Race, Region, and Religious Involvement: A Comparative Study of Whites and African Americans

This research examines (1) whether a comparative study of African Americans and whites in a nationwide sample hears out the widespread assumption of a distinctive African American religiosity (when region and other factors are controlled), and (2) whether any race differences provide support for the “semi-involuntary” interpretation of African American religious involvements. Using data from the 1974–94 General Social Surveys, we examine how a variety of indicators of religious involvement vary by race and region. We find two basic types of evidence qualifying the assertion of a generalized heightened religiosity among African Americans. First, in analyzing three major subregions of the U.S., we find that African Americans, compared with whites, are no more religiously involved in the rural South, exhibit consistently higher religious involvement in the urban South, and show lower levels of religious involvement in the urban North. Second, in analyzing various types of church attendance (i.e., “weekly,” “intermittent,” and “infrequent”), we find that African American church attendance is distinctive mainly at an intermittent (e.g., monthly) rather than weekly level. These findings suggest that the rural South produces distinctive patterns of church attendance across racial lines, perhaps reflecting the legacy of segregation and the central importance of the church in rural community life. The markedly different urban patterns by region point to some important areas for further research into the semi-involuntary thesis.