TruthBook Religious News Blog

By Audrey Barrick
Christian Post Reporter
Sat, Jul. 25 2009

Blacks remain the most religious ethnic group in America, a new study shows.

And over the last 15 years, African Americans have grown even more religious and orthodox in their Christian beliefs, according to The Barna Group.

Findings from surveys that included 1,272 African American respondents reveal that blacks today are more likely than they were in the early 1990s to believe that the principles taught in the Bible are totally accurate; to say that their religious faith is very important in their life; to have a biblically orthodox understanding of the nature of God; and to be born again.

African Americans were found to be the most likely ethnic group to consider themselves Christian with 92 percent saying so. Nationally, 85 percent of Americans in general consider themselves Christian. Blacks were also the most likely to be born again Christians (59 percent vs. 46 percent nationally).

Moreover, blacks had the lowest population of unchurched adults and were least likely to be Catholic.

Please click on "external source" for the complete article...

Labels: African-Americans, Audrey Barrick, Barna Group, Bible, Christian, church, faith, religion

Permalink | Link to External Source Article

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

New Study Reveals Sources of Resilience and Strength for Black Girls in New York City

March 7, 2009

New Study Reveals Sources of Resilience and Strength for Black Girls in New York City

Black Girls Face Hardships and Challenges

A new and unique report, Black Girls in New York City: Untold Strength and Resilience, was released by the Black Women for Black Girls Giving Circle (BWBG), a funding initiative of The Twenty-First Century Foundation, and the Institute for Women's Policy Research (IWPR). A key finding in the report is that the impact of poverty is especially acute in the lives of Black girls. Approximately three-quarters of the girls in the study live in low-income communities and households. Importantly, the report also explores the positive influences in Black girls' lives. It finds that girls who highly valued spirituality also tended to have an excellent relationship with their primary caretaker. Likewise, those who possessed a strong sense of racial identity were more likely than other girls to be happy on typical day, to receive better grades, to want a college education and believe in their ability to reach their goals.

New York, NY (PRWEB) March 7, 2009 -- A new and unique report, Black Girls in New York City: Untold Strength and Resilience, was released by the Black Women for Black Girls Giving Circle (BWBG), a funding initiative of The Twenty-First Century Foundation, and the Institute for Women's Policy Research (IWPR). The report, commissioned by BWBG from IWPR pairs analysis of original data collected through written surveys and focus groups with a review of existing literature to provide an in-depth examination into the lives of Black girls living within the city of New York.

The report finds that the impact of poverty is especially acute in the lives of Black girls. Approximately three-quarters of the girls in the study live in low-income communities and households.

"Like all Black children, Black girls are at increased risk of living a life of poverty. But poverty plays out in the lives of Black girls in very distinct ways," remarked report author, Dr. Avis Jones-DeWeever, affiliate scholar of IWPR and Director of the Research, Public Policy and Information Center for African American Women at the National Council of Negro Women.

"Our surveys and conversations with adolescent Black girls in New York City show that many of the girls are at an increased risk of violence because of the economic situation of their families and economic conditions of their communities," emphasized Dr. Jones-DeWeever. "For far too many of the girls in our study, poverty truncates their childhood experience."

Most survey respondents indicated that they worry about their personal safety. Among those who feel unsafe at home, most attribute their uneasiness to drug activity in their community as well as the prevalence of violent crime, fights, and gang activity. Black girls most often indicated that they felt unsafe due to frequent fights at school.

The study also examines issues of self-esteem for Black girls, a group often considered immune to the impacts of mainstream culture on body image and self-confidence. While most of the Black girls in this study seemed largely satisfied with themselves, one-fifth indicated, that if given the opportunity, they would change their bodies in some way. A few expressed keen sensitivity to issues of skin tone. Some were teased harshly for being "too Black." Others even expressed a desire for skin bleaching; and in at least one instance, that ultimate desire was not just to become lighter, but instead, to become white.

Importantly, the report also explores the positive influences in Black girls' lives. It finds that girls who highly valued spirituality also tended to have an excellent relationship with their primary caretaker. Likewise, those who possessed a strong sense of racial identity were more likely than other girls to be happy on typical day, to receive better grades, to want a college education and believe in their ability to reach their goals, and when involved in intimate relationships, to engage in self-protective behavior by insisting upon condom usage.

