I have to conclude, oh, the best people are all somebody other than my own race. So that's difficult. How do we interpret the Bible? Should we stress things like justice and that God is somebody who cares about equality of all people? Or is he a God of love and a God who's there to give me an afterlife?
Michael EmersonBut what we found in the study is that churches are ten times less diverse than the neighborhoods they sit in. So there's something more going on than just reflecting the neighborhood, yeah.
Michael EmersonSo different groups have different definitions, and then they clash on those. So it takes adept leadership to say we're going to work through these.
Michael EmersonIn part because they had no choice, right? If you were a slave, you did what the master said. And they said to worship: "You're going to worship with us."
Michael EmersonI see it happen in uniracial congregations all the time. But people - when they're in mixed company, we speak differently.
Michael EmersonThere's one denomination in particular, though, that has pushed very hard to be multiracial in its denomination - not only its denomination but, I mean, in its congregations, and it's called the Evangelical Covenant Church, http://www.covchurch.org/ which is headquartered in Chicago. Their whole goal is that's the kind of churches they start, multiracial, and I think they say now 20 percent of their churches are that.
Michael EmersonIt's one of the things we find in these congregations is that they are much more likely to be sort of up-beat worship styles, more likely that people in these congregations say "Amen," maybe get up and dance some, tend to be a little bit more lively than a typical white service would be, but not as lively as a typical black service would be.
Michael Emerson