Religious Diversity in Southern Mississippi

Thich Nu An Tri, a Buddhist nun, rings a bell during the Sunday morning service at Chua Van Duc, a Buddhist temple in Biloxi, Mississippi. The members of the temple paid Thich Nu An Tri's way to America from Vietnam so she could be their spiritual leader.

Members cultivate a high degree of concentration while praying during a Sunday service.

Chua Van Duc Buddhist Temple members pray during a Sunday service. Since this photo was taken the temple has moved from the meeting space shown here into a new building.

A member of the Chua Van Duc Buddhist Temple turns a page for another member to show her the page and line they are reading from the Daily Recitation Handbook.

Bowls of vegetarian food on the table after a Sunday service at Chua Van Duc, the Buddhist Temple in Biloxi, Mississippi.

Rabbi Celso Cukierkorn, Hattiesburg, MS, gives the priestly benediction, using the the fringes of his talis (prayer shawl) to bless a convert to judaism. Rabbi Celso Cukierkorn is the director of ConvertingtoJudaism.com, an organization committed to assisting people who are distant from a Jewish community or from access to a rabbi who would work towards conversion. He has guided, taught, and converted people all around the world.

Rabbi Celso Cukierkorn and Craig Barrett pause for a prayer during the mikvah ceremony (immersion in a body of water) which is part of the Jewish conversion ceremony.

Barett comes from a cattle property in the "Outback" of Queensland, Australia and from a Protestant Anglican background. Through extensive readings and studies in theology he came to believe that it is our own experiences and values that determine our future, not those that dogma dictate that we must accept without question. He came to know that it was Judaism that offered him what he was searching for. With his conversion at age 27 he says, "I have found my spiritual home."

On the occasion of the first Interfaith Holocaust Memorial Service in Hattiesburg, organized by Congregation B'nai Israel and the Interfaith Alliance, Rabbi Cukierkorn explains the significance of the seven branched menorah. The menorah is a symbol of the unity of the Jewish people that has endured even after the destruction of the holy temple in Jerusalem.

Members of Hattiesburg's Episcopal Church of the Ascension sing a camp song with hand motions at a Church Weekend at Camp Bratton-Green in Canton, Mississippi.

Members of Hattiesburg's Episcopal Church of the Ascension participate in a ropes course bonding exercise during a Church Weekend at Camp Bratton-Green in Canton, Mississippi.

Father Paul Pradhat assists Bishop Duncan Gray during the confirmation of Sharon McMahon at the Episcopal Church of the Ascension in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.