APARRI 2002

Religion and Conflict in Pacific and Asian North America

    The Ties That Bind: Religion in the Construction of Community

    • Kathleen Garces-Foley: Mainstreaming Filipinos and the Emergence of the Multicultural Parish
    • Grace Choi Kim: A Confucian Perspective on Community Theology: Bringing Healing and Justice to Asian American Churches
    • Michael Truong: Southeast Asians and Social Welfare: Do Faith-Based Organizations Make a Difference?
    • Farao Wendt: The Christian Life of Samoan Youth and Young Adults

    A Fuller Humanity: Reshaping the Intersection of Gender, Conflict, and Faith

    Convergences and Divergences: Theology and Religious Studies in Asian Pacific America - Panel

    What We Call Home: Context, Colonialism, and Exile

    • Himanee Gupta: No Place to Call 'Home': Hindu Nationalism and Indian Immigrants
    • Uriah Y. Kim: Reading Josiah as a Colonial Discourse: A Postcolonial Critique
    • Henry W. Morisada Rietz: Towards a Hapa Biblical Interpretation: Debts to other Contextual Interpretations
    • Frank M. Yamada: Surviving the Exile in the Garden: A Japanese American Reading of Genesis 2-3

    Becoming and Being: Transformations of/through Religion in a Complex World

    • Joanne Doi: Kuan Yin and Guadalupe: Compassion and Conflict
    • Jonathan Lee: Tianhou/Mazu in San Francisco: Mediating Chinese and Non-Chinese Cultures
    • Tomoe Moriya: The Middle Way: Shin Buddhist Approaches to Acculturation
    • Trangdai Tranguyen: Transcontinental Accounts in Oral History Narratives: Faith as the Ultimate Drive in Post-75 Vietnam, in the Dark Blue Sea, and in Vietnamese America

    Body, Mind, and Heart: Dimensions in Journeys of the Spirit

    • Yun Cho: Body, Temple, and Religion: An Ethnographical Study of Yoga Practice
    • Kyle Miura: Spiritual Direction and the Asian Healing Arts: Pastoral Ministry within a Unitarian Universalist Seminary
    • Siroj Sorajjakool: Chuang Tzu, an Ugly Tree, and Contemporary Culture: Intra-Psychic and Interpersonal Conflicts from Chuang Tzu's Perspective

    In Full View: The Public Construction and Evolution of API Religion

    • Tony Alumkal: "Pragmatic Liberalism" in the Protestant Mainline
    • Karen Leonard: South Asian Religions in the U.S.: New Context, New Configurations
    • Pyong Gap Min: A Comparison of Korean Protestant, Catholic, and Buddhist Congregations in New York
    • Amardeep Singh: Homeland Sikh-urity: Sikh Americans After 9/11

    God's Reign in the World: How the Church Lives Out Its Faith

    • James Chuck: Tell Us Your Stories: An Update
    • Pui-Yan Lam: The History and Future of Episcopal Asiamerica Ministry: A Sociological Analysis
    • Erika Muse: Sexuality and Marriage in the Conservative Christian Chinese Church

    Chinese Conversion to Christianity: Different Theoretical Approaches - Panel

    Abstracts

    Mainstreaming Filipinos and the Emergence of the Multicultural Parish

    Kathleen Garces-Foley, University of California at Santa Barbara kgarcesfoley@hotmail.com

    Since the early 1990's the Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles has been moving toward a multicultural model of immigrant incorporation, which stresses "unity in diversity" and strives for integration of its very diverse membership. Unlike the church-within-a-church model, in which ethnic groups operate in isolation from one another, the multicultural parish is a space for interaction and fellowship across cultural lines. This paper examines the impact of multiculturalism on Filipino Catholics, the second largest immigrant group in the archdiocese. Filipino leaders have been working to better integrate Filipinos into the parishes and to share the gifts of the Filipino people with the church. A central focus of this effort has been to recast the traditional Filipino celebration of Simbang Gabi as a parish-wide event. On the basis of interviews with clergy, laity and archdiocesan personnel, this paper describes how Filipinos are moving into the mainstream of the church and leading the way toward the multicultural parish.

