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

Diana L. Eck (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 5, 2001

"The United States is the most religiously diverse nation in the world", Diana Eck writes in this eye-opening, de Toqueville-style guide to the religious realities of America today. Among her many observations she notes that - The 1990's saw the U.S.Navy commission its first Muslim chaplain and open the first mosque. Los Angeles is the most complex Buddhist city in the world. There are more Muslim Americans than there are Episcopalians, Presbyterians or Jews. Especially since the Immigration Act of 1965 and the subsequent economy based on foreign-born labour, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Zoroastrians, Jews and Catholics of all kinds have arrived from all over the world, building lives in the urban, suburban and rural communities of every region in the United States. Eck reveals how the world's religions are no longer on the other side of the world but right in the neighbourhoods. This new religious diversity is becoming more important than racial, ethnic or nationalistic ties, and will be a source of great social and cultural strength.

Editorial Reviews

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.

From Library Journal

America has always been a fundamentally Christian or "Judaeo-Christian" country with a few atheists and agnostics included. We're a secular, pluralist polity within that framework or so the received opinion goes. But in this wide-ranging book, Eck (religious studies, Harvard) shows us that this received opinion is erroneous. The framework is now, and in fact has always been, much broader. Eck discusses the history in America of three religious traditions with large numbers of adherents: Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism. Islam, she shows, arrived with African slaves. Buddhism and Hinduism came early as well, with the first Asian immigrants to the West Coast. These faiths are growing rapidly because of recent changes in our immigration laws and political turmoil in much of Asia, and thus our sense of religious pluralism needs to broaden. Well written and thorough, this volume will appeal especially to scholars, but casual readers will find much to enlighten them. Warmly recommended for both academic and public libraries. James F. DeRoche, Alexandria, VA
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 404 pages
• Publisher: HarperOne; 1 edition (June 5, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060621583
• ISBN-13: 978-0060621582
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #338,114 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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21 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Truly excellent and informative book, July 17, 2001

By 

"mtribit" (United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A New Religious America: How a "Christian Country" Has Become the World's Most Religiously Diverse Nation (Hardcover)

This is one of the best books on religion in America I have ever read. This author focuses on Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, who have been growing quickly in recent years. In the past decades mosques & temples have been poping up all over, even in the most Christian parts of this country. The author gives a good history on how the religion was established here, and its growth. Her view into the daily lives of these people was fascinating. I am truly inspired how these religious people, hold true to their values, along with American values at the same time.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Religious Pluralism in America, September 11, 2002

By 

Robin Friedman (Washington, D.C. United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A New Religious America: How a "Christian Country" Has Become the World's Most Religiously Diverse Nation (Paperback)

Professor Diana Eck has written a study documenting how the United States has become the most religiously diverse nation in the world. Her focus is on the immigration act of 1965 which allowed for the first time in our history a large immigration to the United States from Asia. Asian immigrants brought with them their religious traditions, particularly in this book, Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam. Professor Eck studies the growth of these communities in the United States and explores how they have changed the religious face of our country.

The book begins with a short historical overview of religious diversity in the early United States beginning with the intolerance of some of our early settlers through the work of Jefferson and Madison in securing religous liberty.

As the United States experienced large waves of immigration in the late 1800, two views of the nature of our country developed. The first viewed the United States as a "melting pot" under which the new settlers together with the population already here would blend and form a single, unified nation of shared values. The second view, developed by sociologist Horace Kallen articulated a vision of pluralism based upon the analogy of a symphony orchestra. It takes many different instruments to play a single symphony. Each voice is unique and yet each contributes to one whole. Professor Eck's sympathies are with the latter view. I suggest that it might be possible to synthesize these two apparently competing positions.

I found the most interesting parts of the book were the central chapters describing in some detail the various Hindu, Buddhist, and Muslim communities in the United States. Again, I thought the discussion of the history of these groups in our country even more interesting than the discussion of contemporary pluralism. Each of these groups has a long history in the United States. Their ideas have contributed much to our country even though for many years the number of adherents of these groups has been small. For example, Emerson and Thoreau showed a great deal of interest in both Buddhism and Hinduism and had valuable things to say about them. In 1893 a world "Parliament of Religions" took place in Chicago in which representatives of both Hinduism and Buddhism began to make an impact in the United States. (There was a similar Parliament in 1993.) Religions outside the Judeo-Christian mainstream have had much to teach for a long time.

Professor Eck's discussion of Buddhism focuses on how recent immigrants from various parts of Asia have attempted to keep and develop communal practice in the United States. I found this interesting in that she focuses on Asian Buddhism in the United States and pays relatively little attention to Westerners who have been attempting to develop an understanding of Buddhism indigenous to our country.

There is a revealing discussion as well of the growth of Islam in the United States. Professor Eck describes the black Islamic movements and describes as well how Islam in the United States has become large, organized, and visible. The book was written before September 11, and inevitably the reader will have questions about how the events of that day affect her account of American Islam.

There is an account in the book of the difficulties the new religions have faced in terms of fear and bigotry from some of their fellow citizens. There is also a good, more inspiring and positive account, of how people in our country are learing to live and share their various religous traditions.

I have become fascinated with the study of comparative religion in part through my own study of Buddhism. This book discusses the growth of different traditions in the United States. It may also help those wishing to explore and to better understand themselves.

17 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Could Have Been A Great Book, April 22, 2006

By 

G. Turner "Gerff" (IN, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A New Religious America: How a "Christian Country" Has Become the World's Most Religiously Diverse Nation (Paperback)

Eck writes what was could have been a great book about a very important subject. She has a great deal of background in this area, and reminds you of this background throughout the entire book. It is filled with stories of her travels, and her extremely one sided arguements. Although she makes some great points, the stories are overabundant, and the book is completely redundant. If you read the prelogue, and the first chapter of each of the three sections (Islam, Hindu, and Buddhism) then you will be able to answer any question someone asks you of the entire book, yes it is that redundant. If you enjoy reading the same thing in a book more than 15 times this is the book for you, but if you are on an actual search for knowlege and want to learn something without bias, look elsewhere.