God and Karate on the Southside: Bridging Differences, Building American Communities

Recent demographic changes have sparked debate about the civic health of American democracy. Democracy requires people of different backgrounds to be disposed toward working together, and it requires 'little-noticed meeting places' where neighbors interact with each other, share their thinking, and address common problems. As issues of ethnic and social diversity become increasingly foregrounded, social scientists find pervasive social distrust and civic withdrawal in racially and ethnically het…