Religious disengagement and stigma management by African-American young adults

This study examines religious disengagement among African-American young adults through a communicative lens. Drawing on in-depth interviews, we unpack the tensions between organizational and institutional disengagement in participants’ accounts and trace the relational factors shaping their use of specific stigma management strategies. Participants’ religious disengagement unfolded through encounters with new information that contradicted institutional teachings, ongoing struggles with institutional ideologies they found problematic, localized conflicts with specific church experiences, and family circumstances. Stigma management strategies were chosen to keep the peace within their social circles, protect loved ones from being hurt, care for themselves to ensure their best and most authentic self, defend themselves from perceived attacks and social censure, and come to a mutual understanding with confidants about disengagement. Theoretical implications pertaining to religious membership, organizational vis-à-vis institutional disengagement, and stigma management were discussed, along with practical recommendations to empower congregants to grow spiritually.