Religion has always been a powerful force in shaping cultures, societies, and individual identities. But what if we dared to ask a controversial question: Is religion really for everyone? Could it be that religion, in practice, has always been subtly (or blatantly) race-dependent?

This isn’t about spiritual truth or metaphysical access to God. It’s about the social and historical structures that have made religion an inclusive shelter for some — and an oppressive tool for others.

🧬 Race Shapes Religious Experience
Historically, religion has never existed in a vacuum. From colonial missions to forced conversions, race and religion have been interwoven in global power dynamics. Whether it was:

Christianity during European colonization,

Islam during the trans-Saharan and Indian Ocean slave trades,

or Hinduism under caste-driven hierarchies —
religion has often functioned as a racial and cultural extension of domination.

Even today, how one experiences religion can vary dramatically based on skin color and ethnicity.

🕊️ Religion as a Comfort — But For Whom?
In many Western societies, white believers are often seen as “faithful,” “moral,” or “spiritually grounded.” In contrast, Black or Indigenous religious expression is sometimes perceived as excessive, superstitious, or radical.

When a white evangelical prays in public, it’s often viewed as righteous. When a Black preacher does the same, it may be dismissed as performative or emotional.

Why the double standard? Because religion in many societies is coded through racialized expectations.

🙏 Forced Faith vs. Chosen Belief
Ask yourself: who had religion forced upon them through chains and violence? Who inherited their faith through liberty and literacy?

For millions of Indigenous, African, and colonized peoples, religion came not as liberation but as conquest. Generations were taught to believe in a god that looked nothing like them, with doctrines that erased their own spiritual heritage.

This historical trauma still lingers. Even today, many racialized communities wrestle with whether their religion is truly theirs, or if it was inherited through survival.

⚖️ Institutions Are Not Neutral
Look at the leadership structures of most major religious institutions today. How many Black popes have there been? How many Indigenous rabbis or Imams hold power in global councils?

When institutions remain racially homogenous, the experience of religion becomes exclusionary, even if unintentionally. It says subtly: This is not fully yours.

🌍 A New Conversation on Race and Religion
None of this means that religion is “bad” or should be abandoned. But it does mean we need to critically examine how race affects who feels truly at home in faith communities — and who feels like a tolerated guest.

What would it mean to reclaim religion in one’s own image — free from colonial residue? Can spirituality be liberated from racial power?

For some, yes. For others, it’s already happening — through ancestral religions, Afrocentric churches, liberation theology, or simply stepping away from religious structures altogether.

✊ Final Thought
Religion isn’t universally liberating. Sometimes, it can be a reminder of past subjugation. For that reason, it isn’t for everyone — and its comfort or disillusionment is deeply race-dependent.

Whether you find God in a church, mosque, forest, or not at all, your racial history might shape what you find — or what you leave behind.