Putnam study and race

I’ve been meaning to read Robert Putnam’s newest study for a long time, but just haven’t managed it yet. I still keep reading quotes from it, though, in various other settings — like this piece in the NYTimes which points out that

A recent study by the Harvard political scientist Robert D. Putnam underscored the practical complications of diversity. In interviews with 30,000 Americans, the study found that residents of more diverse communities “tend to withdraw from collective life,” voting less and volunteering less than those in more homogeneous communities. The study noted a conspicuous exception. “In many large evangelical congregations,” the researchers wrote, “the participants constituted the largest thoroughly integrated gatherings we have ever witnessed.” (my emphasis)

This is an interesting finding -- about which I'd like to know a whole lot more -- and I have to admit to some lingering skepticism about Putnam's work more generally. Nevertheless, if he's right about this finding, hurray for these congregations, and let's have the rest of us learn from them.