Where Would You Go? Race, Religion, and the Limits of Pastor Mental Health Care in Black and Latino Congregations

A growing body of literature explores how religious congregations shape attitudes toward mental health in racial/ethnic minority communities. Such research has primarily focused on the views of Black clergy and congregants, limiting our ability to understand how the views of Black Christians might differ from Christians in other racial/ethnic minority communities. We drew on focus groups with 14 pastors and interviews with 20 congregants from Black and Latino churches in Houston, Texas, to examine how church members make decisions about where to seek mental health care or direct others for help. We found that both Black and Latino Christians prefer seeking spiritual resources, like their pastor, when dealing with mental health issues, even though pastors feel limited in their ability to help congregants. The preferences of members of each racial/ethnic group, however, were driven by different logics. While Black Christians in this study sought spiritual resources based on perceived norms within the broader Black community, Latino Christians relied on pastoral care due to norms in their individual congregation. The results shed light on how religious beliefs, race/ethnicity, and social class intersect to shape attitudes toward mental health care in ways that have implications for potential partnerships between churches and mental health care providers.

To Condemn or Not to Condemn: Perceived Climates Concerning Sexual Orientation in Black Churches

Although the United States is becoming more accepting of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer (LGBQ) identities, black people are still more likely than the general population to disapprove of non-heterosexuality. Previous research points to the conservative views of the Black Church as a potential explanation for this disparity, but few studies have considered the diversity of perspectives within the Black Church. Drawing upon in-depth interviews with black Christians, this article examines how black congregants experience their churches’ climates concerning sexual orientation. Findings suggest that black congregations tend to foster climates that are not affirming of non-heterosexuality; however, they vary in how they demonstrate non-affirmation. Furthermore, the study finds considerable differences in how congregants perceive and make sense of their perceived church climates concerning non-heterosexuality. These results suggest that the Black Church is not monolithic in its stance concerning sexuality and have implications for efforts to promote LGBQ inclusion within congregations.

The Diminished Public, and Black Christian Promotion of American Civic Ideals

Black public activism has been guided largely by black affinities toward the U.S. Constitution, including its core democratic liberalist premises. This range of constitutionally defined political possibilities has both animated (and confined) a sense of public imagination and agency for many black Christians. Divergences and convergences between black religion-based public confidence and dissent are examined here, with reference to three paradigmatic approaches: (1) civil religious patriotism; (2) religious counter-publics; and (3) socio-religious liminality and semi-publics. Contrasts and continuities between these approaches are examined with attention to the impact of these approaches on a beleaguered and diminished American public realm and their relative affirmations or negations of broad understandings and undertakings of public purposes.

Kimpa Vita (Dona Beatriz) and “Afro-Catholicism”: reexamining controversies and unsolved problems

My paper concentrates on certain unsolved or controversial questions regarding the famous nganga marinda (person communicating with the spiritual world), prophetess and religious leader and rebel, Kimpa Vita (Dona Beatriz) (1684-1706), who - in a period of civil war - "supported" Pedro IV (Nusama a Mvemba) to conquer and maintain the throne of the Empire of Kongo (now part of Angola and the DRC) with Sao Salvador (now Mbanza Kongo) as capital, and then “betrayed” him. She has been compared to Jeanne d' Arc and black Christians have insisted that the Pope make her a saint. She believed that she was the incarnation of St. Anthony of Padua, and her followers have been called Antonines. She has also been labelled in a 2016-film "Mother of African Revolution", trying to free the slaves. The results of these political and religious actions, real or attributed to her, need re-examination and further investigation. In the same context, her Africanism, expressed in her use of traditions, the establishment of an African-Catholic indigenous version of Christianity, her symbolism and philosophy as well as references to another older prophetess, Appolonia (sic!) Mafuta, receive renewed attention. The question is asked whether and in how far her court case and execution as a heretic, resulting from interventions by the Church and the King, were related to the Inquisition. Today, it is recognized that Kimpa Vita has introduced a new theology, an African version of Catholic Christianity. Finally, a post-mortem considers her influence after her death.

