A New Religious America: How a "Christian Country" Has Become the World's Most Religiously Diverse Nation - Softcover

Eck, Diana L

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0060621591 ISBN 13: 9780060621599

Publisher: HarperSanFrancisco, 2002

Synopsis

Why Understanding America's Religious Landscape Is the Most Important Challenge Facing Us Today

• The 1990s saw the U.S. Navy commission its first Muslim chaplain and open its first mosque.
• There are presently more than three hundred temples in Los Angeles, home to the greatest variety of Buddhists in the world.
• There are more American Muslims than there are American Episcopalians, Jews, or Presbyterians.

About this title

About the Author:

Diana L. Eck is Professor of Comparative Religion and Indian Studies at Harvard University and is Master of Lowell House and Director of The Pluralism Project. As a Christian, she has also been involved in the United Methodist Church, the World Council of Churches, and the life of Harvard Divinity School. Her book Encountering God: A Spiritual Journey from Bozeman to Banaras won the prestigious Grawemeyer Book Award. In 1998, President Clinton awarded her the National Humanities Medal for the work of The Pluralism Project in the investigation of America's religious diversity.

From Publishers Weekly:

Eck, professor of comparative religion at Harvard University, delivers a stunning tour de force that may forever change the way Americans claim to be "one nation, under God." Drawing on her work with the Pluralism Project, an ongoing study of religious diversity in the United States, Eck focuses here on the explosion of Muslim, Hindu and Buddhist communities in America, particularly since 1965. How has the growth of these religions changed the American landscape? And just as important, how are the religions themselves changing because of America? Eck's travels take her (and us) to major cities, but also to places such as Greenville, S.C.; Portland, Maine; and Toledo, Ohio. Eck is a highly skilled ethnographer who delicately balances the challenge of interpreting events while also participating in them. The success of this portrait lies in the details: in the Nikes and Reeboks that adorn the shoe racks in Sikh gurdwaras, Islamic mosques and Hindu temples; in the Muslim Girl Scout who promises to "serve Allah and my country"; in the consecration rituals at a Massachusetts Hindu temple, where the waters of India's sacred Ganges River are mixed with the Mississippi and poured freely over the building. Eck does far more than simply document the presence of religious diversity in America; she places it in historical context and illustrates the ongoing challenges it presents by describing legal battles and pivotal court cases. The last chapters address the rise of religiously motivated hate crimes and, conversely, the innovative ways some communities have welcomed religious pluralism. This is not just a book; it is a celebration. Agent, Jill Kneerim at Palmer & Dodge.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperSanFrancisco
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0060621591
• ISBN 13: 9780060621599
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 404