Believing without Belonging? The Effects of Racial Discrimination at the Mosque on Religiosity and Mosque Attendance through Belonging for Black Muslims

Churches have often offered a place of belonging for Black Christians and protected many from the negative impacts of external racial discrimination, which can make Black Christians more likely to engage in communal and private religiosity. Mosques in America are generally more ethnically diverse than churches. Therefore, mosques might not serve as sanctuaries for Black Muslims the way churches may for Black Christians because anti-Black discrimination often manifests within mosques from fellow Muslims. It appears, to date, that only one quantitative study has described interracial relations among American Muslims. We examined whether belonging explains the impact of racial discrimination in mosques on mosque attendance and religiosity for Black Muslims. Black American Muslims responded to anonymous online questionnaires regarding discrimination and belonging felt at mosques as well as religiosity and mosque attendance. Two parallel mediations showed that although belonging fully explained the negative relation between perceived discrimination at the mosque and mosque attendance, it only partially explained the negative relation between perceived discrimination and religiosity. Taking belonging into account, discrimination had a positive effect on religiosity, perhaps via religious coping. Findings are discussed in light of the believing without belonging theory, whereby communal religious engagement decreases, while individual religious engagement increases.