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.

The Reverend Roy Reynolds, Consulting Minister, leads the children and adults in arm movements to a "song of gathering" for the ninety-sixth reunion of Our Home Universalist Unitarian Church near Ellisville, Mississippi.

Clarice Wansley (left) and Linda Foshee reminisce at the reunion. Wansley is a fourth-generation member of the founding family of Our Home Church. Foshee, a third-generation Universalist, serves as lay minister to the church of her childhood.

Members and friends of the Hattiesburg Unitarian Universalist Fellowship go through a series of yoga stretches during a Sunday morning service.

Young Unitarian Universalists and friends perform "This Little Light of Mine" during a Festival of Lights service at the Hattiesburg Unitarian Unversalist Fellowship.

Three weeks after the storm surge from Hurricane Katrina left the sanctuary of the Lighthouse Apostolic Holiness Church in Biloxi, Mississippi unsafe for habitation, Reverend Debruce Nelxon preaches to his congregation. While they worked to restore their sanctuary to its former glory, the congregation met for services in the right lane of Division Street.

Senior Pastor Micah Scott lays on hands during the healing portion of a Sunday morning serivce at the Tabernacle of Prayer Church of God in Christ, Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

Pastor Micah Scott preaches a special sermon for the young folks at the Sunday morning service of the Tabernacle of Prayer Church of God in Christ.

Edna Johnson, Associate Pastor, comes down to pray for the people near the end of the regular Sunday worship service. In the background Senior Pastor Micah Scott lays hands on the young people of the church during the healing portion of the service.

Members of the Tabernacle of Prayer Church of God in Christ, Hattiesburg, Mississippi praise the Lord during their regular Sunday morning service.

Jeanette Scott, wife of Pastor Micah Scott, surrenders to the Lord during the regular Sunday morning worship service.

Sister Florence Muhammad and a couple of sisters make their sunnah prayers after the Friday (Jumah) prayers at Masjid al-Halim near Sumrall, Mississippi, also known to its members as New Medinah. The sunnah prayers are similar to the formal Friday prayers, except they are done individually, while the Friday prayers are done collectively as one body.

In this photo from Masjid al-Halim, also known to its members as New Medinah, the brothers are making a dua (supplication to Allah) after the formal Jumah (Friday Prayers). After the Friday prayer, it is an excellent time to call on G-d for our personal needs and desires. The Friday prayer itself is a collective prayer for the whole community.

Sisters Deanna Abdulaah and Florence Muhammed calling on Allah after Jumah Prayer at Masjid al-Halim.

Kim Salah and Florence Muhammed share warm greetings after Jumah Prayer at Masjid al-Halim.

Sisters standing devoutly in Jumah prayer service at Masjid al-Halim.

Donna Ali, Alvin Shareef and Ruth Shareef socializing after Jumah Prayer at Masjid al-Halim.

Rosa Naji Shareef serving Abdul-Hakim Shareef and Sabir Abdul-Haqq snacks after Jumah Prayer.

Dr. Ali delivers the Friday Khutbah (Sermon) at Masjid al-Halim, while community members listen attentively.

Pagans and friends from Mississippi and Alabama gather at Camp Sister Spirit in Ovett, Mississippi for a Circle Celebration. Here they call the Quarters and the directions and cast the circle.

The High Priestess and High Priest of the evening's ritual invoke the Gods and Goddesses during a Circle Celebration at Camp Sister Spirit in Ovett, Mississippi.

Pagans and friends Raise the Cone of Power (harness the power of the group).

Members of St. Rose De Lima Catholic Church in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, leave the building after an evening mass at the church.

Glory Slocum, Laili Fink, Albert Fink and Shereen Mock participate in a Baha'i study circle on Islam in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Baha'is believe that all major religions come from the same God and are part of God's eternal covenant with mankind. Therefore, they believe that learning about other religions is very important and valuable knowledge.

Members of the Church of the Vietnamese Martyrs, a Catholic Church in Biloxi, Mississippi, process from one station to the next during the Stations of the Cross service that takes place on Good Friday. The service consists of prayers, hymns and reflections on 14 stations representing various aspects of Christ's journey to His death.

Rev. Dominic Phan, priest at the Church of the Vietnamese Martyrs, leads his congregation in prayer at one of the 14 Stations of the Cross. To "do" the Stations of the Cross, the priest and members of the congregation pray, then, starting at the first station, reflect on the episode illustrated by that station and then pray and/or sing an appropriate hymn. Then they go to the next station.

Church members stop at one of the 14 Stations of the Cross to pray. Some members of the congregation push a wooden statue of Jesus carrying a cross from station to station.

Some members of the Church of the Vietnamese Martyrs in Biloxi, Mississippi, play drums to let other members know when the priest has arrived at the next Station of the Cross.

Arjuna Polson, foreground, and Kalindi Williams play on the seesaw at the Hare Krishna Farm in Carriere Mississippi.

Every member of the Hare Krishna movement takes initiation, a formal ceremony where the initiate takes religious vows, which include no meat eating and chanting the names of god a certain number of times each day. Bananas, sesame seeds and strands of Tulsi beads, a sacred wood, are used in the ceremony.

Rohininandana reads from the Srimad Bhagavatam, one of the Hare Krishna Movements sacred books, during a morning class at the temple.

Hare Krishna devotee Mohanasini Lightfoot shows off her grandson Manu Mandal to fellow devotee Maharani Berg during the Sunday afternoon feast at the New Talavana Farm in Carriere, Mississippi.

Maharani Granham holds the small statue of Prabupada, the founder of the Hare Krishna Movement, during the morning service at the temple.

Rohita Hyndam reads from the Chatana Charitamrita, the biography of the greatest preacher, during the morning program.

The devotees bow down after a religious service held outside the temple.

Members of the Hare Krishna Farm eat at the weekly vegetarian Sunday feast.

Young men at a Jehovah's Witness Convention in Biloxi, Mississippi.

A young man takes a nap during the Jehovah's Witness Convention in Biloxi, Mississippi.