Sex Matters: Black Churches & the Fight for Democracy

Black churches in the United States – as well as the churches of people of African descent globally – are facing new sociopolitical challenges as the geopolitical earth quakes. Specifically, the democratic commitments of these churches are being challenged in critical ways; these churches are being forced to (re)consider, discern, and assert the value of democracy in secular and sacred contexts. While Black churches – like other ecclesial communities – have perennially struggled with faithful navigation of questions of gender, sex, and sexuality (i.e., “sex”) diversity, equity, and inclusion (often opting for avoidance and silence), the contemporary assaults on democracy and its most commendable foundations (i.e., self-determination, human dignity, and equality, freedom from discrimination and persecution) are forcing a different approach. The choice is simple: Black churches can fight for democracy and dismantle its internal injustices with respect to sex or Black churches can continue to avoid matters of sex in silence and cede the fight for democracy within and outside of its sanctuaries. Building on the thesis of her book, Black, Quare & Then to Where: Theories of Justice and Black Sexual Ethics, through “Sex Matters: Black Churches & the Fight for Democracy,” Rev. jennifer susanne leath, Ph.D. will explain how this dilemma evolved, why it is essential that Black churches choose to fight for democracy and dismantle its internal injustices in the present sociopolitical context, and how Black churches might begin (and continue) to do this.

About the guest lecturer

Rev. jennifer susanne leath, Ph.D. is the Queen’s National Scholar and Associate Professor in Black Religions at Queen’s University (Kingston, Ontario, Canada); she is also the pastor of Tanner-Price AME Church (Windsor, Ontario, Canada). Prior to Queen’s, Dr. Leath served on the faculty of Iliff School of Theology (Denver, CO) as the Assistant Professor of Religion and Social Justice and Director of the Master of Arts in Social Justice and Ethics degree program after completing her A.B. at Harvard University, her M.Div. at Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York, and her Ph.D. at Yale University. Dr. leath also helped establish the Center on African American Religion, Sexual Politics, and Social Justice (CARSS) at Columbia University, serving as its first Director of Research. Dr. leath was a fellow in the Women’s Studies in Religion Program at Harvard Divinity School (2014-2015). Rev. leath is an Itinerant Elder in the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church and, prior to Tanner-Price, she pastored Campbell AME Church (Media, PA), Allen AME Church (White Plains, NY), Campbell Chapel AME Church (Denver, CO). Pastor leath expresses her love for all people through her passion for justice and dismantling all forms of oppression. She especially demonstrates her unequivocal commitments to equity, diversity, inclusion, and indigeneity through her sexual justice work within the AME Church and Black religious traditions more broadly as well as through her research and writing. Beyond her numerous articles, Dr. leath’s first monograph, Black, Quare, and Then to Where: Theories of Justice and Black Sexual Ethics, was published in Fall 2023 (Duke University Press). Through this book, leath introduces and develops “quare” possibilities for flourishing Black futures. Also passionate about the ways diverse Christian traditions can pursue and promote justice together through ecumenical engagement, Dr. leath serves as a Co-Moderator of the Joint Consultative Group between the World Council of Churches (WCC) and Pentecostal Churches and a member of the Central Committee of the WCC.