Abstract
Although Christian perspectives persist within the majority mindset in the United States and continue to flourish1, the presence of countless other faith traditions renders this nation the most religiously diverse in the world2. The increasingly pluralistic American landscape is based in large part on non-European immigration patterns in the last half-century3. Williams4 points to the influx of Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Muslims, and Christians from Pakistan and India as a result of changes to immigration laws in 1965. Eck5 notes the vast array of places – spanning Asia, Africa, South America, and the Middle East – from which followers of myriad traditions have come. American Judaism, too, has become more internally diverse as a result of immigration from overseas6. While acknowledging the impressive growth of non-Christian religions, Smith7 tempers exaggerated portrayals of their size in his assessment that these groups are still relatively small in number (under three percent of the population at large). Followers of Buddhism, Hinduism, and Islam represent half of the adherents of non-Judeo-Christian faiths, whereas the remaining half consists of a wide assortment of religious traditions8. Despite their low proportional representation, these groups are multiplying and their imprint on society is unmistakable.
Published Version
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