    A Confucian Perspective on Community Theology: Bringing Healing and Justice to Asian American Churches

    Grace Choi Kim, Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary gracechoikim@hotmail.com

    In place of feminist theology, this paper will propose a "community theology." This community theology does not negate the worth of the individual; rather the individual cannot be fully appreciated apart from his or her role in the community. Asian American churches, influenced by Confucianism, have been built on the communal self, rather than the individual self. Their history does not fit modern culture, because, contrary to modern ideology, Asian American history makes relationship and community central to its ideology. Because Confucianism can be described as a way of life, a philosophy, and a religious system, it is an encompassing ideology. As such, it is a persuasive hermeneutic which can serve as both cultural affirmation and a source of healing and justice that promotes the wholeness of Asian American churches.

    Southeast Asians and Social Welfare: Do Faith-Based Organizations Make a Difference?

    Michael H. Truong, University of California at San Diego mitruong@ucsd.edu

    This paper is an excerpt from my larger dissertation project that looks historically and sociologically at how Asian American citizens and immigrants have been racialized differentially and relationally to other groups in the United States through the site of social welfare. The impetus behind this project is the model minority thesis. I focus on how the model minority thesis has constructed Asian Americans as self-sufficient and non-reliant on government support, especially when it comes to social welfare. This idea not only makes the extreme poverty faced by many Asian Americans invisible, but also justifies recent welfare cutbacks and reforms.

    In particular, this paper will critically assess the potential and real consequences of recent welfare reforms on the Southeast Asian communities in Southern California. Section 104 of the historic 1996 welfare reform legislation, also known as the "charitable choice" clause, extends federal social welfare funding to faith-based organizations (FBOs). The efforts of faith-based organizations, namely immigrant churches, in providing social services to Asian communities have been well documented. How the new legislation will change the way these FBOs serve Asian Americans in general and Southeast Asians in particular has not been adequately studied. This paper provides some preliminary, yet timely, critiques of this important welfare reform.

    The Christian Life of Samoan Youth and Young Adults

    Farao Wendt, Pacific School of Religion

    The question: Why are youth and young adults continuing to leave mainline churches, some to join charismatic denominations such as the Pentecostal churches and Assembly of God churches and some just to stay away from church?

    In dialogue, I will address some of the issues that directly and indirectly affect the spiritual lives of Pacific Islander church youth and young adults. These issues may be relevant to more than simply Pacific Islander churches, and other ethnic groups may face similar concerns within their congregations. My conversation, however, is centered on the Samoan Congregational Church youth and young adults in the United States. Some of the issues to be discussed include family traditions and cultural, social, economic, and generational issues.

    Facing Our Wounds: A History of Sexual Assault Against Asian American and Pacific Islander Women and the Church

    Nantawan Boonprasat Lewis, Metropolitan State University nantawan.lewis@metrostate.edu
    Thelma Burgonio-Watson, Center for the Prevention of Sexual and Domestic Violence burgoniowatson@cpsdv.org

    This paper attempts to explore a history of sexual assault against API women and the response of the Christian church. It will investigate the role of the church in both redressing and denying justice for women. The heart of the religious response to this issue is an understanding of the religious community as a responsible moral agent whose role extends beyond "spiritual healing." The paper submits that a needed response is one of moral accountability that demands political and economic restitution intended to undo violence and marginalization of women.

    Patriarchal Characteristics of Korean Immigrant Churches: Church Members' Response by Gender

    Shin Kim, University of Chicago shinkim@uchicago.edu
    Kwang Chung Kim, Western Illinois University

    Like members of many other immigrant groups, Korean immigrants brought their religious beliefs with them from their native country. A high proportion of Korean immigrants came to the United States as Protestant Christians, and consequently, a high proportion of Korean immigrants in the U.S. today practice Korean versions of Protestantism. One distinctive feature of a Korean version of Christian faith is operation of the church based on a Confucian ideology of patriarchal hierarchy. This ideology advocates a sharp separation of gender roles. Men are expected to perform instrumental roles with a great deal of authority and power, whereas women are expected to perform expressive roles with a submissive attitude. Specific expressions of the idea of patriarchal hierarchy in the operation of church are: 1) male domination of eldership and 2) gender-based assignment of church tasks.

    We utilize the data from the Racial Ethnic Presbyterian Panel in order to determine whether Koreans maintain the above two features of patriarchy in church operation. After examining church operation with respect to these two features, we contend that their acceptance by Korean immigrant churches is not a blind process but a conscious choice made with two factors-legitimacy and interests-in mind. For example, male domination of eldership serves the interests of male members, and we can hypothesize that proportionally more male than female members will support this practice. Women may accept this dimension of church operation in order to maintain peace within the family and within the church. However, their dissatisfaction expresses itself in religious orientation: that is, female members are clearly less conservative than males in Korean immigrant churches.

