UC Berkeley

Contrary to ideals many world religions champion, religio-spiritual organizations (ROs) have historically struggled with identity-based inequality. With more ROs disrupting this pattern and embracing a radically inclusive ethos, critical research can help us better understand these dynamic social spaces. This study adopts a mixed methods approach and a typology of work types to investigate some of the organizational and social processes associated with two self-proclaimed radically inclusive religio-spiritual organizations (RIROs) in the San Francisco Bay Area: City of Refuge (COR) United Church of Christ (UCC) located in the Coliseum Industrial neighborhood of Oakland, and East Bay Meditation Center (EBMC) located at the west edge of Oakland’s historic Lakeside District. Descriptively, this study explores how COR and EBMC articulate and attempt to actualize organizational radical inclusion (ORI), address and, if possible, resolve interpersonal conflict, and engage in internal and external community outreach efforts. Analytically, this study explores some of the underlying motivations for these processes and how they impact individuals’ experiences of ORI. Informed by theories of multiculturalism, community, and organizations, the argument advanced here is that religio-spiritual and ethical frameworks, as well as historical and organizational contexts, shape COR’s and EBMC’s policies, practices, and processes, ultimately impacting individuals’ experiences of in-house diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB). These findings contribute to research on RIROs specifically and DEIB more broadly by elucidating factors that bring about such spaces, identifying effective and ineffective mechanisms for achieving ORI and evaluating individuals’ experiences of radical inclusion.