“Letting Go” as Religious Coping with Racism: A Study of UK African Caribbean Churches - Amanda Murjan

Summary:

This project explores the role of Christian practices of “yielding to God” in religious coping with racism by members of UK African Caribbean churches and their role in cultivating personal and social flourishing. It examines their experiences, spiritual needs, and practices to reveal how yielding practices help members exert some control over racism. The primary focus is on how African Caribbeans utilise the paradoxical practice of letting go in response to racism, in acceptance of absolute dependence on and in radical openness to God. 

The project asks the following questions. To what extent and how are practices of yielding to God expressed and to what effect within African Caribbean churches? How do practices of yielding to God shape the perception and interpretation of racism and active responses to racism? How does the control-yielding dialectic operate within the intersection of racial and religious identities to support personal and social flourishing?  

Theological and psychological literature reveals significant research gaps in this area. Psychological research has been largely individualistic and based on White populations of European descent and their relationship to spirituality (Tarakeshwar et al., 2003; Willis, 2006). Theological engagement has also been limited, showing a general absence of literature on the role of spiritual practices in personal and social well-being, and a lack of integral working practices. This gap in theological study is especially significant in the context of African Caribbean spiritual practices as coping strategies in the experience of racism. A science-engaged approach will meet the need for increased interdisciplinary and intradisciplinary engagement to offer a holistic account of how beliefs in control are operationalised in religious contexts to support personal and social well-being through deeper religious engagement.  

The project utilises a mixed methods approach, employing a short demographic questionnaire and three brief surveys measuring experiences of racism, religious coping strategies, and life satisfaction with thirty participants. Semi-structured interviews will then be conducted with six participants to explore experiences of racism and the role of the control-yielding dialectic in this experience.  

The project outputs will be: (1) submit a paper for consideration at the 2025 IAPR conference; (2) draft and submit one journal article by October 2025; (3) submit a report in collaboration with the UK Council for African and Caribbean Churches (CACC) on the project’s findings; (4) to further the work of the CACC’s work in raising the profile of African Caribbean practices and theology in the UK; (5) submit a blog post for the Institute for the Impact of Faith in Life on the diversity of African Caribbean spiritual practices in the UK and their role in religious coping.  The research outcomes will be: (1) raise awareness of the richness and creative potential of African Caribbean spiritual practices, and their contribution to personal and social well-being, and social justice; (2) highlight the ongoing marginalisation of BMCs in wider Christian discourses and member’s experiences of racism in the UK, and; (3) further the integration of my science-engaged theological practices through further investigations into the connection between psychological and spiritual development in human flourishing.