    Comparisons of the data from the Racial Ethnic Presbyterian Panel between Koreans
    and African Americans and Hispanic Americans yield interesting results.

    Wisdom's Ways

    Grace Ji-Sun Kim, Knox College, Toronto School of Theology pyclee@sunwise.uwaterloo.ca

    Korean North American women have been silenced and subordinated for too long. They have endured hardships as a result of their Confucian heritage and their immigrant lifestyles. Torn between two cultures, they do not seem to fit in comfortably anywhere. To make matters worse, the church has rarely helped these women to become liberated. Instead, the church has reinforced their subordinate status by perpetuating notions of a masculine divinity. The imagery for God needs to expand to include more liberative metaphors from the Christian faith tradition. Female images of God are essential for maintaining the fullness of the image of God and for the promotion of equality between women and men. For a liberative understanding of God, Korean North American women need to break away from the present patriarchal framework and move to a more inclusive understanding of God and of Jesus Christ. Sophia christology is already a major feature of white feminist theology. This paper develops the proposition that Sophia christology may also serve as a meaningful and liberative way forward for Korean North American women's christology, particularly because of the wisdom tradition of Korean women's own religious and cultural roots. The insights of multi-faith hermeneutics encourage us to seek a genuinely inculturated and syncretic Korean North American women's christology. This paper will strive to develop a christology which will bring healing, liberation and empowerment.

    Other-wise Searching for Rutabagas: Im/positioning Korean American Feminist Politics of Roots/Routes

    Wonhee Anne Joh, Drew University whjoh4@aol.com

    Gayatri Spivak has mentioned that what she distrusts, above all else, and even has contempt for, is people looking for roots. As she derisively notes, "anyone who can conceive of looking for roots, should . . . be growing rutabagas!" According to Spivak, roots are not something that is stationary but in fact something that we embody and carry around. Spivak, despite her contempt for roots, perhaps at the same time, as displayed in her travels back and forth to India, acknowledges the yearning to search if not grow rutabagas! The paradox for many marginalized people is unique because of its very marginal being at the boundaries, one is able to creatively bring a convergence to the dialectics of traditional thinking between the divisions of object/subject, Western/Eastern, female/male, creature/"non" creature, earth/cosmos, spirit/body, roots/routes, margin and center. At one's recognition of being the Other and never being accepted into the dominant culture, one is often compelled to turn back and reclaim what one perceives to be a pure culture of origin. Often this drive is double-edged. While it affords a temporary sense of security and sense of "return" to an "original place" of belonging, it also positions one to easily fall into the trap of essentializing and exoticizing that place of return. Such essentialism is dangerous because it goes counter to the very need for freedom from such dominant processes of "Other-ing." On the other hand, such essentialism is often politically necessary. Straddling two dangerous edges leaves one precariously dislocated in the vacillating boundaries of what one perceives to be "no place like home" and "no place is home."

    This essay will engage with postcolonial theorists including Homi Bhabha, Trihn Minh-ha and other feminist scholars by juxtaposing roots and routes of one's ever shifting identities. This paper will suggest several ways in which our hybridity becomes a transgressive power to challenge assumed positions of identity by unmasking the profoundly concealed porous contours to identity which has simultaneously been haunted by the ineluctable process of congealing essentialism. While postcolonial poststructuralists are skeptical if not derisive of any talk of "roots" and "origins," Asian Americans must be open to holding roots with both reverence and irrelevance. It is the contention of this essay that such transgressive hybrid identities must continue to push and challenge the limits and boundaries of our theological constructions.

    Panel: Convergences and Divergences: Theology and Religious Studies in Asian Pacific America

    David Kyuman Kim (panel organizer), Brown University dkim@hds.harvard.edu
    Rudy Busto, Stanford University
    Jane Iwamura, University of Southern California
    Fumitaka Matsuoka, Pacific School of Religion

    This panel will be a discussion on how the "theology vs. religious studies" debate plays out for Asian American religious life/experience/studies. Part of the task of the session will be to help clarify whether it is the case that working in Asian American religious studies is necessarily a theological enterprise. For example, given the historical commitment to communities, articulating collective identities, identifying cultural, political, social, and/spiritual resources, is it possible to be an Asian American scholar of Asian American religious experience and assume some kind of "objective," religious studies stand point? Or does the tie with communities (actual as well as rhetorical) mean that the scholarship will necessarily have some kind of theological implications? And if not theological, then what is it?

