wfn.org | Faith plays key role in African Americans' lives, study shows

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July 6, 2000 News media contact: Linda Green·(615)742-5470·Nashville, Tenn.
10-31-71B{318}

A UMNS News Feature
By Linda Green*

Faith enables African Americans to maintain a positive outlook on life
despite economic and societal obstacles, a new study shows.

The study, conducted by Ventura, Calif.,-based Barna Research Group,
examines African Americans' lifestyles, attitudes, relationships and faith.
The results nullify many stereotypes that whites and others have about black
people and black churches, according to Barna.

African-American leaders in the United Methodist Church are not surprised by
the findings.

"The only way our people have survived, when other cultures have been wiped
out, was through the tenacious belief in God," said the Rev. A. Okechukwu
Ogbonnaya, vice president of editorials for the Urban Ministry Inc. in
Chicago. Despite of crisis after crisis, whether natural or manmade, blacks
believe that "God is fundamentally good and that God has our salvation in
mind," he said. Urban Ministry Inc. is an African-American Christian
publishing company.

Ogbonnaya, an ordained United Methodist pastor and a native of Enugu,
Nigeria, said neither Africans nor African Americans view salvation as
individualistic. "Our goal is the total salvation of the community," he
said. "Our premise is grounded in the belief that God participates in our
lives, regardless of whether circumstances are good or bad. His presence is
there, and we will be wherever God is and whatever God is. We can overlook
what humans are doing," he said. 

The survey, "African Americans and Their Faith," covered 1,100 black adults,
about 400 black teen-agers and 400 pastors of black Christian churches
across the country. It found that faith is significant in the lives of
African Americans. 

"Reliance on the principles of their Christian faith, more than anything
else, explains how this segment has been able to maintain a positive outlook
on life in the midst of challenging experiences," said Barna researchers.

Moreover, 94 percent of the responses show that the top goal of black
Americans is to have a close, personal relationship with God.

Marilyn Magee, director of the Office of African American Ministries at the
United Methodist Board of Discipleship in Nashville, Tenn., said she found
the study's percentage of those wanting a close relationship with God
somewhat surprising because of demographics. She cautioned that this figure
should be set in context; that the percentage would prove true for adults
older than 40. Given that more than half of all African Americans are less
than 30 years old, this percentage might not prove true for the overall
population, she said.

According to the study, 92 percent of blacks believe that in times of crisis
they are "absolutely certain" they can count on God to answer their prayers.

"Reliance on the Christian faith is not to be assumed to be a weakness,"
said Andris Salter, executive director of the Strengthening the Black Church
for the 21st Century Initiative, a United Methodist program based in Dayton,
Ohio. "African Americans are self-reliant with the understanding that God is
the center for decisions."

The depth of faith for African Americans is a much higher proportion than is
found among either whites or Hispanics, the study revealed. Black adults are
also substantially more likely than any other ethnic group to believe that
the Bible is totally accurate in all that it teaches, the report said.
Furthermore, half of all black adults directly attribute their ability to
handle prejudice and to endure the injustice that they encounter to their
focus on their anticipated life after death, based on their faith in Christ.
"What the researchers don't seem to understand about the prominence of faith
in the life of African Americans is that long before the Middle Passage (the
route of the former slave trade across the Atlantic from West Africa to
America), our forebears knew about the great mystery of God," Magee said.
"It was easy to adopt the Christian faith. We have always known that we are
more than physical beings. We are God's own spirit creatures as well."
The study indicated that most African-American adults maintain that the only
reason to live is to know, love and serve God, but it also observed that a
similar percentage of black adults rely on faith as a source of emotional
strength. 
"A people that have made such great strides in the face of such overwhelming
odds could not attribute that success to themselves," Salter said. "It had
to be a God of grace, mercy and insurmountable love to get us over the hump
and (who) continues to do so."
The study revealed numerous indicators of the centrality of the Christian
church in the lives of black adults, Barna said.   
For African Americans over 40, the church is central, Magee said. That is
also true of the teens surveyed who are active in congregations. The church
may not be central for those outside of the denominations who participated,
she said.

"God has always been the center of African-American homes," Salter said.
"Turning to God for help is a way of life. Faith is front and center ... we
make no apology for this."

