(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 outside Black churches? • Is the relationship between Black churches and disbelief necessarily antagonistic? • Does the thriving of Black people in the United States require the presence of the Black Church? If yes, how might its role change and shift to address the complexities of the Black community? If not, what organizational forms and structures of thought and action might replace the Black Church? 

We have a dynamic line-up of speakers! Presentation titles include:

Moderated by Dr. Brad Braxton ● Rev. Dr. Eboni Marshall Turman - Scorned: Faith, Gender, and the Aesthetics of Black Disbelief ● Dr. Terrence Johnson - Between the Shadows of Repression and Revolution: Religious Liberty and the new Christian ‘Freedom Fighters’ ● Rev. Naomi Washington-Leapheart - Do Black Lives Matter to God? How Black Theodicy Shapes Black Resistance

Learn more about the Religious Freedom Mobile Institute and register on Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/disbelief-reimagining-the-religious-landscape-of-black-america-tickets-629277685497