    No Place to Call Home: Hindu Nationalism and Indian Immigrants

    Himanee Gupta, University of Hawai'i himanee@hawaii.edu

    The idea that the "home" where one lives is not the same as the "home" that is really theirs figures prominently in South Asian American writings. This theme also surfaces in research done on the efforts by Hindu nationalist groups to seek overseas support for their religio-political projects in South Asia. Both trends point to the importance of imaginings of home and desires for a place to call home in the negotiating of self among South Asian immigrants and their American-born descendents. Examining relationships between self and place is crucial to understanding contemporary diaspora politics. Yet to explore such relationships, this paper argues that we need to view the meaning of "home" itself as contestable. Seeing home as contestable brings fluidity to the fixity of place, opening up an opportunity to listen within such spaces for silences, to make visible what is concealed, and to view a place where immigrants and their descendents reside as only one of many points of locality within a diasporic space, of which the experience of leaving one place to settle in another makes them a part.

    Reading Josiah as a Colonial Discourse: A Postcolonial Critique

    Uriah Kim, Graduate Theological Union uriahkim@earthlink.net

    The account of Josiah, king of Judah from 640 to 609 BCE, in 2 Kings 22-23 in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament has played an extremely important role in the development of modern biblical scholarship. The discovery of the "book of the law" and the subsequent "reformation" in the narrative of Josiah have captured the imagination of several generations of biblical scholars, thereby helping to construct a biblical discourse on the history and religion of ancient Israel. This paper argues that the reading of Josiah (as part of the Deuteronomistic History) as a foundational "event" in the history of ancient Israel is an example of colonial discourse-a type of discourse that is implicated, as shown by Edward Said, in maintaining the West's domination over the East. Specifically, I will argue that the reading of Josiah as a powerful king who expanded his kingdom and reformed Israel's religion is a colonial reading that needs to be decolonized. Josiah was in no position to expand his kingdom and his "reformation" may have been an anti-colonial program.

    Towards a Hapa Biblical Interpretation: Debts to Other Contextual Interpretations

    Henry W. Morisada Rietz, Grinnell College rietz@grinnell.edu

    This essay continues a paper that I presented last year at the APAARI conference reflecting upon my "hapa" (mixed ancestry) identity. In this essay I will develop my thoughts on how my "hapa" identity might contribute to discussions of identity construction and hermeneutics. The goal of this paper will be to situate myself within the conversations occurring in Biblical Studies concerning the interplay between the identity of readers and the interpretation of biblical texts. This will be done by first introducing some classic European and Euro-American biblical interpretations and discussions of those interpretations to establish ways in which those supposedly "objective" readings reflect the subjective concerns of their authors. I will then examine readings by contemporary scholars who explicitly relate their interpretations with their social locations and identities, in particular, works by Afro-Americans, Latin Americans, and Asian Americans.

    Surviving the Exile in the Garden: A Japanese American Reading of Genesis 2-3

    Frank M. Yamada, Seabury Theological Seminary fyamada@seabury.edu

    Traditionally, Genesis 2-3, the Garden of Eden story, has been described as a story about "the Fall," temptation, or disobedience. In a different way, biblical scholarship in recent centuries has tended to use methodologies such as source or form criticism to interpret the meaning of this text within its ancient Near Eastern context, often comparing this J narrative in relation to other creation stories such as the Epic of Gilgamesh. While the traditional and historical critical readings of Genesis 2-3 have merit within their respective interpretive communities (both predominantly from Western European and American religious traditions), the present essay suggests a different entry into the text. I will propose an Asian American reading, more specifically a Japanese American reading, of Genesis 2-3. I will explore an intertextual connection between the Garden of Eden story and the Japanese internment, using both the text of Genesis 2-3 and the historical and cultural "text" of Japanese American experience as intertexts. This essay will suggest that the major theme that emerges is one of human survival in the midst of adverse circumstances - a theme that is also prevalent in Israelite theology (e.g. the exile). I will then argue that this Japanese American reading of the text helps explain many difficulties that the traditional and historical critical readings fail to explain. Thus, the present interpretation is a needful corrective to the ongoing theological interpretation of Genesis 2-3.

    Kuan Yin and Guadalupe: Compassion and Conflict

    Joanne Doi, Graduate Theological Union jaruko@aol.com

    In this paper, I explore the resonances between Kuan Yin and the Virgin of Guadalupe through the images and texts of the Lotus Sutra (25th chapter), the Shurangama Sutra (Vol. V) and the Nican Mopohua, the post-Conquest Nahuatl account of the Virgin of Guadalupe's five visitations in 1531. I utilize the approach of the interpretive tension of "dialogy" that places dialogue as part of a religious quest and not simply a secondary reflection about religion. As an Asian American with both Buddhist and Catholic religious heritages, my resonances with both Kuan Yin and Guadalupe may be an opportunity for these two heritages to come together in solidarity rather than in competition as they both respond in compassion to situations of violence and social conflict.

