ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the results of a large-scale, nationwide field experiment that tests how Christian churches welcome potential newcomers as a function of the newcomers’ race and ethnicity. It examines both if major Christian denominations discriminate and which racial and ethnic groups receive the most discrimination. Racial segregation in American Christianity reinforces racial inequality throughout society. Religious congregations constitute the most extensive voluntary associations in the United States, involving over half of all Americans. Racial segregation alienates religious groups from each other, separating them into exclusive groups. Religious racial segregation also redirects social resources. All major Christian traditions share a central theological tenet to spread their religion to people outside the church: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations”. Most mainline Protestant denominations actively speak out against racial discrimination, emphasize structural justice, and support racial integration. The pattern of discrimination that we observed fit with processes of homophily as expressed through statistical discrimination.
