Hispanic American/Latino/a Theologies in Dialogue (Continuum, 2001). Contact 617-964-1100 ext. 245, bvalentin@ants.edu.
• Cornel R. West is University Professor of Religion at Princeton University. His numerous books include, as author, Race Matters (Beacon Press, 2001) and, as co-editor, African American Religious Thought: An Anthology (Westminster John Knox Press, 2003). Contact 609-258-0021, or through maryannr@princeton.edu.

DENOMINATIONS
Most denominations have a department or commission on race. Among the largest:
• Mark Franken is executive director of migration and refugee services for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Contact 202-541-3169, mfranken@usccb.org. Beverly Carroll is executive director of the conference’s Secretariat for African American Catholics. Contact 202-541-3000, saac@usccb.org. Ronaldo M. Cruz is executive director of the Secretariat for Hispanic Affairs.  Contact 202-541-3150, hispanicaffairs@usccb.org.
• Richard Land is president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. Read his Nov. 22, 2006, column, “There’s Nothing Funny About Racism.” Contact Jill Martin, 615-782-8401, jmartin@erlc.com (email preferred).
• The General Commission on Religion and Race is one of six commissions of the United Methodist Church. Contact 202-547-2271, info@gcorr.org.
• The Rev. Brenda Girton-Mitchell is associate general secretary for justice and advocacy and director of the National Council of Churches of Christ’s Washington office. The NCC advocates on issues including racial justice on behalf of dozens of Protestant, Anglican, Orthodox, evangelical, African-American and Living Peace churches. Contact 202-544-2350, bgirtonm@ncccusa.org. 

UNIVERSITY CENTERS
Many universities have centers that focus on the study of race and ethnicity, and many of those have faculty members and/or programs that include religion. Web sites offer a range of resources. Here are some of the most prominent centers:
• Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif.
• Center for the Comparative Study of Race and Ethnicity at Connecticut College, New London, Conn.
• Center for Race and Gender at the University of California, Berkeley.
• Center on Race, Religion and Urban Life at Rice University in Houston.
• Center on Race and Social Problems at the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania.
• Center for Reconciliation at Duke University in Durham, N.C.
• Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race at Columbia University in New York.
• Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America at Brown University in Providence, R.I.
• Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity and Gender at Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pa.
• Center for the Study of Race, Politics and Culture at the University of Chicago.
• Center for the Study of Race and Race Relations at the University of Florida Levin College of Law in Gainesville.
• Center for the Study of Religion and Culture at Vanderbilt Divinity School in Nashville, Tenn.
• Center for the Study of Religion and Society at the University of Notre Dame in Notre Dame, Ind.
• Institute on Race & Ethnicity at the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee.
• Program of Black Church Studies at Emory University, Atlanta.
• Race, Ethnicity & Religion Project at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y.

Background

ARTICLES
• Los Altos United Methodist Church in Long Beach, Calif., tracks news articles about race and religion.
• The fall 2006 edition of the Nieman Reports, titled Global Migration and Immigration, includes an article by George Washington University sociologist Amitai Etzioni that says it makes more sense to refer to Hispanics -- and all people -- in terms of ethnicity, rather than as a racial category.
• Read “What’s Race Got to Do With It?” published Feb. 13, 2006, by The Nation.

POLLS & RESEARCH
• The three-year American Mosaic Project at the University of Minnesota has been exploring issues of race and religion.
• Read an Aug. 16, 2004, AgapePress story about a Barna Research Group study on race and religion.
• Read a Feb. 16, 2004, news release about a University of Michigan study of the effect of race and religion on adolescent use of alcohol, cigarettes and marijuana. See a data table.
• A poll of Tennessee residents by Middle Tennessee State University indicated an increasing importance of race and religion in people’s social and political views, according to a March 10, 2004, story by the Tennessean.
• Read a 2002 Intelligence Report by the Southern Poverty Law Center about the World Church of the Creator. Contact the center through its Web site.