But what we found in the study is that churches are ten times less diverse than the neighborhoods they sit in. So… — Michael Emerson Copy Share Image
It was an all-white church. It was starting to decline. They had to hire a new pastor, and they hired him. But… — Michael Emerson Copy Share Image
Preaching styles and people being slain in the spirit and things like that. Now it doesn't happen in all black churches, and… — Michael Emerson Copy Share Image
I meet almost no one that goes to an African-American church or thinks, "I'm going to do that." Now there are whites… — Michael Emerson Copy Share Image
I think whites are used to being in power, so when whites think we ought to have integrated churches they think, "People… — Michael Emerson Copy Share Image
So it may be a language that separates you - again, social networks. But second-generation Asian and Hispanics, second, and third and… — Michael Emerson Copy Share Image
Downsides, yeah, and when there are more downsides when churches first start - they go through stages of transforming to becoming multiracial.… — Michael Emerson Copy Share Image
And again, this connection that you get: I meet Joe at church. Joe's connected to a whole network of people I don't… — Michael Emerson Copy Share Image
I mean, so if I've talked to whites in City of Refuge, sometimes they'll wonder, "Why do we do things a certain… — Michael Emerson Copy Share Image
Once in a while you get people that maybe because of economic reasons, or have a social network, they get attracted. But… — Michael Emerson Copy Share Image
And different traditions stress different - so then there's that. I talked to an African American who says before she goes into… — Michael Emerson Copy Share Image
There's one denomination in particular, though, that has pushed very hard to be multiracial in its denomination - not only its denomination… — Michael Emerson Copy Share Image
It happens a little bit more in the West, where there's more fluid - where everybody's originally from somewhere else. So they… — Michael Emerson Copy Share Image
I never meet a church that wishes they didn't do it. I never meet a leader that wishes they didn't do it.… — Michael Emerson Copy Share Image
I certainly think so, and I argue so, and I give talks on that. Are there risks by putting people together? Absolutely.… — Michael Emerson Copy Share Image
Scripture is vast, and people can pick and choose what they emphasize, and so for hundreds of years verses that said that… — Michael Emerson Copy Share Image
What's happening is that Asian and Latino and other groups without that history are more likely to end up in either black… — Michael Emerson Copy Share Image
I think it's going to open up a wider place for a discussion about we ought to come together in our churches,… — Michael Emerson Copy Share Image
There are three things, and it depends on the group that we're talking about, but there's history, there's culture, and then there's… — Michael Emerson Copy Share Image
It may be changing, but still it's the one place, that total control of an institution, that African Americans have. So sometimes, you know,… — Michael Emerson Copy Share
Call-and-response style, yes, exactly. So whenever different groups get together then there has to be this long period of negotiation. How will we worship?… — Michael Emerson Copy Share
I think people respond to villains because people in general are more villainous than heroic. — Michael Emerson Copy Share
So you find a lot of these sixth Americans congregate in these interracial congregations. They hang out together at work, at school, wherever. — Michael Emerson Copy Share
There are roles that are terrifying because they're large or you may feel that they're out of your line, but I'm never terrified once… — Michael Emerson Copy Share
We do not have an American culture. We have a white American culture and a black American culture. So when those two groups try… — Michael Emerson Copy Share
I think of myself as a problem-solver. I want to go in and help the director and the writer to get the best they… — Michael Emerson Copy Share
But what we found in the study is that churches are ten times less diverse than the neighborhoods they sit in. So there's something… — Michael Emerson Copy Share
And different traditions stress different - so then there's that. I talked to an African American who says before she goes into an interracial… — Michael Emerson Copy Share
I think it's easier, I really do, because of not having that similar history, so that's why I think two-thirds of these mixed congregations… — Michael Emerson Copy Share
There are three things, and it depends on the group that we're talking about, but there's history, there's culture, and then there's social networks.… — Michael Emerson Copy Share
I ask the clergy why don't I see myself represented in leadership? And I'm told, and this happens quite a bit, "We don't think… — Michael Emerson Copy Share
I was a magazine illustrator for many years before I became an actor, and I used to think, 'Oh, God, all those wasted years!'… — Michael Emerson Copy Share
We go where our family goes. We go where our friends are, and because our social networks are so segregated by race, we end… — Michael Emerson Copy Share
This is this thing I harp on: Sometimes acting can be a self-defeating psychological enterprise if we feel like we're desperate, if we feel… — Michael Emerson Copy Share
