Martin Luther King, Jr., often said that eleven o\u2019clock on Sunday morning was the most segregated hour of the week. More than fifty years have passed since King\u2019s assassination, and yet many scholars believe that Americans still experience a racial divide during Christian worship. While this seems largely voluntary, with the majority of American churches composing similar race, culture, and class groups, an investigation of new media in churches must ask whether race, culture, and class should affect social media choices. <\/p>\n
In a recent blog, \u201cThe Gender, Race and Class of Networked Religion,\u201d New Media Project Research Fellow Lerone A. Martin notes how the use of new media is affected by race, class, and gender. He concludes that \u201creligious leaders have to consider the size, socio-economic status, age, gender, and race of their respective communities and\/or target audiences in order to best understand and utilize new media.\u201d<\/p>\n
As an ordained minister in the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) church, and as one raised in black Baptist church traditions, I wonder in a direct way: <\/p>\n