Prof. Scott Thumma's Work Cited in Article on Racial Segregation in Churches

The Center for American Progress published an article, Race and Beyond: Stepping Away from Racism, on Friday, Sept. 2, about the slow and uneven but gradual desegregation of American churches.

The article states: “Scott Thumma, who tracks the racial composition of U.S. churches as a professor of sociology of religion at Hartford Seminary, noted in a 2013 Huffington Post article the trend toward increasingly multicultural congregations over the past decade. Basing his findings on a 2010 survey of more than 11,000 congregations, Thumma observed that nearly 14 percent of congregations are considered multicultural—defined as at least 20 percent of the members coming from racial groups different from the congregation’s majority race. That percentage is up from 1998, when Thumma observed that 7.5 percent of all congregations were multiracial.”

The article was written by Sam Fulwood III, a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress. His work with the Center’s Progress 2050 examines the impact of policies on the nation when there will be no clear racial or ethnic majority by the year 2050.