Gerardo Marti

Research shows that church attendance increasingly correlates with conservative political views and racial attitudes, particularly among White Christians. Despite increasing diversity in American society, Sunday services remain highly segregated such that worship practices, fellowship networks, and shared religious beliefs often reinforce, rather than challenge, racial divisions. This article suggests ways in which churches can embody the prophetic call for justice by moving beyond performative inclusion to sustained efforts that dismantle racism. In doing so, clergy, staff, and lay leaders must avoid merely symbolic allyship and enact substantive actions, even in the face of tensions and disagreements among their own members.

Research shows that church attendance increasingly correlates with conservative political views and racial attitudes, particularly among White Christians. Despite increasing diversity in American society, Sunday services remain highly segregated such that worship practices, fellowship networks, and shared religious beliefs often reinforce, rather than challenge, racial divisions. This article suggests ways in which churches can embody the prophetic call for justice by moving beyond performative inclusion to sustained efforts that dismantle racism. In doing so, clergy, staff, and lay leaders must avoid merely symbolic allyship and enact substantive actions, even in the face of tensions and disagreements among their own members.

It took a very long time before I encountered the systematic study of religious processes and dynamics as a distinctive and expansive area of scholarship. Using an autobiographical account, I trace the development of my scholarship in the social scientific study of religion. I have now experienced a great diversity of approaches to the study of religion. Driven by insatiable curiosity and knowing that no one can capture religion comprehensively, I now am committed to stimulating imaginative, rigorous, and wide-ranging developments in religious scholarship. We require new, inventive, and even incompatible approaches to our study of religion if we ever hope to try adequately grasping the richness of religion.