Not to long ago, in Mudcat thread terms, I started a thread on Black Church Services thread.cfm?threadid=117785

That thread presented some traditions related to Christian church services among Black Americans and some other Black people throughout the world. Among those traditions discussed (sometimes with links to YouTube videos) were the processional, women wearing hats in church or not; the meaning of red/pink or white carnations pinned on dresses/suits for Mother's Day, and call & response in Black Baptist preacher's sermons.

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I think the topic of Black church tours should be part of this discussion of "varieties of Christianity". People who attend a church service to have a cultural experience should still be respectful of the people who are attending the church because of their beliefs.

With regard to that subject, see this excerpt from A Sin And A Shame: Soul Voyeurism* And Harlem "Gospel Tours" [Racialigious]
By Guest Contributor Fiqah; September 22nd, 2009

..."J. and I were seated in one of the balcony pews, along with several Italian tourists. European and Asian tour groups and buses are a common sight on Sundays in Harlem. As annoying and ubiquitous as they are, for the most part, church tourists are ignorable. Well, this group must have been especially rude, because several members of the group spent much of the service talking. Talking. In spite of being shot admonishing looks by several parishioners and being approached by one of the ushers, the conversation, though lowered to murmuring, continued. The only time it seemed to stop was when the choir led the church in a song, when the tourists watched the choir and the other attendees with that peculiar mixture of fascination, fear and envy that White people in spaces of color often seem to have. As they watched us, my friend and I watched them, swaying all wrong, clapping off beat and basically turning what was a joyful but sacred experience into a spectacle for their entertainment...

Later at brunch, we talked about what had gone down. Both of us had attended church in Harlem, so we both knew that the tour groups were common. It wasn't the first time we noticed tourists – whose presence alone is disruptive – acting out in Church. We had both also noticed that the groups seemed to be getting larger, testimony to the appeal of these tours for Asian and European tourists as well as to the drawing power of good gospel music. J. feels ambivalent about the gospel tours because as annoying as they are, no tour group member ever neglects the collection plate. My own feelings about them were firmly in the negative category. I couldn't quite put my finger on why I have such a visceral dislike of these gospel tours until today, when I decided to gather some information about them so that I could better understand their appeal. Here, an excerpt from an account by a White tourist from London** who went to a Harlem church specifically for the music:

"I meet Tim Rawlins at the Memorial Baptist church choir practise. He's rare proof of the fact that white men can sing gospel. He says I've got to surrender to the music – feel it – and forget I'm English."

That statement, which positively reeks of cultural fetishizing, gave me a headache. Forget you're "English" (read: White and proper) and "surrender" (is it attacking you?) to the wild, untamed Black Black Blackity Blackness of the music. Hallelujah, let the Othering begin"...

http://www.racialicious.com/2009/09/22/a-sin-and-a-shame-soul-voyeurism-and-harlem-%E2%80%9Cgospel-tours%E2%80%9D-racialigious/