Please click on "external source" to access the entire article, and the study.

Labels: African-Americans, BWBG, girls, IWPR, poverty, religion, spirituality

Permalink | Link to External Source Article

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Pew study looks at the religious landscape of African-Americans

by Helen Gray
Feb. 20, 2009

This is the first of a three-page article. Please click on "external source" for complete article.

Through slavery and segregation, the black church has provided hope, unity and sanctuary.

Today African-Americans are the nation’s most religious group. So says a recent study by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.

“While the U.S. is generally considered a highly religious nation, African-Americans are markedly more religious on a variety of measures than the U.S. population as whole,” says the study’s overview.

Compared to the rest of the population, more African-Americans have a religious affiliation, attend worship, pray frequently and place greater importance on religion in their lives.

The data come from Pew’s U.S. Religious Landscape Survey, collected in 2007 and released last summer. Pew recently came out with a new analysis of African-Americans.

“Given the inauguration of (Barack) Obama, (Martin Luther) King Day and Black History Month, we thought it would be a good time to look at this subgroup,” Pew researcher Greg Smith said. “This new analysis helps people understand religion in the African-American community, which is a large group.”

The study is in line with other studies that have had similar results, said Lawrence Mamiya, religion and Africana studies professor at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.

Among the Pew findings:

•Eighty-seven percent of African-Americans say they belong to a particular religious group, compared to 83 percent among the total population.

•Seventy-nine percent say religion is “very important” in their lives, compared to 56 percent of the total population.

•Fifty-three percent say they attend religious services at least once a week, compared to 39 percent of the total population.

•Seventy-six percent say they pray at least on a daily basis, compared to 58 percent of the total population.

•Eighty-eight percent say they are absolutely certain that God exists, compared to 71 percent of the total population.

The religious portrait of African-Americans reveals that they are overwhelmingly Protestant (78 percent), with 59 percent belonging to historically black churches.

Only 12 percent of African-Americans are not affiliated with any particular religion; 5 percent are Catholic; 1 percent are Jehovah’s Witnesses; 1 percent are Muslim; 1 percent are atheist or agnostic; and small fractions are in other faiths.

“What I like about the study is that it indicates diversity in the African-American religious community,” said Anthony Pinn, humanities and religious studies professor at Rice University in Houston.

In reviewing the data for African-American women, Pew researchers concluded that “no group of men or women from any other racial or ethnic background exhibits comparably high levels of religious observance.”

According to the survey, 84 percent of African-American women say religion is very important to them, and 59 percent attend religious services at least once a week.

“Black women often say ‘my pastor’ or ‘my church,’ which denotes a sense of ownership and independence and trust, which they wouldn’t say about other institutions in American society, like they wouldn’t say ‘my Democratic party’ or even ‘my NAACP,’?” Mamiya said.

Additional findings:

•Religious beliefs: In addition to the high belief in God, 55 percent interpret Scripture as the literal word of God compared to 33 percent of the overall population; 83 percent believe in angels and demons compared to 68 percent of the overall population; 84 percent believe in miracles compared to 79 percent of the overall population; and 58 percent are absolutely convinced there is life after death compared to 50 percent of the overall population.

Labels: African-Americans, church, Helen Gray, Pew Religion and Public Life Survey, prayer, religion, worship

Permalink | Link to External Source Article

Friday, January 30, 2009

New Analysis Finds African-Americans are Markedly More Religious Than Overall U.S. Population

WASHINGTON, Jan. 30 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- On the eve of Black History Month, the Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion & Public Life released a new analysis (http://pewforum.org/docs/?DocID=389) that paints a detailed religious portrait of African-Americans. The analysis finds that African-Americans are markedly more religious than the U.S. population as a whole on a variety of measures, including reporting a religious affiliation, attendance at religious services, frequency of prayer and the importance of religion in people's lives.

Compared with other racial and ethnic groups, African-Americans are among the most likely to report a formal religious affiliation, with fully 87% of African-Americans describing themselves as belonging to one religious group or another. The analysis also finds that nearly eight-in-ten African-Americans (79%) say religion is very important in their lives, compared with 56% among all U.S. adults.

