The Pluralism Project at Harvard University

Professor David W. Odell-Scott and
Professor Surinder M. Bhardwaj

The Religious Studies Program of Kent State University;
Mapping Post-1965 Immigrant Religious Communities in Northern Ohio

 

Project Description

Dr. David Odell-Scott is chair of this year's Symposium Planning Committee for the annual Kent State Symposium on Democracy. This year's symposium is entitled Democracy and Religion: Free Exercise and Diverse Visions. For more information, including a program for the symposium, please visit http://www.kent.edu/About/History/May4/Democracy/Archive/2002/index.cfm.

Our project is to "map" religious communities of post-1965 immigrants in Northern Ohio. In this region, the highest concentration of religious centers pertinent to our study are in the urban areas of greater Cleveland, Akron, Youngstown and Toledo. In the past 30 years, Northern Ohio has experienced a remarkable change in composition of its already diverse ethnic landscape due to immigration, especially from Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America. We have identified and continue to map at least one if not many centers associated with the following religious traditions in Northern Ohio: Buddhist (with representative groups of Mahayana, including Soka Gakkai International, and Theravada traditions, drawn from diverse national and ethnic populations), Hindu (both North and South Indian, Radhaswami, Sant Nirankari Mission, Swaminarayan, and Hare Krishna), Jain, Sikh, and Muslim (Sunni, Shia, and the Ahmadiyya). We also have identified and continue to map post-1965 ethnic immigrant Christian communities including Korean and Hispanic (Roman Catholic and Protestant). A number of unity movements in the region, including Baha'i and the Unification Church, have also been identified in our study.

Currently mapped sites include the following:

Cleveland Buddhist Temple, Euclid (Buddhism)

Cleveland Shambala Center, Bratenahl (Buddhism)

Cleveland Zazen Group, Cleveland Heights (Buddhism)

Cleveland Zen Sangha, Novelty (Buddhism)

Jewell Heart Center, Cleveland (Buddhism)

Kent Zendo, Kent (Buddhism)

Gita Group of Greater Akron, Akron (Hinduism)

Greater Cleveland Shiva Vishnu Temple, Parma (Hinduism)

Hindu Temple of Toledo, Toledo (Hinduism)

Sri Lakshmi Narayan Temple, Youngstown (Hinduism)

Baitul Ahud Mosque, Bedford (Islam)

Islamic Center of Greater Cleveland, Parma (Islam)

Islamic Cebter of Greater Toledo, Perrysburg (Islam)

Kent Mosque and Islamic Society, Kent (Islam)

Kent Muslim Student Association, Kent (Islam)

Masjid al-Madinah - Lorain Islamic Association, Lorain (Islam)

Guru Nanak Foundation, Richfield (Sikhism)

Contact Information

David W. Odell-Scott
dodellsc@kent.edu
Philosophy Department, Religion Studies Program,
Kent State University, Kent,
OH 44242-0001
Voice 330.672.0271

Surinder M. Bhardwaj
sbhardwa@kent.edu
Geography Department,
Kent State University, Kent,
OH 44242-0001
Voice 330.678.9460

Research Assistants:

Mr. Brian Vollner, 2003-2004

Mr. Joseph Wilson, 2001

Mr. Dennis Tobin, 1998

Research teams:

Kent State University Honors College Students
Comparative Religious Thought I. Philosophy 21020, Spring 1999.
Timothy Anderson, Kristen Biller, Kathryn Common, Emily Cooper, Michael Derienzo, Jason Dunick, Melinda Mohler, John Morrison, Melissa Pahls, Michelle Rush, Anne Sampsel, Nathan Stine, Justine Stratton, Michael Taylor, Lisa Viertel, Derek Wilkinson, Joe Wilson.
Sophomore Honors Colloquium Honors 20197, Spring 2001.
Hardesty, Jacobs, Kepple, Mittleman, Ross, Sharma, Willis, Wilson.

Funding for the Ohio Pluralism Project and the Gulf Coast Project are provided in part by the University Research Council of Kent State University, and the Pluralism Project, Harvard University.

Photographic digital assistance provided by David Maxwell Photography, Kent, Ohio.