Religion and Embodiment: How Young Black People With Diverse Sexual Identities Experience Christianity

ABSTRACT This qualitative study examines religious experiences linked to embodiment, Christianity, and the Black Church for a cadre of 76 young Black members of the LGBTQIA community ages 18–30 years old based on the questions: How have Black members of the LGBTQIA community experienced religion, in general, and Christianity as well as Black Church life, in particular? What have they learned that can be linked to embodiment? Can a Womanist lens help understand their religious lives? Given its emphasis on individual and collective transformation for historically marginalized groups, a Womanist theoretical framework undergirds this study. Four themes emerge via content analysis in which the bodies of Black sexual minorities are victimized, vilified, validated, and victorious relative to Christianity and body politics. Womanism was also found to be a useful model for interpreting and understanding their views about religion and/or spirituality.