Religion Is Raced: Understanding American Religion in the Twenty-First Century

Grace Yukich, Penny Edgell

NYU Press, Jul 28, 2020 - Social Science - 344 pages

Demonstrates how race and power help to explain American religion in the twenty-first century

When White people of faith act in a particular way, their motivations are almost always attributed to their religious orientation. Yet when religious people of color act in a particular way, their motivations are usually attributed to their racial positioning.

Religion Is Raced makes the case that religion in America has generally been understood in ways that center White Christian experiences of religion, and argues that all religion must be acknowledged as a raced phenomenon. When we overlook the role race plays in religious belief and action, and how religion in turn spurs public and political action, we lose sight of a key way in which race influences religiously-based claims-making in the public sphere.

With contributions exploring a variety of religious traditions, from Buddhism and Islam to Judaism and Protestantism, as well as pieces on atheists and humanists, Religion Is Raced brings discussions about the racialized nature of religion from the margins of scholarly and religious debate to the center. The volume offers a new model for thinking about religion that emphasizes how racial dynamics interact with religious identity, and how we can in turn better understand the roles religion—and Whiteness—play in politics and public life, especially in the United States. It includes clear recommendations for researchers, including pollsters, on how to better recognize moving forward that religion is a raced phenomenon.

With contributions by Joseph O. Baker, Kelsy Burke, James Clark Davidson, Janine Giordano Drake, Ashley Garner, Edward Orozco Flores, Sikivu Hutchinson, Sarah Imhoff, Russell Jeung, John Jimenez, Jaime Kucinskas, Eric Mar, Gerardo Martí, Omar M. McRoberts, Besheer Mohamed, Dawne Moon, Jerry Z. Park, Z. Fareen Parvez, Theresa W. Tobin, and Rhys H. Williams.

Contents

• Recognizing Raced Religion: 1
• Raced Religion and US Politics: 17
• Civil Religion and Black Church Political Mobilization: 40
• Intersectional Politics among Atheists and Humanists: 58
• Assuming Whiteness in Twentieth Century: 74
• Raced Religion and Gender and Sexualities: 93
• Race and the Religious Possibilities for Sexuality: 114
• Gender and the Racialization of Muslims: 134
• Raced Religion and Social Class: 157
• Raced Religion and Immigration: 199
• Religion Race and Immigration in Community Organizing: 227
• Measuring Raced Religion: 249
• Beyond Black and White in Measuring Racial Identity: 275
• Race Gender and Avowing or Avoiding the Stigma: 293
• Centering Race in the Study of American: 313
• Acknowledgments: 323
• Index: 333

About the author

Grace Yukich is Associate Professor of Sociology at Quinnipiac University and author of One Family Under God: Immigration Politics and Progressive Religion in America.

Penny Edgell is Professor of Sociology at the University of Minnesota and author of Congregations in Conflict and Religion and Family in a Changing Society.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Religion Is Raced: Understanding American Religion in the Twenty-First Century
• Editors: Grace Yukich, Penny Edgell
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: NYU Press, 2020
• ISBN: 1479808679, 9781479808670
• Length: 344 pages
• Subjects: Religion / Comparative Religion; Social Science / Race & Ethnic Relations; Social Science / Sociology of Religion