“It’s Complicated”

In line with the inclusionary dilemma theme of this volume, I examine the Obama administration’s public and private exchanges with Black religious communities. In many ways, Barack Obama’s political experiences highlighted elements of the inclusionary dilemma. On one hand, Black church social networks assisted Obama in establishing a political career in Illinois politics. But this association with Black institutions, particularly Chicago’s Trinity United Church of Christ and Rev. Jeremiah Wright, would later become a political liability for Obama as he sought support from White voters in the 2008 general election. Thus, Obama’s challenge was to simultaneously appear as an advocate for African American political interests and effectively represent the nation as a whole. Since Black faith communities primarily work to advance Black interests, President Obama’s team may have limited their outreach and public backing of this constituency. At the same time, Obama called for policies with broad appeal among progressives. Using the inclusionary dilemma framework as an analytic lens, this chapter explores the administration’s actions and the political interests of Black Christians. I briefly reflect on the actions of the current US president, Donald Trump, as they relate to religion and politics in Black communities.

Violence and Atheism in the Age of Abolition

This essay offers an interpretation of certain sections of the American abolitionist movement before the Civil War. It posits that many antebellum opponents of slavery and enslaved people alike subscribed to a theory of Christianity that, following Scottish common-sense theology and the experiential, liberation-oriented Christianity of the enslaved, maintained that morality and immorality were equally comprehensible and perceivable to all humanity. When, therefore, reports of physical violence and oppression wreaked upon enslaved people in the South began circulating in the North, the conclusion that slavers must be atheists who were not truly practicing Christianity united both black Christians and white Unitarians in a common critique of slavery. The accusation that slaveholding was a form of atheism lent weight to common fears that slavery was a form of tyranny undermining the potential of American democracy among Northern Americans.

Lord Let Me Be an Instrument

This chapter examines the artistic legacy of Reverend James Cleveland, an internationally renowned musician whose sonic innovations and institution building efforts contributed to gospel music's dramatic growth in the post–civil rights era. Significant attention is given to his role as founding president of the Gospel Music Workshop of America. Created in 1967, the GMWA provided an institutional space for gospel musicians seeking to advance both their careers and black sacred music. By exploring Cleveland’s work for the GMWA, particularly his proposed gospel college in Soul City, North Carolina, along with his groundbreaking records on Savoy, this chapter underscores how black Christians' struggle for self-determination extended into the music world.

Equal Opportunity Beliefs beyond Black and White American Christianity

Scholars in critical race and the sociology of religion have independently drawn attention to the ways in which cultural ideologies drive beliefs about inequalities between groups. Critical race work on “abstract liberalism” highlights non-racially inflected language that tacitly reinforces White socioeconomic outcomes resulting from an allegedly fair social system. Sociologists of religion have noted that White Evangelical Christian theology promotes an individualist mindset that places blame for racial inequalities on the perceived failings of Blacks. Using data from the National Asian American Survey 2016, we return to this question and ask whether beliefs about the importance of equal opportunity reveal similarities or differences between religious Asian American and Latino Christians and Black and White Christians. The results confirm that White Christians are generally the least supportive of American society providing equal opportunity for all. At the other end, Black Christians were the most supportive. However, with the inclusion of Asian American Christian groups, we note that second generation Asian American and Latino Evangelicals hew closer to the White Christian mean, while most other Asian and Latino Christian groups adhere more closely to the Black Christian mean. This study provides further support for the recent claims of religion’s complex relationship with other stratifying identities. It suggests that cultural assimilation among second generation non-Black Evangelical Christians heads more toward the colorblind racist attitudes of many White Christians, whereas potential for new coalitions of Latino and Black Christians could emerge, given their shared perceptions of the persistent inequality in their communities.

If the Colour of Jesus Is not an Issue, why Are you so Incensed at the Suggestion that Jesus Is Black?

Questions around the colour of Jesus are always received with reservations. Yet, not much is said about the colour of the very same Jesus that has come to adorn homes and places of worship of many black Christians across the globe. This article engages in a conversation about the colour of Jesus. It does this while being aware of the challenges that appear to be particular to black communities who seem to expect their salvation from those who do not look like them. The colour of Jesus has been a central issue for Black Theology of Liberation. This is because this theological hermeneutic was never able to relate to a god that was not sympathetic to their lived experiences.