The Pluralism Project at Harvard University

Kathleen Lynch

Harvard College
Mapping Religious Diversity in Washington State

 

Project Description

Through my project "Mapping Religious Diversity in Washington State," I intend to document the rapidly growing and increasingly geographically and culturally diverse Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, and Sikh religions in Washington State. In light of the work that the Pluralism Project has already done in documenting the religious communities of the Seattle metropolitan area, I will undertake to map the new religious diversity that is increasingly present throughout all of the other areas of Washington State, paying particular attention to the recent growth of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam in rural communities and cities and towns on the east side of the Cascade Mountains including Spokane, Yakima, Ellensburg, Tri Cities, Walla Walla, Pullman, Wapato, and the Colville and Yakama Native American reservations. I am particularly interested in studying the dynamics of the new religious communities' participation in the local civic and political life of the cities and towns in which they are situated, and considering these communities as a lens through which to view the religious and interfaith climates of Washington State's smaller cities and towns. In addition, I plan to update the work of the Pluralism Project in the Seattle area by documenting religious and interfaith communities' responses to the attacks of September 11, after which Seattle was cited by Human Rights Watch as a site of "September 11th Backlash" and hate crimes. I will profile the efforts of several religious communities and interfaith networks to engage in outreach and promote multi-religious peace in the wake of the attacks.

According to 2000 census figures, the number of Indian and Asian Pacific immigrants to Washington State increased significantly during the 1990s. The state's Indian population more than tripled in the period since 1990, to about 24,000. Asian Pacific Americans comprised the fastest-growing racial group in Washington, including a large number of immigrants of Southeast Asian origin. These groups have brought with them a diversity of religious practices, contributing to the dramatic growth of Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and Sikhism in the region. While these immigrants at first settled primarily in the Seattle area, the 2000 census indicates that immigrants of Southeast Asian and Indian descent are increasingly settling in outlying cities and towns throughout southern and eastern Washington. In turn, these groups have established a number of temples, monasteries, gurudwaras, and meditation and retreat centers in Washington State's small cities and towns, weaving distinctive new strands in the religious and civic fabric of these local communities.

In order to examine the contours of this spreading religious diversity, I plan to travel to the new religious centers in every region of the state and representing the practices of Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, and Sikhism. At each site, I will produce profiles of the religious centers including information on center activities, history and demographics as well as particular information on the ways in which the center is engaged in the civic and political life of the local community. I will focus particular attention on the ways in which the centers have participated in interfaith peace and education movements in response to the attacks of September 11th.

The particular centers I intend to map are located throughout the state of Washington. In order to document the spread of new Buddhist communities, I will travel to the towns of Spokane and Vancouver where census data indicates many Asian Pacific Americans have increasingly settled. I will profile the Bu'u Hu'ng Monastery, a Vietnamese Buddhist monastery in Vancouver, and the Spokane Buddhist Temple of the Pure Land denomination in Spokane. In Ellensburg, I will document the Rai Un Zan Ji Zen Group, practicing Zen Buddhism in a small town in a rural setting. I will travel to Kent and Ethel, near the rural town of Onalaska, to document the Maha Bodhi Center and the Northwest Vipassana Center, which offers courses for Khmer, Mandarin and Hindi speakers and operates a meditation camp for children. In Woodinville, I will document the Atammayata Buddhist Monastery and retreat center of the Thai Buddhist community, and in Walla Walla I will document the A Few Simsapa Leaves Buddhist Center in the Theravada tradition. In Tukwila, I will document the Sarana International Buddhist Center, which has been active in organizing to oppose the deportation of Khmer Americans in the wake of 9/11. Finally, I will travel to Wapato and Colville to document the Ordinary Mind Zen Center and the Yakima Buddhist Church, reflecting the growth of Buddhism on the Colville and Yakama Native American reservations.

To map the spread of Muslim communities, I will travel to Spokane to document the activities of the Islamic Center of Spokane. In Vancouver, I will document the Islamic Center of Southwest Washington, and in Richland, I will document the Islamic Center of Tri-Cities. I will also travel to Pullman to document the Pullman Islamic Center (Masjid Al Farouq). To represent the Hindu community, I will map the International Society for Krishna Consciousness in Walla Walla, and document the Hindu Temple and Cultural Center in Bothell, opened in 2003 and the first such center in the region. In Spokane, I will document the growth of the Sikh community in the Spokane Valley, where many Sikhs settled after moving from California and British Columbia in the 1990s. I will visit the group's Gurudwara, a converted Baptist church which the Sikhs purchased and refurbished last year, and examine the ways in which the interfaith community responded to acts of vandalism on the Gurudwara in 2003.

In Seattle, I will profile several interfaith groups that have organized to work for peace in the Seattle area in the aftermath of September 11th. I plan to include the work of the Seattle Buddhist Peace Fellowship, which supported Seattle's neighborhood peace movement with weekly public meditations and interfaith teach-ins up to and during the war in Iraq. I will also document events such as the "Justice for All: The Aftermath of September 11" public hearing, at which diverse immigrant communities of color and religious groups united to speak out against hate crimes and negative post-9/11 government policies affecting their communities. I also plan to study the work of the Church Council of Greater Seattle and the Interfaith Council, which organized school presentations and study groups around alternatives to violence in the post-September 11th environment.

My research in the new practice of Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, and Sikhism in the outlying areas of Washington State will contribute to the work of the Pluralism Project by documenting a new geographical region of religious diversity in America. My work will also advance an understanding of new interfaith relationships and practices, by studying the ways in which religious groups in Seattle and Washington State engaged in interfaith collaborations to promote peace and nondiscrimination after the events of 9/11. I look forward greatly to having this opportunity to participate in the study of pluralism in American religious life.

Center Profiles

Coming soon!