ABSTRACT
"Religion" can mean church attendance, participation in the communal activities of a congregation, private devotional activities, a variety of different religious beliefs, or denominational choice. Moreover, the dependent variables in these studies are also complex. Laura A Reese and Ronald E. Brown provide an interesting advance in the study of the link between religion and racial attachment. They are interested not just in church attendance and belief, but what the parishioner hears in church. This chapter utilizes the term racial solidarity to encompass the beliefs that African Americans should support the entrepreneurial and political efforts of other blacks that black children should be taught about their African heritage, and that blacks are better off marrying other blacks. The higher level of racial solidarity among black men than among black women is also consistent with at least some prior work. Black men seem to be more of a target of violent racism than are black women.