    Tianhou/Mazu in San Francisco: Mediating Chinese and Non-Chinese Cultures

    Jonathan Lee, University of California at Santa Barbara gojonathango@earthlink.net

    This discussion is an invitation to start (and expand) an investigation of the dynamic, lively, and changing new Chinese/American religious landscape. The Tien Hau Temple is considered the "oldest Chinese temple" in the United States, founded in 1852 by "Chinese pioneers" in gratitude for Tianhou's protection of the newcomers as they crossed the Pacific Ocean in their journey to the West. An investigation of the temple's history will be anchored in Chinese/American studies, with particular attention to the early history of racial/ethnic discrimination aimed at the Chinese in America. Furthermore, it will examine Tianhou's new and expanding religious/spiritual realm currently in the process of taking shape in America, particularly in San Francisco. In what ways will the Tien Hau Temple (and Tianhou) function to preserve and create a Chinese/American identity, while at the same time bridging the realities and multiple dimensions occupied by the large, heterogeneous (in terms of race/ethnicity, nationality, class, gender, and religious/spiritual faith) Chinese/American communities? What are the limits of Tianhou's roles and functions in the United States? Are they largely associated with assisting new Chinese immigrants in their transition and resettlement? Is Tianhou adapting to her new environments or are her devotees adapting, reinventing, and expanding her in the process of Americanization? What role will Tianhou play in the formation of a Chinese/American identity? What role will she play in terms of Chinese culture? How will she assist her devotees as they mediate between Chinese versus non-Chinese culture?

    The Middle Way: Shin Buddhist Approaches to Acculturation

    Tomoe Moriya, Hannan University, Japan tmoriya@hannan-u.ac.jp

    This paper attempts to explore the historical significance of the re-interpretation of Buddhist teachings, a dynamic which has been a part of the process of Americanization for over a hundred years. Although it has a different geographical and historical background, Hawaii is also included in this study of American cases.

    While it is widely known that Buddhist temples have played a major role as cultural centers for the Japanese American community, relatively little analysis has been done on their teachings and their development in the last century. Was there any consistency in the discourses and practices of Buddhists when they claimed to quot;Americanize"? Rather than framing this as a dichotomy between Buddhist Japan and Christian America, I will discuss the transformation as a case of cross-cultural diffusion of a world religion and its transplantation to a different cultural setting. In particular, I will introduce an essay seldom cited in Japanese American Studies that deals with Buddhist democracy in the form of an anti-war appeal during WWI. The essay will provide us with a model for considering the role of Buddhist social engagement.

    Transcontinental Accounts in Oral History Narratives: Faith as the Ultimate Drive in Post-75 Vietnam, in the Dark Blue Sea, and in Vietnamese America

    Trangdai Tranguyen, California State University at Fullerton tntd9@hotmail.com

    The last quarter of the 20th century was a turning point for Vietnam and its diaspora. The nation and its people confronted political turmoil, socio-economic changes, and ethnic construction. Amidst all that happened, faith for many became the source of determination, hope, and survival. Chaos and adversity forced people to gravitate to religious belief, be that Catholicism, Buddhism, or Christianity. This paper explores how Vietnamese American narrators share their journeys, simultaneously crossing continents and centuries, displaying discernment and conviction. Based upon information taken from the forty-plus interview collection archived at the Oral History Program, CSU Fullerton, this paper explores how ethnic Vietnamese Americans grounded in their faith negotiate life. In-depth individual accounts will enlighten the audience on issues such as interfaith relations, religious identity, and the quest for true inner selves.

    Body, Temple, and Religion: An Ethnographical Study of Yoga Practice

    Yun Cho, Claremont Graduate University yunjcho@hotmail.com

    Yoga is popular in the American West. Most advanced athletic and health facilities provide Yoga programs. However, according to my ethnographical research, Yoga must be understood as more than a fitness program. Through interviewing Kyle Miura, a Yoga therapist who started practicing Yoga as a result of his Asian background and who has taught Yoga in a religious school in Berkeley, I seek to explore a more profound meaning of Yoga.

