For one of my religious studies classes, we’re required to submit blog posts each week about religious influence in international development. I thought this past week’s post was germane to several events happening in the United States.

We have been talking about black communities in Latin America and how black people are “stronger” in their faith than whites.

Frankly, this idea transcends geographical barriers and is true in the southern United States as well. I saw several key similarities in the black communities in Latin America that I do in the south.

First, we are presented with a group of marginalized individuals who have been oppressed through slavery. Once slavery was eradicated, they are still oppressed through racism (although most claim they are not racist because it’s not socially acceptable, yet racist acts are still OK).

Therefore, these marginalized groups, in this case blacks, feel like they have to have their own community. In Latin America, black individuals are denied certain rights within the predominantly white churches. We can say the same happens in predominantly white churches in the U.S., though these boundaries are transgressed more often in the U.S. than Latin America.

Finally, the ties to these institutions are just as great in the U.S. as they are in Latin America because the church not only serves as a place of spiritual growth, but a place where community can be formed. Therefore, I argue that the church in both Latin America and the U.S. is not just a theological/spiritual place of community, but a place where one can find individuals who are like themselves. In communications, we call this “social identification,” and these ties can be stronger than spiritual ones.

Perhaps in both settings one’s faith may not be as strong as their desire to belong, and this belonging is found in religious practice in the church (the community center). There are benefits to this, as well as negative aspects. First, development projects and initiatives can happen within these communities, but without integration blacks are further ostracized from white communities which hold greater power.

The real challenge is not progress within the community, but progress in integration and the redistribution of power through changes in culture rather than opportunity within a certain social group.

Even in the U.S., we have to be aware of these socially constructed communities, their power and how we can liberate individuals within them. Of course, we all want to find community, and sometimes we use religious communities to find “people like us,” but this does not mean we can neglect those who may not be like us. They deserve respect, empowerment and a place at the table of which we make decisions.

Graves is a junior majoring in communication studies and religious studies.