In this Book

buy this book Buy This Book in Print
summary

Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and adherents of other non-Western religions have become a significant presence in the United States in recent years. Yet many Americans continue to regard the United States as a Christian society. How are we adapting to the new diversity? Do we casually announce that we "respect" the faiths of non-Christians without understanding much about those faiths? Are we willing to do the hard work required to achieve genuine religious pluralism?


Award-winning author Robert Wuthnow tackles these and other difficult questions surrounding religious diversity and does so with his characteristic rigor and style. America and the Challenges of Religious Diversity looks not only at how we have adapted to diversity in the past, but at the ways rank-and-file Americans, clergy, and other community leaders are responding today. Drawing from a new national survey and hundreds of in-depth qualitative interviews, this book is the first systematic effort to assess how well the nation is meeting the current challenges of religious and cultural diversity.


The results, Wuthnow argues, are both encouraging and sobering--encouraging because most Americans do recognize the right of diverse groups to worship freely, but sobering because few Americans have bothered to learn much about religions other than their own or to engage in constructive interreligious dialogue. Wuthnow contends that responses to religious diversity are fundamentally deeper than polite discussions about civil liberties and tolerance would suggest. Rather, he writes, religious diversity strikes us at the very core of our personal and national theologies. Only by understanding this important dimension of our culture will we be able to move toward a more reflective approach to religious pluralism.

Table of Contents

restricted access Download Full Book
  1. Cover
  2. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Title Page, Copyright
  2. pp. i-iv
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Contents
  2. pp. v-viii
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. List of Tables
  2. pp. ix-x
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Preface
  2. pp. xi-xx
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Introduction: Confronting Diversity
  2. pp. 1-7
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Chapter 1: A Special People in a Diverse World
  2. pp. 8-36
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Chapter 2: The New Diversity
  2. pp. 37-74
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Chapter 3: The Significance of Religious Diversity
  2. pp. 75-105
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Chapter 4: Embracing Diversity: Shopping in the Spiritual Marketplace
  2. pp. 106-129
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Chapter 5: "Many Mansions": Accepting Diversity
  2. pp. 130-158
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Chapter 6: "One Way": Resisting Diversity
  2. pp. 159-187
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Chapter 7: The Public's Beliefs and Practices
  2. pp. 188-229
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Chapter 8: How Congregations Manage Diversity
  2. pp. 230-258
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Chapter 9: Negotiating Religiously Mixed Marriages
  2. pp. 259-285
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Chapter 10: How Pluralistic Should We Be?
  2. pp. 286-314
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Notes
  2. pp. 315-350
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Selected Bibliography
  2. pp. 351-370
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Index
  2. pp. 371-391
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
Back To Top

This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. Without cookies your experience may not be seamless.