These are among many findings of the new Pew Forum analysis detailing the unique nature of religion in the African-American community. Other highlights include:

* A large majority of African-Americans who are unaffiliated with any particular faith (72%) say religion plays at least a somewhat important role in their lives; nearly half (45%) of unaffiliated African-Americans say religion is very important in their lives, roughly three times the percentage who says this among the religiously unaffiliated population overall (16%).

* African-Americans express a high degree of comfort with religion's role in politics, with roughly six-in-ten saying that houses of worship should express their views on social and political topics and roughly half saying that there has been too little expression of faith and prayer by political leaders. At the same time, most African-Americans support certain restrictions on the mingling of politics and religious institutions, with nearly six-in-ten (58%) saying that churches and other houses of worship should refrain from endorsing political candidates.

* The link between religion and some social and political attitudes in the African-American community is similar to that seen among the population overall. For instance, just as in the general public, African-Americans who are more religiously observant are more likely to oppose abortion and homosexuality and more likely to report higher levels of conservative ideology.

* On a variety of other questions, including political party identification and opinions about the proper role of government in providing services to the citizenry and assistance to the poor, there are few differences in the views of African-Americans across religious groups. Perhaps most strikingly, the partisan leanings of African-Americans from every religious background tilt heavily in the Democratic direction.

The analysis is based on the U.S. Religious Landscape Survey, conducted by the Pew Forum in 2007 and released in 2008, as well as other Pew Research Center surveys.

The report is for immediate release and is available online at http://pewforum.org/docs/?DocID=389.

The Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion & Public Life delivers timely, impartial information on issues at the intersection of religion and public affairs. The Pew Forum is a nonpartisan, nonadvocacy organization and does not take positions on policy debates. Based in Washington, D.C., the Pew Forum is a project of the Pew Research Center, which is funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts.

Labels: African-Americans, faith, government, Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, politics, religious belief

Permalink | Link to External Source Article

Monday, June 09, 2008

African American Muslim Women are a Rare Gift

Given our unique perspective on history, we are prepared to engage in struggles for social justice both within the Muslim community as well as for all Americans, and indeed, every global citizen, says Aisha al-Adawiya.

New York - African American Muslim women are a rare gift in that we have a unique perspective on what it means to be Muslim in the United States. Our historical references as women are specifically honed and readily available to address issues of oppression and struggle for liberation as well as opportunity and success.

We have experience communicating with those different from us in faith and culture; we have the stamina needed for a sustained struggle in the interest of social justice. Our lives are intertwined with those who oppress and those who seek to liberate.

Most of us were not raised by Muslim parents; we grew up in predominantly Christian households and were schooled in ethics, community service and self-reliance. But we were looking for a new spirituality. We wanted a new way of life that would speak to our current existence while taking into consideration our exigent past. Islam was the answer.

When we adopted Islam, the teachings that were already ingrained in us – such as the respect of parents and elders, responsibility to family, kin and neighbours, a strong work ethic and commitment to self-improvement – became even more pronounced. Our new religion provided us with a structure for the lessons we'd been taught throughout our lives.

We continue to be nourished by the daily practice of Islam. We lay claim to the strong women who surrounded the Prophet Muhammad, such as his wife Khadija, as our role models. They forged a clear path for us since they were among the first Muslims and, like us, had embraced Islam while living in a predominantly non-Muslim society.

Many Muslim women struggle against cultural oppression within their societies. But while immigrant Muslim women struggle as new minorities in the dominant culture, the African American Muslim woman has a knack for understanding the terrain that must be scaled due to our historical knowledge of how oppression manifests itself.

We carry the scars of centuries of enslavement and the residual effects that persist to this day. We have lost – and continue to lose – our children and loved ones to pernicious institutional racism manifested through policies of abuse and neglect, such as economic deprivation, criminalisation of our youth, substandard health care, and inferior education. Based on these experiences, we can offer lessons learned to Muslim immigrants struggling to realise the promises America makes to new arrivals. At the country's doorstep, Ellis Island, we say to them, "Give me your tired, your poor huddled masses yearning to be free".

Many of us have come to feel that Islam has been a vehicle of empowerment for African Americans, and African American women specifically. We can thus speak concretely about the vast potential the religion offers not only to women, but all humanity, in the realm of personal spirituality, community, equality and justice.

