Religion Among Ethnic and Racial Minorities

Churches of racial and ethnic minorities have developed and exist to serve the religious and social needs of these groups. This function has been shaped and reinforced by practices of racial and ethnic discrimination in American society. The goals and programs of racial and ethnic churches are affected by such factors as the movement toward desegregation and integration, the aspiration to full participation in community life, mobility, urbanization, and changes in socio-economic status. Although ethnic churches for persons of European background have virtually disappeared in America, churches of other ethnic and racial minority groups—Negro, Puerto Rican, Spanish-speaking people of the Southwest, American Indian, Chinese American, and Japanese American— continue to exist as significant institutions. Both the Protestant and the Roman Catholic churches recognize that discrimination and segregation contradict their basic beliefs and teachings. There has been a movement toward desegregation and integration within the life of the churches themselves. Because the pattern of ethnic and racial segregation in the churches is related to the pattern of ethnic and racial segregation in society, the churches have had to concern themselves with the elimination of policies and practices of discrimination and segregation in all areas of community life.