Religion

Throughout the duration of the class, religious institutions continuously arise in our discussions. Whether we are discussing the importance of contacting Churches for the map, or analyzing the different development and adaptations of Churches and Synagogues in Boston, religion seems to play a pivotal role in community organizing. However, I naively assumed that this concept was overrated and has changed as U.S. communities have changed. I enjoyed reading the excerpts of Warren’s book Dry Bones Rattling, because it made me question those beliefs. By providing the Texas Industrial Areas Foundation’s work as a relevant contemporary example, Warren made me appreciate how faith based organizing might not be a new idea but it is certainly is not outdated. Above all though, I appreciated some of the reasons Warren gave for the importance of religion centers during social movements, particularly in reference to race and poverty. He discusses Sidney Verba’s research which showed “that religious institutions play a key role in equalizing political participation because they are sites where people of color and low-income people have the opportunity to learn skills that can be translated to politics, skills like writing letters, making speeches, and planning and making decisions in meetings.” Warren also discussed the uniting power of religion throughout history, writing, “At its best, religion has provided a moral basis to conceive of our place in a larger human society and inspired people to work for racial equality, social justice, and democracy.” These points are extremely valid, and illustrate why we always seem to circle back to religion when talking about nodes and networks.