Christian Cosmopolitanism: Faith Communities Talk Immigration

• In Event: The Effects of Religion on Policy Attitudes

Abstract

In response to American society's growing political polarization, many civil society organizations have implemented dialogue programs to build mutual understanding across differences. Since immigration is one of the most dividing issues among the public, it has also been a common topic in civic dialogue programs. Faith communities are among the organizations that have implemented dialogues on immigration, bringing into question the capacity of religion to connect people across differences. Historically, religion has played an ambiguous role in immigration, from religious intolerance leading to the displacement of religious minorities to religious institutions providing social services to immigrants. Based on a thematic and relational analysis of twenty-one sessions of a dialogue program on immigration held in Christian congregations, this study argues that dialogues that consider both conflict/difference and collaboration/similarity between immigrants and US-born people allow for equity and mutual understanding among participants. Especially salient was the solidarity that emerged between Latino and African American participants on the basis of a shared marginalization in US society. These accomplishments suggest that the dialogues unleashed the cosmopolitan potential of Christianity. There were, however, important limitations, such as the self-selection of predominantly liberal Christians into the dialogues, a potential self-censoring of conservative Christians, and a lack of sustained and meaningful collaboration between participants after the dialogue.

Author

• Felipe A Filomeno, University of Maryland, Baltimore County