Researchers noted that one of the most telling findings in the study was the
fact that two-thirds of all African-American adults listed pastors as the
most important leaders and primary spokespeople for the black community. 
Historically, African Americans have revered their religious leaders. This
cultural aspect of character can be traced back to Africa, Ogbonnaya said.
"It is part of African tradition, a tradition that calls for us to respect
our religious leaders. It is a concept that African Americans did not lose."
In the African context as well as in the African-American context, there is
the belief that God calls religious leaders, and giving respect to them is a
logical outgrowth, he said.
Among the black pastors surveyed, the most commonly listed church priority
was helping people in crisis. Another dominant role of the church was to
bring black people together and connect them around a common purpose.
When asked if the primary role of the church was making disciples or helping
people in crisis, Ogbonnaya said it is both. "Discipleship is not distinct
from helping people from crisis," he said.  "Salvation has always been
holistic, never one-sided." 
^From the African context, "salvation is inclusive of all of life, and
African Americans have retained that," he said. "Neither makes a distinction
between a person's crisis and that person's religious salvation. A person in
crisis is a candidate for the experience of God," Ogbonnaya said. "Crisis is
an instrument of discipleship."
When assisting someone in crisis, Ogbonnaya said he is "injecting divinity
into the person's consciousness. The biggest question a person in crisis
asks is: Where is God? A true disciple would say I have to show them God in
the context of their crisis."
The profile of blacks' attitudes and their faith commitment stands in stark
contrast to the profile of the Caucasian population of the United States,
said George Barna, president of the research organization.
"Placing the profile of whites and blacks side by side is like looking at
people from different sides of the planet," he said in the report. "While
whites tend to be self-reliant, blacks are more likely to rely on God.
Whites persevere on the basis of their drive to achieve; blacks, on the
basis of their faith. Whites turn to business leaders and government
officials to represent them in the world; blacks support their religious
leaders. These two groups have very divergent strategies for interpreting
and dealing with virtually every aspect of life."
According to the study, the prevailing stereotype is that the black
population in the United States has retained its sense of community and
common purpose. However, the research compiled from responses of black
adults, teen-agers and pastors suggests most blacks feel that the community
cohesiveness and reliance has been lost.
Salter disagrees. "I believe that African Americans value community as much
today as ever." She acknowledged the presence of some blacks in isolated
situations who need community, but she also said that community for African
Americans not only includes the immediate area where one lives but also
family, church, work and friends.
The Barna survey also indicates that three out of every four black adults
(74 percent) and almost two-thirds of black teen-agers (62 percent) concur
that race relations in America are getting worse rather than better. Barna
noted that whites have the opposite perspective. The research also said that
the probability of blacks banding together today to address such issues is
limited by the fact that only one out of every three African-American adults
(34 percent) claims that there is a real sense of unity among blacks these
days. 
"Silence is not consent nor contentment," Magee said. "What may seem to be a
lack of loud cries does not mean that all is well." Depending on the issue,
there can be an upsurge, she said. For example, she noted the recent outcry
and protests that occurred following an instance of police brutality in New
York. "It is a shared perspective among blacks that blacks are treated
differently by the police and the justice system," she said. 
Sometimes silence arises because of a lack of insight on how to handle an
issue, she explained.
Salter went a step further by saying that looks can be deceiving, and unity
among African Americans has not dissipated but has surfaced in new ways.
"The unity is different than it was in the '60s and '70s, but so are the
issues and how to address them. This does not mean that unity among African
Americans is dead." 
She noted examples in which banning together produced tangible results
today. Unity among blacks has broadened American's perspective on police
brutality, hate crimes, the death penalty and many forms of discrimination,
she said. "The Million Man March had the same effect as the March on
Washington, (and) black unity is a powerful key to America and a fear among
whites."
George Barna also noted that some stereotypes about blacks would die hard
among whites. "For most whites, the perspectives of black people make no
sense," he said. "Being happy in spite of a very high proportion of
single-parent families, feeling financially comfortable in spite of
substantially lower household incomes, and describing themselves as
successful despite being shut out of the highest ranks of government and
corporate America makes no sense to the average white person. 
"But what most whites don't comprehend is that African Americans perceive
and approach life on the basis of completely different assumptions," he
said. "This confusion explains why reconciliation efforts have largely
failed in our country. Whites are trying to bring about reconciliation based
on a white view of reality and within the context of white lifestyles and
goals."
The two races operate from different points of view and different realities,
Magee said. "Some say that we are beyond slavery issues, but the Middle
Passage, de-facto segregation and the right to be and exist has occupied
African-American history for so long. Among the issues today, we are working
with vestiges of these kinds of experiences. Whites do not have this
experience.
"However, we must be clear," she said. "Whites have not always obtained
their success by hard work and fairness."
In comparing groups of people, on the economic surface, poor is poor, she
said. "But the realization is that there is not nor has there ever been a
level playing field or a beginning from the same place in the race." Things
are not similar across the spectrum but are vastly different in terms of
accessibility, she said. "Whites have access because of privilege."
More information about the study can be found at http://www.barna.org on the
Internet.
# # #
*Green is news director of United Methodist News Service's Nashville, Tenn.,
office.

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United Methodist News Service
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