(Dis)Belief: Reimagining the Religious Landscape of Black America

Throughout its history, the Black Church faced critiques and challenges, such as 20th century Black Power advocates and Black communists and socialists before them in their pursuits of justice and liberation. Perhaps the most enduring shift in the nature and meaning of the Black Church in public will result not from the work of a particular organization or socio-economic movement but through the growing population of African Americans who claim no particular religious tradition — the “nones.” African American nones aren’t easily dismissed, nor are they easily sidelined when one considers their involvement in social justice activism and their moral-ethical grammar of life that has captured the attention of the media as well as both a churchgoing and anti-religion audience. A range of pressing questions emerge in response to this growing population of nones: • Is our current theological language sufficient to capture the thought and ethics of African Americans…