Interactive cultural practices such as songs and storytelling are key to contemporary social movement organizing because they can attenuate the challenges of social difference by expanding participants’ understandings of self and community. Yet the precise cultural dynamics through which such practices become effective are not well understood. Using the case of a large faith‐based community organizing coalition, I show that practices focused on personal moral authenticity are especially effective in fostering alignment between social movement goals and individuals’ pre‐existing moral commitments. I define personal moral authenticity as the ambition to develop, enact, and perform a moral identity that is “true” to an enduring internal self, and validate that identity through interactions with others. This is an effective basis for organizing practices because it spans the various cultures of commitment that prevail in different racial and religious subgroups and gives individuals a personal stake in social change projects. In highlighting how it animates practices in faith‐based community organizing, one of the most robust fields of grassroots civic activity in the United States, this article illuminates an important part of the cultural dynamics underlying much contemporary social change work, and specifies how religion contributes to progressive social change efforts amid ongoing religious disaffiliation.

中文翻译：

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成为“信仰者：”基于信仰的社会正义运动的文化实践中的个人道德真实性

诸如歌曲和讲故事之类的交互式文化实践是当代社会运动组织的关键，因为它们可以通过扩大参与者对自我和社区的理解来减轻社会差异的挑战。然而，对于这种做法有效的确切文化动力尚不甚了解。我以一个大型的基于信仰的社区组织联盟为例，表明以个人道德真实性为重点的实践在促进社会运动目标与个人先前存在的道德承诺之间的一致性特别有效。我将个人道德真实性定义为发展，制定和执行对持久的内部自我“真实”的道德身份，并通过与他人互动来验证该身份的野心。这是组织实践的有效基础，因为它涵盖了在不同种族和宗教子群体中盛行的各种承诺文化，并使个人在社会变革项目中享有个人利益。在强调它如何使基于信仰的社区组织活动（美国最活跃的基层公民活动领域）具有生气勃勃时，本文阐明了当代社会变革工作背后的文化动力的重要组成部分，并指明了宗教如何做出贡献在持续的宗教派别中逐步推进社会变革。