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Bible Belt immigrants: Latino religious incorporation in new immigrant destinations

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Abstract

This article examines how three congregations influence the incorporation of Mexican, Colombian and Guatemalan immigrants in the South, where churches are central to social and civic life. By shaping various dimensions of assimilation, churches are intervening institutions that promote integration for some and hinder it for others. I argue that distinctions within rather than between Protestant and Catholic congregations drive how churches affect Latinos’ divergent pathways. The dynamics of a liberal Protestant congregation are more conducive to integration than those of more conservative counterparts. Similarly, the dynamics of a Catholic church with a grass-roots organization promote integration, while the hierarchical organization of other Catholic congregations delays incorporation.

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Notes

  1. David Lopez’ (2009) essay is an exception. Using secondary sources, he discusses Latino integration in relation to immigrant socioeconomic success and adaptation. My essay extends his contribution by providing original data for different Latino communities in a region where religion is the central civic institution.

  2. Policy changes include the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) and the stricter border controls implemented in popular entry points along the US-Mexico border in 1993. For a comprehensive discussion of these policies’ effects in deflecting immigration, see Massey et al (2002).

  3. Lincoln and Mamiya (1990) define the “Black Church” as the body of African American Protestants who are members of a historically black congregation. The Pew Hispanic Center reports that, in 2007, 64 per cent of African Americans in the South were members of the Black Church.

  4. Espinoza et al (2005) discuss the civic engagement of religious leaders at different periods of Latino religious history. Yet, in contrast to the African American experience, these efforts have not been continuous, thus preventing institutionalization. Further, these efforts have not generated the self-determination and emancipation that political activism and mobilization in churches brought to African Americans (Dolan and Figueroa Deck, 1994).

  5. Data comes from the table “Percent Change in the Foreign Born by State (1990, 2000, and 2009),” generated by Aaron Terrazas and Jeanne Batalova (2009).

  6. To protect the identity of study participants and organizations, names and organizations (outside the historical record) used in this study are pseudonyms.

  7. For a detailed discussion on class and racial cleavages in Latin America, see Alan Knight (1990); and Peter Wade (1997).

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López-Sanders, L. Bible Belt immigrants: Latino religious incorporation in new immigrant destinations. Lat Stud 10, 128–154 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1057/lst.2012.9

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