Religion in Civil Society: The Influence of Black Religious Ecology on Crime in the South

• In Event: Religious Identification, Institutions, and Civil Society

Abstract

The civil society perspective predicts that civic and voluntary organizations promote the welfare of communities by enhancing social capital and cohesion. Due to historical processes related to adaptation in the context of systemic oppression, discourse in the Black Church often focuses on not both piety and social justice. This study therefore examines the role of black religious ecology on crime in the southern United States. With data from the 2010 Religious Census, I used spatial regression analyses to estimate models of property and violent crime arrest rates from the UCR in 799 southern counties. In main effects models, Black Protestant affiliation rates were negatively associated with county-level property crime arrest rates, but unrelated to violent crime arrest rates. Interactive models revealed that Black Protestant affiliation was most protective of property crime in counties with the most resource disadvantage. While black Protestant affiliation was protective of both property and violent crime in low income counties, it had a positive associations with arrest rates in high income counties. Findings have implications for the study of race, religion, and crime. They also that more scholarship should examine racialized law enforcement practices in high income counties.

Author

• Robert Alan Thomson, The University of Alabama in Huntsville