Pew Research reports that; Opposing racism is an integral part of religious identity for many Black adults. Three-quarters of Black Americans say that opposing racism is essential to their faith or sense of morality, a view that extends across faith traditions. Those who say that being Black is a very important part of their personal identity (78%) are more likely than those for whom being Black is less important (70%) to view opposition to racism this way. 

[Pew does not indicate what exactly it means by racism. According to FUNKTIONARY, Racism White Supremacy - psychopathic degeneracy. 2) "The local and global power system and dynamic, structured and maintained by persons who classify themselves as white, whether consciously or subconsciously determined, which consists of patterns of perception, logic, symbol formation, thought, speech, action and emotional response, as conducted simultaneously in all areas of people activity (economics, education, entertainment, labour, law, politics, religion, sex and war); for the ultimate purpose of white genetic survival and to prevent white genetic annihilation on planet earth—a planet upon which the vast majority of people are classified as non-white (Black, Brown, Red and Yellow) by white skinned people, and all of the nonwhite people are genetically dominant (in terms of skin coloration) compared to the genetic recessive white skin people." -Dr. Francis Cress Welsing, MD. Hate and oppression can never reign. Only love is supreme.]

The majority of Black Protestants – regardless of the race of their congregations – along with Black Catholics and other Christians, such as Jehovah’s Witnesses, Orthodox Christians and other groups, say that opposing racism is essential to what being a Christian means to them. Likewise, the majority of Black non-Christians – including Muslims, adherents of traditional African or Afro-Caribbean religions and other groups – say that opposing racism is essential to what their faith means to them (82%). And 71% of Black religiously unaffiliated adults say that opposing racism is essential to their sense of morality.

While race factors significantly into what Black Americans’ faith means to them, it is also a key component of their personal identities. Two-thirds of Black adults say being Black is a very important part of how they think about themselves. Black Protestants (70%) are somewhat more likely than Catholics (60%) and the religiously unaffiliated (62%) to say that being Black is a very important part of their personal identity. Among Protestants, three-quarters of those who attend Black churches (76%) say that being Black is very important to how they think of themselves, as do 65% of those who go to multiracial churches and 56% of those who attend churches where most are White or another race.

While race is important to many Black Americans’ personal identities and faith, large numbers of Black Americans are open to increased diversity in historically Black congregations. About six-in-ten Black Americans say that historically Black congregations should try to “become more racially and ethnically diverse,” while a third say historically Black congregations should try to “preserve their traditional racial character.”

Black adults who say that being Black is a very important part of how they think of themselves (37%) are more likely than those for whom being Black is less important (26%) to say that Black congregations should preserve their traditional racial character. Black Protestants and Catholics have similar views on whether Black congregations should diversify. Black Protestants who attend churches where White people or some other racial or ethnic group make up the majority are only slightly more likely than those who attend Black churches to say that Black congregations should diversify (69% vs. 62%, respectively)