Is your church, synagogue, mosque, or temple racially integrated?

[Philothea]

I would say yes, but the situation is interesting.

 

We go to a very small Catholic Latin mass mission. I've been to Latin mass churches and chapels all over the US. Most of them have different skin colors. However, since we are Roman Rite, normally we get people from European descent because that was the rite of mass most common in Europe and its former colonies, so it is our heritage. But I think there are a lot of different ethnicities in other rites.

 

Either way, everyone is welcome and we're happy to have anyone join our religion.

[dragons in the flower bed]

I belong to a Messianic congregation, and we're truly a league of nations.

 

The kehilat I was part of in WY was like that, too, with African, Caribbean, black and hispanic members, as well as a few white folks from the states and a few from the Old World. Funny.

 

I'm a member of a national religious organization with a bunch of little local groups that tend to meet in public places. I've never met or seen pictures of a black or Hispanic member. It's not really that surprising, since the religion is based firmly in European history, and doesn't purport to be universal truth.

[susie in tx]

One of the things I love about our congregation is the integration. While the majority of the people are Anglo, you will find Israeli, African American, African, all sorts of Hispanic, etc. There is a Spanish ministry, which includes a Spanish meeting once a month, Spanish prayer and those who do not speak English well are given headphones so that they can hear the service in Spanish. We have many children in the under 5 age who do not speak English as a first language. So, I know a few words in Spanish that pertain specifically to that age group. :)

 

It's a neat place to be and I really like it.

[lwilliams1922]

We have a whole menagerie of races from white to hispanic to black to japanese to you name it. No one even thinks about it. Really. Not only that, we have several *gasp* mixed race marriages!

 

I ponder this question often. DH and I are of different races.

We just moved to a small military town but when ever we go to churches it seems to be 95% (or higher) once race or the other.

 

It's more cofortable to be in an envirnoment with at least some diversity.

 

I have 3 kids

The 2 youngest are 3 and 1(bi racial). They've always been with us and they don't know any color differneces. They are very social with people of any race.

 

Now my 12 year old (black) has always been in private school, till last year when we started home schooling. She does not care for being around black people much less black churches. Right now she is wanting to convert to Catholism.

 

I often wonder if i missed some cultural diversity exposure for her or what the deal is.

[dragons in the flower bed]

I often wonder if i missed some cultural diversity exposure for her or what the deal is.

 

Do you read Anti-Racist Parent? I haven't thoroughly investigated the perspective the blog-owner is writing from, but at first glance it looked like it'd be very interesting if you're into pondering this sort of question (which I am).

[Cathy in IL]

Ours is not as racially integrated as it ought to be. We do not reflect the community we are in. There is a desire among leadership and many of the members I talk with to be more diverse, but it hasn't happened yet. The leadership is intentional about bringing people of various ethnicities in to preach. They are doing many different things to help create an atmosphere conducive to racial reconciliation and increased diversity. I think it's difficult.

 

Chicago has lots of diversity, but not lots of racial reconciliation. Our church is primarily single, young, urban professionals. the ethnic diversity we do have is minimal and still fits the young, urban professional description. Yet our new building is located in Cabrini Green. On one side of the church there are the expensive townhomes that are the result of gentrification. On the other side of the church are the rowhouses of what is left of the public housing that once filled the area. The differnce is stark and obvious to even someone who knows nothing of Chicago history. There is misunderstanding and mistrust that goes both ways.

 

The church is forming partnerships with ministries and groups in the area to help build trust and to raise awareness among our members of to issues facing the community we are in. It is going to be a long road, but I am glad we are taking steps that direction.

[Parrothead]

Our town is mostly white. We do have at least one black family and they go to my church.

[Aunty Social]

Yep. We live in a predominately white area, but still seem to have attracted a diverse group. When you count all the adopted children, it gets even more diverse.

 

us too.

[Marie in Oh]

I live in a tiny midwestern town in the middle of a cornfield with a conservative liberal arts university. The town in about 99% white- farmers, university professors, and university staff make up the town of 3000. Our church reflects the lack of diversity in our town. Is that bad? No. It just is. There are probably 3 black families in our church. There are very few hispanics, asians, etc. in this area and none attend our church.

 

The funny thing is, there are two African American universities about 5 miles from here, one which has a football team. Our very white church has taken to feeding the entire football team 2 times a month during the football season every fall. There are 100 players plus coaching and athletic training staff, and they all come every other Thursday night where they are fed and ministered to. Many, many, have come to faith as a result and race relations that have been historically tense between the universities have now healed. They have hosted outreach programs together and the testimonies have been amazing.

 

So, to say it is wrong or bad, or whatever that a church isn't racially integrated is, well, not accurate. Just because a church reflects a community racially doesn't make that church prejudiced or ineffective in reaching other ethnic or racial groups. Just my thoughts.

[dirty ethel rackham]

Our community is not particularly as diverse, overwhelmingly caucasion with some Asian, east Indian, Hispanic and very few Blacks. However, our parish is more diverse than the community in which we live, but not by much.