Meeting God in Garland: A Model of Religious Tolerance

Abstract

In the fall of 1997, a number of Taiwanese families bought houses in a quiet, tree-lined neighborhood in Garland, a blue-collar suburb of Dallas, Texas. Gradually the news leaked out that this was a religious group which designated the two-story brick house of their leader Hon-Ming Chen as “God’s Salvation Church” and variously called themselves the True Way Church, or God Saves the Earth Flying Saucer Foundation, or Chen Tao.2 That Chen Tao was not an ordinary immigrant church was obvious from the start. Many of the members of the community dressed in white, wore cowboy boots, and sported white cowboy hats. Apparently, none of the adults worked nor were any of the children enrolled in public schools. They held no formal services, but members of the community visited the leader’s house at all times of the day. The neighborhood’s curiosity was soon addressed in a backyard news conference held on 22 December 1997. Speaking through a translator, Teacher Chen declared that on 31 March 1998 God would appear as a human being in his front yard. Following that blunt announcement was a startling succession of revelations, each one more fantastic than the last. On 25 March, God would make a nationwide television appearance on Channel 18 to preview his arrival a week later. When God came he would appear in the duplicated form of Hon-Ming Chen. He would shake hands with every pilgrim present on that occasion and address them in their own language. He would show off his power by passing through walls. Garland was “God’s Land” where he would set up his office to prepare people for the Seventh Great Tribulation, a global nuclear holocaust which would begin in January 1999. Teacher Chen went on to explain that he had brought his followers to America to flee the countries of the East, which are populated by devils and devil religions. He disclosed