Mighty Like A River: The Black Protestant Church and Violence In Black Communities

• In Event: Covariates of Race-Specific Violence

Abstract

Despite significant public, political, and academic interest in exploring the socio-structural and demographic correlates of black violent crime at the macro-level, little empirical attention has been devoted to the role played by the black Protestant church and its adherents. Yet, both historical treatments of the black church, as well as a number of prominent sociological theories, suggest that black Protestantism should work to mitigate social problems like crime and violence, especially in the kinds of disadvantaged contexts typifying many black communities. Using information drawn from the 2010 Religious Congregations and Membership Survey (RCMS) paired with race-specific Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) program, decennial Census, and American Community Survey data, the current study finds that (a) black Protestant adherence is negatively associated with black violence; (b) this association is significantly stronger in locales with greater levels of structural disadvantage; and (c) these patterns do not extend to overall violence nor are other religious traditions associated with black violence in the same manner as is the historically black church. We conclude by discussing the ongoing public discourse regarding the contemporary role of the black Protestant church, as well as suggest directions for future research that would build off of and extend the current study.

Authors

• Casey Taggart Harris, University of Arkansas

• Jeffery T. Ulmer, Pennsylvania State University