We are conducting research on religious pluralism in South Carolina, with a particular focus on Upstate South Carolina. Our intention is to explore changes in the religious life of the region, and, in doing so, to give special attention to those religious groups that have arrived since the early 1960s -- Hindus, Jains, Buddhists, Muslims, and Baha'i -- and that have affected, and been affected by, the local culture, one which has been historically shaped by Protestant Christianity.

South Carolina presents a particularly interesting locale for the study of religious pluralism. Before 1850, the state had one of the most ethnically diverse populations in the United States. French Huguenots, Swiss Germans, Sephardic Jews, Scotch-Irish, Irish Catholics and Yorubas had helped to shape the culture. However, after the Civil War, South Carolina became one of the most culturally and religiously homogenous states in America. From 1850 until 1950, the state often had the lowest immigrant population. During this time, Baptists, both white and black, became the most dominant Christian group. After World War II, however, Greek and Lebanese immigrants began settling the upstate in larger numbers. And in the 1970s and 1980s, increasing numbers of East Indians, Vietnamese and Hispanics came to the region. Religious pluralism has thus returned in full force to South Carolina.

In investigating the growth of this new pluralism, our work has progressed through three stages: first, a mapping of the religious landscape of South Carolina, completed by student researchers Andrea Mills and Alison Prevost in 1998 and Benjamin Coleman and Melissa Peterson in 2000; second, a focused study of specific groups in the Upstate of South Carolina, completed largely by members of Dr. Sam Britt's senior seminar class in the fall of 2002; and third, a study of specific groups in the Midlands of South Carolina, focusing on the Columbia metropolitan area, completed by student researcher Tracy J. Wells in 2003.

The first phase of our project in the summer of 1998 was spent compiling an expanded list of religious communities in South Carolina, contacting and visiting many of these communities, primarily those nearest to our home base, Furman University in Greenville. Our first visit was to a Hindu temple, the Vedic Center, in Greenville and was followed by visits to the Islamic Center of Greenville and the Baha'i community. We also arranged trips to Columbia, Spartanburg, Clemson, Florence, Conway, Hemingway, and Myrtl=e Beach to meet with the Muslim, Hindu, Baha'i, Sikh, and Buddhist communities in these areas.

In the summer of 2000, Benjamin Coleman and Melissa Peterson visited religious communities and updated exiting profiles for the Furman chapter of the Pluralism Project.

In the fall of 2002, Dr. Sam Britt's senior seminar class investigated "Asian Religious Traditions in South Carolina" through field visits to Greenville and Spartanburg-area Hindu and Buddhist communities. They completed profiles on the Carolina Buddhist Vihara in Greenville, the Vedic Center of Greenville, the Sai Baba group of Greenville, and the Hindu Society of Greater Spartanburg.

In the summer of 2003, student researcher and recent Furman graduate Tracy J. Wells investigated the religious diversity of the Columbia metropolitan area, updating previous work done by Mills, Prevost, Coleman and Peterson and adding new religious communities to the list of Columbia-area centers and groups. She also completed profiles on these communities and edited and submitted the profiles on Greenville-area groups generated by Dr. Britt's seminar class the previous fall.

We have been delighted to find that South Carolina is not as religiously homogenous as we had previously thought. South Carolina has the second largest Baha'i population in the United States, as well as a training institute and the only Baha'i radio station in the nation. Columbia is home to five different Buddhist organizations, and the state has at least three resident Buddhist monks. We have also found large and active Muslim and Hindu populations, especially in Greenville and Columbia. Smaller populations of Jains, Sai Baba devotees, Zoroastrians, Sufi and Shi'ite Muslims are also present. There are active interfaith organizations throughout the state, with the most notable groups being in Columbia (Partners in Dialogue, directed by Dr. Carl Evans at the University of South Carolina) and Greenville (Greenville Faith Communities United).

Student Researchers:

Tracy J. Wells, 2003
Benjamin Coleman and Melissa Peterson, 2000
Andrea Mills and Alison Prevost, 1998

To contact the Pluralism Project, email staff@pluralism.org. Please write to us with suggestions about new books, articles, or sites to include, with announcements of conferences or special events, or with corrections.

The Pluralism Project at Harvard University

Dr. Claude Stulting and Dr. Sam Britt