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Religions 2011, 2, 165-183; doi:10.3390/rel2020165 OPEN ACCESS religions ISSN 2077-1444 /journal/religions Article Neighbors Like Me? Religious Affiliation and Neighborhood Racial Preferences among Non-Hispanic Whites Stephen M. Merino Department of Sociology, The Pennsylvania State University, 211 Oswald Tower, University Park, PA 16802, USA; E-Mail: smm530@; Tel.: +1 (814) 867-1428. Received: 15 March 2011; in revised form: 1 June 2011 / Accepted: 9 June 2011 / Published: 15 June 2011 Abstract: Research on racial residential segregation has paid little attention to the role that social institutions play in either isolating or integrating racial and ethnic groups in American communities. Scholars have argued that racial segregation within American religion may contribute to and consolidate racial division elsewhere in social life. However, no previous study has employed national survey data to examine the relationship between religious affiliation and the preferences people have about the racial and ethnic composition of their neighborhoods. Using data from the ―Multi-Ethnic United States‖ module on the 2000 General Social Survey, this study finds that white evangelical Protestants have a significantly stronger preference for same-race neighbors than do Catholics, Jews, adherents of ―other‖ faiths, and the unaffiliated. Group differences in preferences are largely accounted for