228 Helen Rose Ebaugh
1918; Dolan 1975; Green 1975; Tomasi 1975; Mohl and Betten 1981; Dolan 1985;
Alexander 1987; Papaioannou 1994; Sarna and Goldman 1994) read very much like
those discussed in case studies of contemporary ethnic congregations (Kim 1981; Orsi
1985; Kwon et al. 1997; Warner and Wittner 1998; Ebaugh and Chafetz 2000b). Then,
as now, ethnic places of worship served the dual purpose of reproducing the group’s
cultural and religious heritage while assisting immigrants in the process of adapting to
a new society. Even lines of cleavage and conflict within congregations are very similar.
Language debates were as fierce in earlier periods as they are in congregations today
(Bodnar 1985; Dolan 1985; Ebaugh and Chafetz 2000b). The introduction of English as
a response to the demands of youth born and raised in this country is common across
religions, ethnic groups and time periods.
Multiethnic congregations were as common and conflict ridden in earlier immi-
grant communities as they are today. Nineteenth-century immigrants did not stay
forever in their original ethnic enclaves; as their socioeconomic status improved, they
moved to economically better neighborhoods, leaving their old neighborhoods and
churches for a succession of new, less privileged groups. In that interim period of res-
idential succession there were often several ethnic groups sharing congregations, a
situation that frequently raised contentious issues regarding language, style of wor-
ship, patron saints, and social customs. Also, like today, conflicts arose among groups
that shared the same religion but came from different nations, such as German and
Polish Catholics (Shaw 1994) and Dutch and German Jews (Sarna and Goldman 1994).
Issues of accommodation and contention closely resemble those faced by Taiwanese,
Hong Kong, and mainland Chinese members of the same Buddhist temple (Yang 2000b)
or Hispanic, Vietnamese, and Nigerian Catholics who attend the same parish church
(Sullivan 2000b).
Contemporary immigrants are entering a society that is more accepting of ethnic
pluralism, unlike earlier waves that confronted demands that they “Americanize” (Alba
and Nee 1997). They are also entering a different labor market than that of the nine-
teenth century (Levitt 2000) and are better able to remain part of transnational com-
munities, expedited by the expansion of modern technologies of communication and
transportation (Portes 1996; Glick-Schiller 1999). The multiculturalism of the post–civil
rights era that new immigrants enter embraces both a wider array of types of Protestant
churches and numerous non-Christian religions virtually unknown in the United States
during the earlier immigrant waves. Despite this organizational diversity, however, we
see repeated in the case studies of contemporary immigrant religious groups many of
the same patterns and issues that characterized the “old” immigrant churches. Religion
appears to be persistent in its centrality in the lives of immigrants, as a means to cope
with the challenges of relocation, a way to reproduce and pass on culture, a focus for
ethnic community and a way to provide formal, and especially, informal assistance in
the settlement process.
RECENT RESEARCH ON RELIGION AND THE NEW IMMIGRANTS
Most of the research on religion and the new immigrants, until very recently, con-
sisted of case studies, either of one or a few immigrant religious institutions or of
one specific ethnic group. Among the case studies of congregations are Numrich’s
(1996) study of two Theraveda Buddhist temples, Waugh’s (1994) description of a