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When a large bank loaned one million dollars to a small, struggling storefront church in Queens, New York, to enable it to construct a new church building, many wondered why a bank would lend money to such a risky enterprise. The decision to grant the loan was influenced by the provisions of the Federal Community Reinvestment Act, a law stipulating that banks doing business in poor and working-class neighborhoods must reinvest in those neighborhoods. But the bank was also influenced by the intense level of cooperation evident among church members. Bank officials were impressed that the congregation had paid off a five-year mortgage on a vacant lot—the future home of the new church—in three years and that it had also retired the debt on the storefront two years ahead of schedule. How did a small congregation, with meager material resources, accomplish such success? Congregants raised money for the church by selling fruit, sponsoring family outings, and making handmade items for sale. However, the most consistent means of raising church revenue was through tithing, the practice of believers giving one-tenth of their income to the church. The storefront minister described the giving habits of his congregation as follows: “Some folks who give, give their last mite . . . but they find such favor and love in what we are doing that they give what they have to give” (Eaton 1999, 20). The concept of social capital fits well with common understandings of how religion fosters group cohesion. For those who harbor commitments that are Chapter 8 Ties That Bind and Flourish Religion as Social Capital in African-American Politics and Society Fredrick Harris 121 anchored in religious beliefs, religiously endowed social capital reflects a unique set of resources that enhances the possibility for successful cooperation. In contrast to theories of group cooperation that insist that material incentives are needed to induce individuals to cooperate with others, religious worldviews and practices—depending on their orientations—have the capacity to diminish the need for material incentives when group cooperation is anchored in religious beliefs. The mere act of joining a community of faith, and the socialization that comes with membership in a religious community, increases the possibility of cooperation among actors through the existence of institutionally derived networks , the creation of norms that promote rewards and punishments, and the nurturing of trust among actors whose relationships are cemented in shared beliefs and practices. This chapter is devoted to assessing religiously endowed social capital in African-American politics and society as a case study. However, I first want to address briefly religion’s overall capacity to nourish and sustain social capital. Scholars who either implicitly or explicitly examine the links between religion and social capital frequently focus on religion’s contribution to the development of civic skills in religious institutions. While this aspect of religion’s influence on the formation of social capital is important, as I will discuss in greater detail below, religion can create social capital in more subtle ways. One such subtle way it does so is through what I believe to be a unique feature of religion’s contribution to the formation of social capital—namely, its ability to nurture and sustain reciprocity among actors. After a brief discussion about religion’s effects on reciprocity, the chapter examines the internal and external factors that shape black churches’ involvement in political and social life. It demonstrates how historical forces and the institutional design of most black churches help to nurture the formation of social capital in black communities. The historical development of black churches in the United States and blacks’ historic exclusion from mainstream political life provide some answers as to why black churches are more engaged in political and social affairs than their white counterparts. To provide some context to that history, the chapter assesses the acquisition of civic skills in religious institutions, a process that is important because such skills are transferable to social and political activities outside the church. Finally, in order to address the theoretical questions raised earlier, it examines survey responses to probe motivations behind church members’ participation in church work. Exploring the motivations behind church work not only provides evidence of what types of incentives shape church activities, it also reveals how motivations may vary by race and ethnicity, indicating which groups have greater access to religiously endowed social capital, and, in turn, which groups have the greater capacity to mobilize religiously endowed social capital in behalf of social and political action...

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