Why do people worship separately?

[mk159]

Why is it that most activities are integrated but churches are still segregated?

 

[Darkwind]

Because they all have differing interpretations of the 'Word'.....

 

[mk159]

I understand that people all over the world have different beliefs, but specially in the U.S. why do whites and African Americans go to separate churches?

 

[R.D.]

I understand that people all over the world have different beliefs, but specially in the U.S. why do whites and African Americans go to separate churches?

In my church we don't

 

[hjmick]

Why is this thread in the "Immigration/Illegal Immigration" forum?

 

[Darkwind]

I understand that people all over the world have different beliefs, but specially in the U.S. why do whites and African Americans go to separate churches?

I think you are generalizing too much. I don't see that happening all that much, but if it is, then the logical conclusion is that they worshipers have chosen to do so. There is no law forcing them to do so.

 

[Pogo]

I understand that people all over the world have different beliefs, but specially in the U.S. why do whites and African Americans go to separate churches?

Hell (pun intended), why do churchgoers (of any race or races) go with different denominations of the same religion? That's actually what I thought the thread title meant.

Churches are by definition local, therefore their membership is going to reflect that community and its culture. That's a lot easier to answer than the above.

 

[Pogo]

I understand that people all over the world have different beliefs, but specially in the U.S. why do whites and African Americans go to separate churches?

I think you are generalizing too much. I don't see that happening all that much, but if it is, then the logical conclusion is that they worshipers have chosen to do so. There is no law forcing them to do so.

Yeah, "segregated" is a wee bit of a stretch.

 

[mk159]

I used the word segregated not in a way of being forced to worship separately but more as one race in one church.

 

[Darkwind]

I understand that people all over the world have different beliefs, but specially in the U.S. why do whites and African Americans go to separate churches?

I think you are generalizing too much. I don't see that happening all that much, but if it is, then the logical conclusion is that they worshipers have chosen to do so. There is no law forcing them to do so.

Yeah, "segregated" is a wee bit of a stretch.

I thought he was asking why there are so many differing denominations. *shrugs*

Oh well..

 

[Luddly Neddite]

I didn't know they do but then, I don't go to a lot of churches.

One of the last times I was in a church, it was for a black man's funeral at a baptist church. The crowd was pretty equally mixed and it was a pretty rowdy celebration of one person's life. But, that was some years ago.

Why is this in Immigration? Seems like an odd choice.

 

[Pogo]

I used the word segregated not in a way of being forced to worship separately but more as one race in one church.

You should understand that force is what "segregation" means. Perhaps the word you're looking for is homogenization.

If a church were "segregated" it would mean that some new face of a different color would be rejected from participating. Does that happen?

The church I grew up in was, as I learned later in life, Irish Catholic. That wasn't because it had a screening process or kept others out; it's simply because that's what made up the local Catholic neighborhood. Not that complex.

Sometimes we attribute motivations that aren't there. For instance that neighborhood I grew up in in Suburbia might have been described under what some call "white flight". But the reality is what people were "fleeing" was the condensed confinement of the City, or more correctly they were attracted to wide open spaces of this new land just recently cut out of a forest, where you could have your own yard, both front and back, and your neighbor's house wasn't physically connected to your own. In fact the neighborhoods we came from were also white. But when demographers with an agenda get hold of it, it becomes "white flight".

 

[koshergrl]

This is apparently a deep and complex concept that never occurred to the OP.

 

[dadsgm]

Why is it that most activities are integrated but churches are still segregated?

Because it is their right to and we should only wonder why or have the gumption to ask members of other religions Why. It is how you learn and learn to understand.

 

[Pogo]

This question really ain't rocket surgery. Going to church is as much a social community function as it is a spiritual one -- with some people and cultures, even more so. Therefore what church you go to is most likely going to comprise other people you know with which you have culture and community in common. Otherwise there's not a whole lot of point in it.