The Pluralism Project at Harvard University

Katy Shrout

Emory University
Mapping Religious Diversity in Augusta, Georgia

Augusta is Georgia's second city - second in population (to Atlanta) and second in age (to Savannah). Located on the Georgia-South Carolina border, about 150 miles east of Atlanta, its metropolitan area totals about 475,000 persons, according to the 2000 Census. Augusta is the birthplace of the Southern Baptist denomination, and the location of the first autonomous black Baptist church in the nation. The region's three largest employers include the Savannah River Site (a Department of Energy nuclear facility), the U.S. Army Signal Center and Fort Gordon, and the Medical College of Georgia. The city's famous golf course (the Augusta National) attracted national media attention last year for its refusal to allow women membership.

My project is first, to begin to map religious diversity in Augusta, providing statistical information, reports of visits, history, and photographic images for some of its world religious centers. (These profiles will expand upon the list of centers begun in the Pluralism Project's directory for Georgia). Profiled centers will include one Sikh gurudwara, Guru Singh Sabha Augusta; a Thai/Laotian Theravada Buddhist temple (Wat Santidham); the Hindu Temple Society of Augusta; the Augusta Islamic Society, the Augusta Baha'i community, and Darkwood of Pangea, a pagan center. Further information will also be provided about the Jain community and Swaminarayan Hindu Temple.

My second goal will be to clarify how the greater Augusta community -- including its large and predominantly evangelical Christian population -- has encountered and interacted with newer religious groups. I identify two important mediators for such interaction: first, the Unitarian Universalist Church of Augusta, which has provided a forum for interfaith dialogue (especially after September 11th), and second, the local newspaper, the Augusta Chronicle, which has been a longstanding arena for debate over tolerance and evangelism towards non-Christian groups. I will profile and interview leaders at the Unitarian Universalist Church to this end, as well as do archival research on religious debate on the editorial pages and coverage in the Religion section of the Augusta Chronicle since September 11, 2001.

Darkwood and PanGaea Sanctuary (2006)

Guru Singh Sabha Augusta (2004)

Hindu Temple Society of Augusta (Hindu/Jain Temple) (2004)

Islamic Society Of Augusta (2004)

Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Augusta (2004)

Unitarian Universalist Church of Augusta (2004)

Wat Santidham (2006)