    Miura seems to understand Yoga in three ways. First, Yoga is a physical practice, which helps our physical and mental wellness. Second, Yoga is a way of life. It is a way towards truth, nonviolence, and social justice. Third, Yoga is a spiritual or religious practice for other religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, and Christianity. It helps believers to find their prayers and spiritual practices. Miura understands this profound meaning of Yoga as "refreshment of religion."

    In conclusion, I attempt through this paper to provide a profound meaning of Yoga rooted in Asian spiritual and religious traditions.

    Spiritual Direction and the Asian Healing Arts: Pastoral Ministry within a Unitarian Universalist Seminary

    Kyle Miura, Starr King School for the Ministry kylemiura@aol.com

    This paper will share a new model of spiritual direction that utilizes the Asian healing arts and its guiding principles and praxis in bringing health and healing in a Unitarian Universalist seminary at the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, CA. Spiritual direction is an ancient ministry in the world's religions and is a discipline distinct from both pastoral counseling and chaplaincy and a stepchild of neither. Research about its history and tradition in non-Christian religions remains scant. Though spiritual direction is becoming more formalized in seminary studies today, it relies too heavily on the writings and theologies of the Christian mystics and desert mothers and fathers. One encounters the weaknesses of the overly Western didactic and disembodied approaches in traditional Christian spiritual direction. Conversely, the Asian healing arts work out of a paradigm that relies on more non-didactic forms of communication and are more embodied. As we move into a new and expanding consciousness of interfaith social justice work, it is clear that true and authentic peace must ultimately occur at the contemplative depths of our souls and move out into the world. The spiritual power of the integration of the Asian healing arts in traditional spiritual direction within a Unitarian Universalist seminary have been utilized with overwhelming success for the past school year, and its working model and praxis will be shared.

    Chuang Tzu, An Ugly Tree, And Contemporary Culture: Intra-Psychic and Interpersonal Conflicts from Chuang Tzu's Perspective

    Siroj Sorajjakool, Loma Linda University ssorajjakool@rel.llu.edu

    Be something. Have something. Do something. We live in a culture that fears 'nothing.' It is not a fearless culture. It is a fearful culture, fearful of the threat of this 'nothing.' This threat spurs our striving toward being something. Be rich. Be powerful. Be successful. Be cool. Be smart. Be righteous. Isn't this precisely the beginning of suffering? We live in a culture that glorifies people who think big and names those who think small losers. We like firm muscles and a firm body. We love style and glorify youth. We strive for success and are pleased when applauded. And meanwhile we suffer when we are not where we think we ought to be. Where ought we to be? If there are no riches, there is no poverty. If there is no success, there is no failure. No cool, no loser. We create these categories. We get caught in the web. We were born free only to be gifted by the ability to chain ourselves. We create conflict for ourselves, and we wonder how we can be liberated, be freed. "Be an ugly tree," Chuang Tzu tells us. Krishna Murti once wrote, "In the light of silence all conflicts are resolved."

    "Pragmatic Liberalism" in the Protestant Mainline

    Antony Alumkal, Iliff School of Theology aalumkal@Iliff.edu

    This paper will analyze the racial ideology of mainline Protestant denominations by employing Omi and Winant's racial formation theory. In particular, I will discuss how mainline Protestant elites conform to Winant's description of the "pragmatic liberal" racial project situated between the "neoconservative" project on the right and "radical democracy" on the left. I will then discuss the implications for Asian Americans in these denominations.

    South Asian Religions in the U.S.: New Context, New Configurations

    Karen Leonard, University of California at Irvine kbleonar@orion.oac.uci.edu

    I review briefly the timings, the demographic parameters, the confrontations and accommodations as Hinduism, Islam, Sikhism, Zoroastrianism, and Buddhism establish themselves among immigrant and indigenous groups in the U.S. Communities of co-believers face challenges here working together, and they also influence politics and co-believers back in the South Asian homelands (India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka). This is an overview meant to stimulate further research.

    A Comparison of Korean Protestant, Catholic, and Buddhist Congregations in
    New York

    Pyong Gap Min, Queens College of City University of New York min@soc1.soc.qc.edu

    This paper compares Korean Protestant, Catholic, and Buddhist immigrant congregations in New York along the variables of frequency of member participation and social services, fellowship, and cultural retention functions of the congregations. It is based on 1997-98 survey results from Korean immigrants in Queens, New York City, ethnographic research on selected Korean Protestant, Catholic, and Buddhist congregations, tape-recorded interviews with fifty-five Korean Protestant immigrants, and personal interviews with several Korean religious leaders in New York, the latter three sets of data collected in 2001.