Given our unique perspective on history, we are prepared to engage in struggles for social justice both within the Muslim community as well as for all Americans, and indeed, every global citizen. But we cannot call for constructive change in the larger society and not address the social ills within our own ranks.

Issues such as honour killings and domestic violence must be addressed and resolved. We must help break down the cultural barriers that prevent all Muslim women from seeking education, attending mosque, and participating in Islamic organisations and civic projects. Failing to do so would be in direct contradiction to the examples of those very women we have taken as our mentors.

At the same time, we also seek opportunities to build coalitions with others across racial, religious, ethnic and socio-economic lines to bring about equality, equity and harmony not only for ourselves but also our neighbours. The historical experiences of African Americans, combined with those of Muslim women, have taught us the value of collective effort for peace and social justice.

Aisha H.L. al-Adawiya is the founder and executive director of Women in Islam, Inc., an organisation of Muslim women that focuses on human rights and social justice. This article is written for the Common Ground News Service and can be accessed at GCNews.

Labels: African-Americans, Aisha H.L. al-Adawiya, culture, faith, Muslims, women

Permalink | Link to External Source Article

Monday, February 18, 2008

Meditation May Cut Future Heart Disease Risks

ISLAMABAD: Meditation can help heart health, a study from the Medical College of Georgia shows.

The study was small, but its results were encouraging. Meditation may prove to be a beneficial addition to lifestyle and/or medical approaches to heart disease, say Frank Treiber, PhD, and colleagues.

Treiber directs the Georgia Prevention Institute at the Medical College of Augusta. He and his colleagues reported their findings in Orlando, Fla., at the Second International Conference on Women, Heart Disease, and Stroke.

Participants were 36 black females who were about 16 years old. All of them had high to normal systolic blood pressure (prehypertension). That increased their risk of future heart disease.

The girls were assigned to either get four months of training in transcendental meditation (TM) or health education without meditation. Before the groups got underway, researchers checked the pliability of a blood vessel wall in the girls’ arms. Studies have shown that African-Americans have decrease pliability of blood vessels. TM has been shown to improve this function in young people with prehypertension.

Normal healthy blood vessels contract and expand; a very early sign of blood vessel disease is when this ability is impaired. A decrease in blood vessels’ ability to contract and expand is seen in high blood pressure.

The blood vessel pliability test was repeated four months later. The researchers compared the change in blood vessel function to the earlier test.

By the four-month follow-up, the transcendental meditation group had "improved significantly" its blood vessel function compared to the group which received health education only, say the researchers.

That might bode well for the girls’ future heart health. The blood vessel problems studied have been linked to high blood pressure, poor cholesterol, and coronary artery disease, say the researchers.

Transcendental meditation was popularized in recent decades by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. It’s easy to learn and doesn’t require any particular religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs, says Robert Schneider, MD.

Schneider directs the Center for Health and Aging Studies in Fairfield, Iowa. He is also a professor of physiology and Maharishi Ayurveda. He discussed meditation and aging in a previous WebMD Live Event.

Meditation has garnered lots of research attention. It’s been found to be good for the heart, immune system, PMS, and even breastfeeding and hot flashes. There seems to be no down side to meditation, but it doesn’t take the place of needed conventional medicine.

"There are many different forms of meditation," says Patricia Monaghan, author of Meditation, The Complete Guide. In a live event with WebMD, she counted more than 50 kinds of meditation.

You don’t need a mantra or a Zen-like room, and you don’t have to twist yourself into a pretzel, says Monaghan. Sitting and focusing on your breath works. So does meditating while walking. Classes teach the techniques, and the practice takes as little as 10 minutes a day, says Monaghan. "Everyone has 10 minutes," she says.

Labels: African-Americans, Frank Treiber, heart disease, Medical College of Georgia, meditation, transcendental meditation

Permalink | Link to External Source Article

Saturday, January 19, 2008

The spiritual legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.

January 19, 2008

The Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday, mandated by federal law to fall on the third Monday in January, is the least celebrated federal holiday.

The King holiday was born in controversy and took 15 years to become law; it faced stiff opposition from national leaders. President Reagan opposed the measure and finally relented and signed the bill creating the holiday in 1986 after perceiving that his veto would be overridden.

One of the leaders of the opposition, Sen. Jesse Helms of North Carolina, continued to express outrage over the bill, declaring that King had been a racial agitator and Communist sympathizer.

