Clergy Voices: How Conflicts Over Racism and Sexuality in America Are Framed from the Pulpit
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Clergy Voices: How Conflicts over Racism and Sexuality in America are Framed from the Pulpit Claire Chipman Gilliland A dissertation submitted to the faculty at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Sociology in the College of Arts and Sciences. Chapel Hill 2021 Approved by: Lisa D. Pearce Neal Caren Paul Djupe Ted Mouw Andrew Perrin © 2021 Claire Chipman Gilliland ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii ABSTRACT In the midst of growing inequality and persistent marginalization in the U.S., this project investigates the role of one institution, religion, in combatting or perpetuating inequality. I investigate religious rhetoric on race and homosexuality using qualitative coding methods on two samples of sermons, or the weekly messages clergy share from the pulpit. In the first paper, I analyze the responses of Charlottesville clergy to the 2017 white supremacist rally. Overall, clergy’s sermons following the Unite the Right rally demonstrate racial frameworks that downplay the relevance of structural and historical factors in shaping racial divisions today, keeping racism grounded at the individual, interpersonal, and other-worldly levels. The second sample is composed of sermons from United Methodist (UMC) congregations following their 2019 denominational vote to maintain their prohibitions of same sex marriage and the ordination of openly gay and lesbian people to the clergy. In the second paper, I investigate how UMC clergy’s responses to the UMC decision reflect prophetic concerns, such as the ongoing marginalization of LGBTQ people, and pragmatic concerns related to denominational and congregational unity. In the final paper, I use the same set of UMC sermons to focus on a distinctive subsample that openly defies the rules of the denomination related to same sex marriage and LGBTQ ordination. In both the second and third papers, we see concern for LGBTQ people in the midst of a contentious denominational vote as well as clergy navigating their role as organizational leaders responsible for maintaining legitimacy and organizational stability. My analyses across these three papers demonstrate that many clergy discuss racism and LGBTQ exclusion in their sermons, but not necessarily in ways that may shape individual iii attitudes. Religious rhetoric has implications beyond religious organizations, and understanding religious messages about race and sexuality is an important and timely concern. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am grateful for the support of a Dissertation Fellowship from the Louisville Institute during my final year of doctoral work (2020-2021). Additionally, my data collection and transcription costs for both samples of sermons were covered by grants from the UNC Institute for African American Research and the Religious Research Association. Thank you to my graduate advisor, Dr. Lisa Pearce, for six years of support throughout every stage of every project. Thanks also to Dr. Paul Djupe for consistent feedback and advising on my dissertation, and to the faculty who served on my dissertation committee: Dr. Neal Caren, Dr. Ted Mouw, and Dr. Andrew Perrin. I owe a great deal of gratitude to the many people who have supported me. I worked on this dissertation in both Chapel Hill, NC and Greenville, SC, and my friends and colleagues in both places have provided tremendous support, laughter, and love. Beyond these two places, I’m grateful to have friends and family who will text, call, visit, and send care packages from wherever each of us may be. My family has remained steadfast in their love and support for my entire life, and this has not wavered as we figured out what it means to get a PhD together. A final thanks to Mac, who loves me through the day-to-day, ups-and-downs of all things, and who let me get two cats as work-from-home companions. Any errors in this document are my own alone, but any success and pride I share with all of you. v Table of Contents List of Tables ............................................................................................................................. VIII Dissertation Introduction ................................................................................................................ 1 Calling for Transformation or Waiting on Jesus: Racial Ideologies from the Pulpit ................... 12 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 12 Theoretical Framework ............................................................................................................. 14 Data and Methods ..................................................................................................................... 21 Results ....................................................................................................................................... 24 Discussion and Conclusion ....................................................................................................... 36 Works Cited .............................................................................................................................. 41 Tables ........................................................................................................................................ 47 Prophetic and Pragmatic: UMC Clergy Respond to Denominational Debates over Homosexuality .............................................................................................................................. 50 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 50 Theoretical Framing .................................................................................................................. 52 Data and Methods ..................................................................................................................... 61 Results ....................................................................................................................................... 64 Discussion ................................................................................................................................. 75 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 79 Works Cited .............................................................................................................................. 81 Tables ........................................................................................................................................ 86 vi Getting Permission to Break the Rules: Clergy Respond to LGBTQ Exclusion in the United Methodist Church .............................................................................................................. 91 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 91 Theoretical Framework ............................................................................................................. 94 Data and Methods ................................................................................................................... 102 Results ..................................................................................................................................... 106 Discussion and Conclusion ..................................................................................................... 115 Works Cited ............................................................................................................................ 121 Tables ...................................................................................................................................... 125 Dissertation Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 128 Appendix 1: Supplemental Data and Analyses ........................................................................... 138 Charlottesville Clergy Survey ................................................................................................. 138 Works Cited ............................................................................................................................ 141 Tables ...................................................................................................................................... 142 vii List of Tables Table 1.1: Descriptive Data for Full Population of Congregations in Charlottesville...................47 Table 1.2: Descriptive Data of Charlottesville Sample..................................................................48 Table 1.3: Discussions of Race and Racism in Sermons using Individual/Relational, Other-worldly, and Structural Frameworks at the Congregational Level (N=38).............49 Table 2.1: Descriptive Data for Full Sample of UMC Congregations (n=601).............................86 Table 2.2: Descriptive Data for Subsample of UMC Congregations with Online Sermons (n=159)................................................................................................................87 Table 2.3: Descriptive Data at Sermon Level (n=455)..................................................................88 Table 2.4: Proportion of Sermons and Congregations that Discuss General Conference.............89