The Black Church

Faith and Black Americans

 

The so called Back church has played a historic role in the lives of African Americans. A recent Pew Research report shows that the Black American religious life is diverse, with a wide range of religious affiliations, worship practices and beliefs. 

 

Based on a survey of 8,660 Black and African American adults – including some who identify as both Black and Hispanic or Black and another race – the report examines the high levels of religious commitment among Black Americans and the large share who are Protestants. The report also explores new questions, including the role of churches, views on gender and belief in God.

 

They find that Black Protestants are far more likely than Black Catholics to attend a Black church. Two-thirds of Black Protestants who attend religious services at least a few times a year go to a church where most of the congregation and leaders are Black, while only 17% of Mass-going Black Catholics worship at a Black church. Among Black adults of other faiths – including those who identify with Christian and non-Christian faiths – 29% attend Black places of worship.

 

However, most Black Americans value racial diversity in religious spaces. Six-in-ten Black Americans say historically Black congregations should become more racially and ethnically diverse (61%),

 

Interestingly, if they were looking for a new congregation, 63% of Black adults say finding one where the attendees share their race or ethnicity would be “not too important” or “not at all important,” while 34% say it would be “very important” or “somewhat important.” Most Black adults who go to Black congregations hold these views, as do a majority of those who go to a congregation largely made up of White Americans or people of another race.

 

Black Americans who attend Black Protestant churches are more likely than others to say they have heard sermons on politics and race. According to the survey, 47% of Black churchgoers who attend Black Protestant churches heard sermons that address topics such as race relations and racial inequality in the prior 12 months, and a similar share say they heard sermons on voting, protesting or other forms of political engagement. 

 

By comparison, 35% of Black Protestants who attend White Protestant churches or churches where some other race is the majority say they heard sermons on race relations, and 26% said they heard sermons on political engagement. Black Catholics, meanwhile, were about as likely as Black Protestants to have heard sermons on race relations (41%), and less likely to have heard them on political engagement (31%), but they were far more likely to have heard sermons on abortion – 35% of Black Catholics heard sermons on abortion in the year prior, versus 19% of Black adults who attend Black Protestant churches.

 

Young Black Americans are less likely than their elders to attend a Black congregation. Three-in-ten adults in Generation Z (ages 18 to 23 when they took the survey) and a similar share of Millennials (ages 24 to 39) attend religious services at a Black congregation. This compares with almost half of Baby Boomers (ages 56 to 74) and half of Black adults in the Silent Generation and older (born before 1946). This generational gap is driven both by the fact that younger Black adults are less likely to attend religious services regularly and that those who do attend are more likely to go to a congregation where the majority is White or another race.

 

When it comes to gender roles, many Black congregations emphasize men’s experiences and leadership more than women’s. About seven-in-ten Black Americans say opposing sexism and discrimination against women is essential to being a faithful or moral person, nearly the same as the share who say opposing racism is essential. However, Black Americans who attend religious services at least a few times a year are much less likely to have heard sermons on sexism (28%) than on racism (42%). And although the majority of Black Americans believe that mothers and fathers who live in the same household should share parenting (86%) and financial responsibilities (73%) equally, those who attend religious services are more likely to say their congregations emphasize men’s financial role in the family (64%) more than women’s (35%). Likewise, about six-in-ten Black congregants say their houses of worship emphasize the need for men to be role models in Black communities, while about half say theirs emphasize this for women.

 

African immigrants more likely than U.S.-born and Caribbean-born to say religion very important to them

Black Americans who were born in the U.S. are less religiously engaged and less socially conservative than immigrants from Africa. 

 

Most Black Americans pray regularly, and prayer plays a variety of roles in their lives. Eight-in-ten Black Americans pray at least a few times a month, including 63% who pray daily. Black Americans are much more likely to say they rely “a lot” on prayer and religious reflection (56%) than on advice from religious leaders (18%) when making major life decisions. In fact, Black Protestants are about as likely to rely on prayer when making major decisions (72%) as to rely on their own research (67%). In addition, about three-quarters of Black Americans (78%) say that prayer can heal physical illness. And a third of Black Americans say that prayers to ancestors can protect them.

 

Most religiously unaffiliated Black adults believe in God

For example, 94% of Black adults in that category say they believe in God or a higher power, and 60% say they pray at least a few times a month. Furthermore, adults who say they are “nothing in particular” (40%) are more likely than Black Protestants (30%) and atheists or agnostics (16%) to believe that prayers to ancestors can protect them from harm.

 

 

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Source: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/02/16/10-new-findings-about-faith-among-black-americans/