    The data show that Korean Protestant and Catholic immigrants participate in their congregations with exceptional frequency and that Korean Buddhists do participate, albeit less frequently than Korean Christians, in the formal congregation. More significantly, the data reveal that both Korean Christian immigrants' frequent participation and Buddhist immigrants' moderate participation in the congregation reflect their religious practices and adaptation in Korea rather than their adjustment to the immigrant situation. Ethnographic research also shows that the Korean Catholic parish serves the fellowship and cultural retention functions for their members in ways similar to that of the selected Korean Protestant church. However, the research reveals that they significantly differ in patterns of social services. While the Protestant church offers services exclusively to its own members, the Catholic parish provides services not only to its own members, but also to other Korean immigrants in New York. The Korean Buddhist temple is less active in providing social services and fellowship than the Christian congregations. Much smaller than the two Christian congregations, the temple has not developed many programs for Korean cultural retention. However, it has advantages over the Christian churches for helping to preserve Korean cultural traditions, because Korean Buddhism is inseparably tied to Korean folk culture (Korean language, traditional Korean holidays, fine arts, music, dance, and architecture).

    Homeland Sikh-urity: Sikh Americans After 9/11

    Amardeep Singh, Lehigh University amsp@Lehigh.EDU

    Sikh Americans have been mistaken as somehow affiliated or supportive of terrorists since 9/11. Sikh religious attire, specifically the turbans that Sikh men and some Sikh women wear, single them out for attention from law enforcement figures and harassment from some fellow Americans, who mistakenly see Sikhs as religious fundamentalists allied with anti-American fanaticism. This confusion has been a sad footnote to larger events, but for better or for worse, the Sikh community has come to figure centrally in the debates over "homeland security" following the 9/11 terrorists attacks.

    This paper pays close attention to the discourses circulating around Sikh identity, beginning with the confusion indicated in some of the hostile statements in circulation in the mass media since the attacks. I begin with a consideration of the preponderance of slurs as uttered by those involved with "backlash" harassment and violence, who have referred to Sikhs they have attacked as "towelheads," "ragheads," and "diaper-heads," mistakenly identifying Sikh turbans with the Taliban and Osama bin Laden. I argue that new patterns are emerging in these examples of hate speech, suggesting that the hostility to visible religious difference now approximates the status of racial discourse, a development which might cause us to rethink the traditional mappings of racial and religious identities in the American cultural landscape. Sikh as well as Muslim Americans have been forced to learn the destructive power of racialization as a result of this hostility.

    The second part of my paper focuses on institutional discourses designed to protect the civil rights of Sikh Americans, with a special focus on two documents: firstly, a Department of Transportation memo issued in October 2001, outlining guidelines for airport security personnel for questioning visibly identifiable Sikh and Muslim passengers, and, secondly, the U.S. Congressional resolution condemning hate crimes against Sikhs passed by both houses of Congress in November. I argue that these documents show the ways in which the U.S. government's traditional distance from religious communities has begun to change following the terrorist attacks. Finally, I discuss the possibilities of thinking about the Sikh community in a larger Asian American socio-cultural framework, especially given the central involvement Asian Americans in the Administration and in Congress (e.g. Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta and Congressman Mike Honda) have had with the issuance of these important defensive documents.

    Tell Us Your Stories: An Update

    James Chuck, American Baptist Seminary of the West jaschuck@juno.com

    At the 2001 APARRI conference, I made a brief presentation of a project then underway at the First Chinese Baptist Church in San Francisco to preserve and to share the life stories of about 60 persons connected with the church who were in their mid-fifties and above. These short autobiographies, accompanied with pictures, deal with parents, growing up, schooling, marriage, work, and faith. Some participants chose to write their own stories; most were constructed from taped interviews.

    Aside from the usual reasons for preserving life stories, the project seeks to supplement and augment descriptions of congregations with more fully drawn accounts of individuals who make up the congregation, thus supplying a subjective and "inner" dimension that is often missing in congregational studies. In this view, the church is seen not simply in its institutional aspect, but as a blending of individual histories, commitments, gifts and talents exercised both inside and outside the walls of the church. In particular, these stories show how religious faith, in varying degrees, gives shape, direction, and meaning to the lives of individuals as they journey through the life cycle.

    The project is now completed and being prepared for publication, scheduled for the fall of 2002. This update will describe the course of the project, and some lessons we have learned. The update will also highlight how such a project can be part of an ongoing program of pastoral care for older people; and how it can strengthen and enrich community life within the congregation itself.

