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Bridging Racial Change: Political Orientations in the United States Evangelical Multiracial Church Movement

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 June 2010

Nancy Wadsworth
Nancy Wadsworth*
Affiliation:
University of Denver
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Nancy Wadsworth, Department of Political Science, University of Denver, Sturm Hall 474, 2000 East Asbury, Denver, CO 80208. E-mail: nwadswor@du.edu
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Abstract

Recent years have witnessed the rise of a multiracial church (MRC) movement in American evangelicalism. Leaders of this movement articulate a “biblical mandate”-based mission for breaking patterns of racial homogeneity in pursuit of more diverse, egalitarian, and vibrant churches. While participants are passionate about what they see as a powerful racial change effort in their religious communities, they express a variety of orientations about the potential political implications of faith-based MRC-building. Drawing from interview-based research inside MRC settings, I find that most participants are nervously interested in applying their framework to political contexts, while a minority articulates a more politicized justice orientation, and others are confused or actively resistant. The movement's political reluctance is instructive of the understudied dynamics between race and religion, especially in theologically conservative churches. In social capital terms, the “bonding” incentives of MRC settings by definition require difficult kinds of “bridging,” or reaching across deep historical and identity-based differences, in order to create trust-based networks where they have not existed. When successful, however, such networks can open new paths to race-related political engagement.

Type
Articles
Information
Politics and Religion , Volume 3 , Issue 3 , December 2010 , pp. 439 - 468
Copyright
Copyright © Religion and Politics Section of the American Political Science Association 2010

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