Racial divisions historically eclipsed interdenominational religious divisions in American life

Evidence

As notions of religious pluralism normalized, the systemic discrimination against Blacks and other racial minorities became glaring. Legalized racial segregation and immigration restrictions targeted non-Whites, many of whom were also non-Christian. Seeking to merge the religious pluralism movement with the Civil Rights Movement, Martin Luther King Jr. invoked the language of Christian brotherhood and national unity to push for racial equality. His appeal in 1963 to the National Conference on Religion and Race prompted the inclusion of race in its conception of the brotherhood of man under God. … With the increased participation of religious organizations in the Civil Rights Movement, racial differences between Blacks and Whites eclipsed divisions between Protestants, Catholics, Mormons, and Jews. — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim, 464

Categorization

• ADDENDUM: Connects to the ‘Grafting & Growth’ and general cross-movement dynamics theme less directly, but the eclipsing of religious divisions by race resonates with how one axis of identity can subordinate another—parallel to the dress/beard signifiers in ‘Complaints About Immodesty Go Way Back’ where identity markers get reprioritized.
• XREF: connects to: American religion is intrinsically bound to gender and family but not to race — Andrew L. Whitehead; Samuel L. Perry, Taking America Back for God, 438; Religious schools that preached integration privately remained segregated by class and race — Kevin M. Kruse, White Flight: Atlanta and the Making of…, 394; Religious demographics historically shaped Supreme Court seat allocation — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 523 (+3 more)