Does Christianity make people prejudiced?

     

Working at Dollywood has exposed me to people with whom I would not otherwise have associated. 

 

It’s no secret that the evangelical church is divided along racial/ethnic lines; evangelicals rarely engage in meaningful interactions outside of our mostly homogenous church groups. Sociologists report that over 90 percent of all American churches are composed of congregations that are at least 90 percent racially homogenous and even though American society is increasing in diversity, American churches are decreasing in diversity.  Social psychologists have found a significant correlation between Christian religiosity and racial prejudice. The more people identify with Christianity, the more they display racial prejudice.

 

 

We naturally create group categories that distinguish us versus them. This distinction is good for group formation; we have a stronger group identity and greater group solidarity when we can easily distinguish ourselves from other groups. However, when it comes to the way we categorize Christians, our fellow church members are mostly, if not entirely, composed of ethnically-similar others. The people who belong to our homogenous church group with whom we interact on a regular basis are the people with whom we most closely associate the term “Christian.”  We automatically and nonconsciously apply the term “Christian” exclusively to our church group and not to the broader, diverse body of Christ. As a result, ethnically-dissimilar Christians are treated like the outsiders they are perceived to be.

 

 

When we get beyond the comfort of our racially-homogenous churches, we will begin to associate the term “Christian” with those who do not necessarily look, think, talk, or act like us. Only then will we begin to embody the unity and diversity for which the Church was intended.