If you’ve spent any time in a suburban American church, you’ve likely felt it. That weird, unspoken tension. You look around the pews and notice everyone looks... exactly like you. It isn't an accident. Michael O. Emerson and Christian Smith basically blew the doors off this conversation back in 2000 with their Divided by Faith book, and honestly, the shockwaves haven't settled yet. They didn't just say Sunday morning is the most segregated hour in America; they used hard data to explain why white evangelicals, even the ones who really want to be "colorblind," often make the problem worse.
It’s a tough pill to swallow.
The book is officially titled Divided by Faith: Evangelical Religion and the Problem of Race in America. It isn't just some dry academic paper. It’s a mirror. Emerson and Smith conducted over 2,000 interviews. They wanted to know why, in a religion that preaches "one in Christ," the local church remains one of the most racially divided institutions in the country. What they found wasn't a bunch of people wearing white hoods. Instead, they found a "racialized society" where well-meaning people use their own religious tools to build walls they don't even see.
The Problem With Being Colorblind
One of the most provocative arguments in the Divided by Faith book is the critique of "colorblindness." You’ve heard it before. "I don't see color; I just see people." To a lot of white evangelicals, this feels like the ultimate Christian virtue. It feels like progress. But Emerson and Smith argue that this mindset is actually a massive roadblock.
Why? Because if you refuse to see color, you refuse to see the systemic hurdles that people of color face every day.
The authors introduce this concept called the "accountability tool kit." It’s basically the set of cultural ideas evangelicals use to explain the world. This kit usually includes three things: accountable individualism, relationalism, and antistructuralism.
- Accountable Individualism: The idea that individuals are solely responsible for their own success or failure. If you're struggling, you just need to work harder or pray more.
- Relationalism: The belief that all social problems can be fixed through personal relationships. "If we just have coffee together, racism will disappear."
- Antistructuralism: A deep-seated skepticism toward the idea that "systems" or "institutions" can be sinful or biased.
When you put these together, you get a perspective that views racial inequality as a personal failing or a lack of friendship, rather than a massive, historical machine. The Divided by Faith book shows that by focusing exclusively on the individual heart, white evangelicals often ignore the very structures that keep their churches—and their lives—segregated.
Why "Just Loving Each Other" Isn't Working
It’s tempting to think that more diverse worship music or a few "unity" sermons will fix the gap. Honestly, it’s a nice thought. But Emerson and Smith are pretty cynical about it, and for good reason. They point out that churches are "voluntary associations." We choose to go there. And humans, by nature, tend to gravitate toward people who make them feel comfortable.
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This creates a "niche market" effect.
Churches want to grow. To grow, they try to be "relevant." To be relevant, they cater to the specific cultural tastes of their target audience. If that audience is middle-class white people, the music, the jokes, the preaching style, and even the start time will reflect middle-class white culture. Someone from a different background walks in and feels like an alien. They don't leave because they hate the people; they leave because the "cultural cost" of staying is too high.
The Divided by Faith book hits hard here. It suggests that the very growth strategies churches use—the ones taught in seminaries and leadership conferences—actually reinforce segregation. We are literally "homogeneously" growing ourselves into deeper isolation.
The Cost of Diversity
True integration is expensive. Not necessarily in terms of money, though that can be part of it, but in terms of power and comfort.
For a church to be truly multiethnic, the dominant group has to give up the "home field advantage." They have to be okay with music they don't like. They have to listen to sermons that challenge their political assumptions. They have to share leadership. Most people say they want diversity until they realize it means they don't get their way anymore.
The Racialized Society vs. The Individual Heart
Emerson and Smith don't just blame the church; they place the church inside a "racialized society." This is a key term in the Divided by Faith book. They define it as a society where "interracial variations in real life experiences are not small and random, but large and systematic."
Think about it this way. Where you live, where you go to school, and who you marry are all heavily influenced by race, whether we admit it or not.
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White evangelicals often live in "white spaces." Because their personal lives are segregated, their "relationalism" (the idea that relationships fix everything) fails. You can't have a relationship with someone you never meet. And since their "antistructuralism" prevents them from seeing how housing laws or education funding create these white spaces, they assume the status quo is just "the way things are."
It’s a cycle.
The book argues that religion in America doesn't just reflect these racial divisions—it actively helps create and maintain them. By providing a "sacred" justification for individualist worldviews, the church gives people a way to feel morally upright while remaining socially distant from the "other."
How the Book Changed the Conversation
Before this book came out, a lot of the talk about race in the church was about individual prejudice. "Are you a racist?" was the only question. Emerson and Smith shifted the goalposts. They made it about sociology. They showed that you can have a church full of people who genuinely love everyone and still have a racist outcome.
This was revolutionary.
It forced leaders to look at their "internal cultures." It led to the rise of the multiethnic church movement, though as Emerson has noted in later interviews and follow-up work (like The Religion of Whiteness), even those efforts have often fallen short. Simply putting different colored faces in the pews doesn't solve the underlying power imbalance.
Many critics at the time—and even now—argue that the authors lean too hard on sociology and not enough on theology. Some say they underestimate the power of the Gospel to actually change those "accountability tool kits." But the data in the Divided by Faith book is hard to argue with. Twenty-plus years later, the numbers on church segregation haven't shifted nearly as much as people hoped they would.
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Where Do We Go From Here?
If you've read the Divided by Faith book, you know it doesn't end with a "10-step plan to fix racism." It’s a diagnosis, not a prescription. And the diagnosis is chronic.
However, there are actionable takeaways for anyone who actually cares about this stuff. It starts with moving past the "individual heart" narrative.
- Audit Your "Tool Kit": Stop and think about how you explain inequality. Do you immediately jump to "personal responsibility"? If so, try to look for the "pipes" behind the wall. How do systems (banking, schooling, policing) affect the people you're talking about?
- Acknowledge the Cultural Cost: If you're in a leadership position, ask: "Who has to change their culture to be here?" If the answer is "everyone but us," you aren't an integrated church; you're a host church with guests.
- Prioritize Proximity over Programs: "Unity Sundays" are fluff. Real change happens when you live, eat, and suffer alongside people who don't look like you. This means moving. It means changing where you spend your money. It means being the minority in the room.
- Read the Follow-up Work: The conversation didn't end in 2000. Look into United by Faith (the sequel that looks at multiethnic churches) and Emerson’s more recent work on the "religion of whiteness."
The Divided by Faith book remains a foundational text because it names the "ghost in the room." It explains why our best intentions so often lead to the same old results. We can't fix what we won't name. It's uncomfortable, yeah. But staying divided while claiming to be one is worse.
Real change requires more than a handshake. It requires a total overhaul of how we see the world, our neighbors, and the structures we've built around ourselves. If you’re ready to stop being "colorblind" and start being clear-eyed, this book is still the best place to start. It’s not a fun read, but it’s a necessary one.
To dive deeper into these themes, start by investigating the demographic makeup of your own local community versus your congregation. Look at the history of your city's zoning laws. These are the "structures" Emerson and Smith want us to see. Once you see them, you can't un-see them. And that's exactly the point.
Practical Next Steps
- Get the Book: Pick up a copy of Divided by Faith and read it with a small group of people who are willing to be honest.
- Host a "Culture Audit": Ask a friend from a different racial background to attend your church and give you "brutally honest" feedback on what felt exclusionary.
- Study Structural History: Research "redlining" in your specific city to understand why your neighborhood looks the way it does.
- Diversify Your Feed: Follow theologians and sociologists of color like Dr. Christina Edmondson or Jemar Tisby to hear perspectives that challenge the "white evangelical tool kit."