RAISE UP A CHILD IN THE WAY HE SHOULD GO

African American Christians have had their own churches since the 18th century. Houston’s original Black church, Saint Luke the Evangelist Episcopal Church (previously Saint Clements’) has been an institution in the Third Ward for over one hundred years. For many of us the church has been more than a religious home, it’s been our community, where we grieve and celebrate together, sing, and study, and challenge the dominant culture of white supremacy. During the Civil Rights movement we gathered at church to demand our rights, to be encouraged, af-fi rmed and transformed. The Black Church’s inspiration is part of every phase of the African American experience. It continues to invigorate Black identity today. But today’s African American churches remain scarred by a secular world that is still stubbornly resistant to the idea of black citizenship, let alone black humanity. Its audacious declaration that Black worshippers are necessary to liberate the soul of an unrepentantly racist nation is going unheard and ignored by our youth. Despite Blacks being the most religious ethnic group in the United States, we, like all Americans, are increasingly moving away from organized religion. Especially young Black adults are less devout and engaged in church than their...