The opposition to the holiday usually today is put in terms of cost, about 8 billion dollars in lost revenues.

But nonunionized businesses generally do not observe the holiday, and as commentator Earl Hutchinson has put the matter, the biggest reason for nonobservance of the holiday is ''the still widespread public perception that the King holiday is a holiday exclusively of, by, and for blacks.''

The King holiday provides us with a moment to reflect on the spiritual state of our nation, to recall the terrible legacy of slavery and racism, and to reflect on King's call for peace and justice.

The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., a Baptist minister with a Boston University Ph.D. in systematic theology, is remembered as the undisputed leader of the American civil rights movement.

He pushed hard at the forces in American life that were oppressing the poor and marginalized -- racial discrimination, economic injustice and war.

Inspired by Thoreau, Gandhi and Jesus, he became an inspirational leader known for oratorical wizardry, and his commitment to nonviolence earned him the Nobel Peace Prize.

But King was mired in controversy and opposition all the time. Not only did he receive daily death threats for his civil rights work -- he was stabbed in Harlem at a book signing in 1958 -- but even fellow civil rights leaders objected to his outspoken opposition to what he called America's ''imperialist war'' in Vietnam. Many of King's supporters saw this opposition as a betrayal of Lyndon Johnson and his administration, which had done more for African Americans than any administration before or since.

I was recently in Atlanta and wanted very much to take some time to visit the King Center near the old Ebenezer Baptist Church, where King had preached, and where King's mother, some years after King's death, had been shot and killed while playing the organ one Sunday morning. A museum with continuous film loops and mementos of King's life are there, a souvenir-bookstore shop, and the tombs of King and his wife, Coretta Scott King.

As I contemplate the life and legacy of King this January, I recall that visit. I am remembering that at my hotel, when I asked how to get to the King Center, I was told, ''You don't want to walk in that neighborhood. Take a cab.'' When I went east on Auburn Avenue I noted that a huge highway overpass cut right through the center of the community there, something that reminded me of similar dislocations of communities I had seen in the old District 6 in Cape Town, and have even heard about in Allentown, where the Martin Luther King Drive is today.

Those who study environmental racism often make note of public works projects that cut through neighborhoods where people lack the power to oppose them. The office of the Southern Christian Leadership Office is on Auburn Avenue, but nearby are low-income housing projects and small businesses looking a bit run down.

Metal protection screens were on some windows. The reputation of this part of town I had received from my hotel concierge, and I am realizing how close this part of town was to the upscale hotel where I had been attending a Christian ethics conference -- a 20 minute walk.

King would have been 79 on Jan. 15. Were King alive today, I suspect he would be working on the same issues even in his old neighborhood. The problems of racism and discrimination are still with us.

Although the Voting Rights Act brought a major shift in American political and social life, and King worked for it tirelessly, he would no doubt be commenting on the million African American males in jails and prisons today, many of whom lose their voting privileges by conviction.

Would King be talking about the subtle disenfranchisement of blacks today, noting that the civil rights movement never got into our prisons? And would he be focusing attention on America's public schools, where the divide between rich and poor, black and white, is as pronounced today as it was in his lifetime?

And war? There is no question that King would stand in opposition to the Iraq war, having foreseen the tragic loss of life and a waste of treasure that cripples opportunity for many.

It is surprising that America chose to honor so critical a spiritual leader with a national holiday. That it did so, however, provides all of us with an occasion to reflect about who we are and what we value. For we do what we value; and among the painful things we must confront is our tendency to resort to violence to solve problems.

America today uses war as an instrument of foreign policy; incarceration and execution are responses to crime; and meantime we do not provide health coverage to 45 million citizens, and 36 million Americans live below the poverty line.

The true legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. is that he would not let us forget that what we value we do, and we have need to be reflective about the meaning of what we are doing.

The King holiday, born in controversy, should continue to be controversial if we are to do honor to the man it remembers. May this King holiday be a time for us to connect ourselves to King's call for racial, social and economic justice.

May we remember his life as it stands before all of us as a challenge to do better than we are doing.

Lloyd Steffen is university chaplain and professor of religion studies at Lehigh University.

Labels: African-Americans, contoversy, justice, legacy, Lloyd Steffen, Martin Luther King Jr., racism, slavery