The news out of Ferguson has been dominated by discussions of police brutality and the role of race in an in increasingly militarized police force.

While the majority of this focus has been on the protests, police violence (including the use of military grade weapons against unarmed civilians), and the arrests of reporters, a few stories about the role of churches in Ferguson have now begun to emerge.

From starting twitter hashtags, collecting garbage, sometimes marching with demonstrators, churches have, by and large, mobilized as helping centers and places for spiritual renewal. But what’s interesting is that, unlike their predecessors in previous civil rights battles, they don’t appear to be leading the protestors or generating an organizational network to create a larger movement.

READ the rest of the article on Religion Dispatches