Survey: Opposing racism is key element in Black religious identity

Oct. 19 (UPI) -- Opposing racism is an important part of religious identity for a large majority Black adults in the United States, according to a survey released Tuesday.

Around 75% of Black Americans across a broad spectrum of religious beliefs said fighting racism "is essential to what being a faithful or moral person means," according to a Pew Research Center survey.

Religious opposition to racism is strongest among those who also say that being Black is a very important part of their personal identity (78%), the survey found -- the figure drops to 70% of those for whom being Black is less important.

The majorities linking anti-racism to religion were spread across all groups, from Black Protestants -- regardless of the race of their congregations -- to Black Catholics and other Christians, such as Jehovah's Witnesses, Orthodox Christians and other groups, the researchers said.

Black non-Christians, such as Muslims and followers of traditional African or Afro-Caribbean religions, likewise overwhelmingly responded (82%) that opposing racism is essential to their religious values and sense of morality.

Meanwhile, in a related question about race, two-thirds of Black adults said being Black is a very important part of how they think about themselves, led by Black Protestants (70%), Catholics (60%) and the religiously unaffiliated (62%), according to the poll.

But despite the importance placed on racial identity, a third question found that solid majorities of Black respondents believe it's important for their religious congregations to become more diverse.

About 60% of Black Americans say that historically Black congregations should try to "become more racially and ethnically diverse," compared to just one-third who say historically Black congregations should try to "preserve their traditional racial character."

The Pew researchers surveyed a total 8,660 Black adults between Nov. 19, 2019, and June 3, 2020, using a combination of four high-quality, probability-based samples.

After accounting for the reduction in precision from weighting, the margin of sampling error was 1.5 percentage points at the 95% level of confidence.