American churches, which mirror the country's societal and economic divisions, have largely failed to give lower income persons, including minorities, opportunities to master civic skills necessary for participation in the democratic process, a Penn State researcher says.
"Many social analysts view the churches as the last bastions of civil skill education for the lower classes and minorities. The churches, unfortunately, are not meeting their potential as social equalizers," says Philip M. Schwadel, doctoral student in sociology.
"My data indicates that the more money a Christian church member earns and the more money his or her fellow parishioners earn, the more likely he or she will belong to church organizations and assume positions of leadership," he notes.
"People in the upper and middle classes tend to learn and practice public speaking, writing, organizational and leadership skills either in their colleges or in their professions," Schwadel adds. "Thus, they are prepared to assume key positions of responsibility in a church, unlike the poor person who comes into church already shortchanged in the area of civic skills."
Surprisingly, churches in low-income areas offer even less opportunity for learning civic skills than congregations or parishes with more resources. Schwadel's data analysis reveals that lower-class individuals are most likely to learn civic skills in the upper-class congregations, although such persons are fewer in number.
The Penn State researcher presented his findings in the paper, "Income Inequality in the Opportunity to Learn Civic Skills in Christian Congregations," today (Aug. 14) at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association.
He drew his data from the 1987 Church and Community Project, collected from 5,123 church members in 62 Midwestern congregations. Headed by principal investigator Carl Dudley, this project was funded by the Lilly Endowment, Inc. and McCormick Theological Seminary, associated with the Presbyterian Church (USA).
In this initial study, 11 major denominations were represented: Roman Catholic, Evangelical Covenant, Southern Baptist, United Church of Christ, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, AME Zion, United Methodist, Presbyterian Church (USA), Disciples of Christ, American Baptist and Brethren.
Church members who do more than just attend services but participate in activities and organizations, and possibly help lead activities, can become proficient organizers, leaders, public speakers and writers. This can spill over into political participation, Schwadel says.
In terms of opportunities to learn civic skills, members of lower income churches are even more segregated than those in higher income churches. One possible reason might be that organizations in lower income churches might ask the higher income members of the church to participate due to their higher levels of civic skills, says the Penn State researcher.
"Indeed, it could be that civic skills might be almost as important for church membership as they are for political participation," Schwadel says. "Perhaps clergy and fellow parishioners can persuade people politically rather than actually teaching them skills that they are unable to learn at work or school."