Divided by Faith: Evangelical Religion and the Problem of Race in America

by Michael O. Emerson

As the message of reconciliation spread to a white audience, it was popularized. The racial reconciliation message given to the mass audience is individual reconciliation.44 That is, individuals of different races should develop strong, committed relationships. There is also need to repent of individual prejudice. These are the means to reducing racial strife and division. Missing from this formula are the system-changing components of the original formulations. The more radical component of reconciliation espoused by the early black leaders and many of the current leaders—to challenge social systems of injustice and inequality, to confess social sin—is almost wholly absent in the popularized versions.