    The History and Future of Episcopal Asiamerica Ministry: A Sociological Analysis

    Pui-Yan Lam, Eastern Washington University plam@mail.ewu.edu

    My paper will be based on my preliminary research for a larger project on Asian American ministries in the Episcopal Church. Specifically, I will focus on my observations and informal interviews conducted at the annual consultation of the Episcopal Asiamerica Ministry (EAM) in Chicago in June, 2002. The Episcopal Asiamerica Ministry represents more than 50 Asian American-Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Filipino, and Southeast Asian-congregations or ministries within the Episcopal Church. Participants in past consultations included clergy and lay leaders from the Asian American congregations, officers in multiethnic ministries, and bishops from dioceses with a noticeable presence of Asian American populations. About 160 individuals attended the 5-day EAM Consultation in San Jose, California in 2001.

    In my presentation, I will discuss the major issues confronting the Asian American congregations as raised by the participants at the consultation. Since this is the first consultation after the Presiding Bishop's decision to restructure the ethnic ministry units at the national church, I will also examine the reactions from the members of the EAM concerning the decision. Furthermore, I will discuss the research strategies developed for my study of Episcopalian Asiamerican Ministry based on my preliminary observations at the June consultation.

    Sexuality and Marriage in the Conservative Christian Chinese Church

    Erika Muse, State University of New York at Albany MekaW@aol.com

    My paper will look at the social and symbolic meaning of sexuality and marriage in conservative Chinese evangelical churches in the U.S. I will focus specifically on the concept of sin, female ritual pollution, and the changes Christianity has precipitated in the patriarchal structure concerning the above. I will look at historical ethnographic data to depict gender relationships in non-Christianized Chinese cultures, as well as refer to my own data collected from the Christian Chinese church.

    Integral to this process of change is the Godliness of emotional expression. Where Christianity is said to enhance Chinese culture rather than replace it, emotional expression and its Biblical mandate facilitate, through the outward expression of a Godly marriage, the democratization of genders in the church. I shall demonstrate that despite the indigenous belief of female ritual pollution as a persistent presence in the consciousness of both male and female church members, the move toward the epithet of "equal but different" for men and women has contributed significantly to the symbolic meaning of women in the church described as "helpmeet" and "weaker vessel."

    Women are traditionally defined by their procreative function, and ethnographic research has revealed a significant yet incomplete relegation of women to the domestic realm. In a post-structuralist paradigm, boundaries are porous, and women, in this case, move between public and private (domestic) realms. The gender discourse of the church reveals a persistent patriarchal structure coupled with an empowered female membership. While women are not permitted to preach from the pulpit, the emotional expression of love within the sanctity of marriage is a public statement of women as full members of the church. This is a significant departure from the Confucian view of women.

    Panel: Chinese Conversion to Christianity: Different Theoretical Approaches

    Fenggang Yang, Purdue University (Panel Organizer) yang@soc.purdue.edu
    With:

    • Brian Hall, Rutgers University
    • Carolyn Chen, University of California at Berkeley
    • Andrew Abel, University of Massachusetts
    • Lai Fan Wong, Boston University School of Theology

    Chinese American Students at the Border of Christian Faith

    Brian Hall, Rutgers University

    Anyone who has taken a quick glance at religious life on the campuses of many of America's best universities has probably noticed that Asian American young people are swelling the ranks of many of the evangelical Christian student groups at these schools. Since the early 1990s, Chinese American young people especially have been showing an interest in and converting to the Christian religion in increasing numbers. This attraction to Christianity comes as a surprise for a number of reasons, specifically because the Chinese have historically been resistant to Christianity and because college students, in particular, have also tended to be disinterested in organized religion. One of the primary goals of my research is to answer the question "Why?" That is, why are so many Chinese American college students showing an interest in and converting to Christianity?

    For this project, I conducted a survey of 263 Chinese American college students, all of whom had been involved in a Chinese Christian student group at Rutgers University in New Jersey. Included in the sample were a large number of non-Christians as well as young people who had recently converted to Christianity while enrolled in college. I also conducted personal interviews with 24 of these students to learn what factors led them to convert to Christianity or that led them to remain non-Christian.

    Many sociologists of religion have tended to explain religious conversion simply as a result of various individualistic traits that orient some people toward a religion, focusing particularly on the role that social bonds between potential converts and members of a religious group play in the conversion of nonbelievers to a new religion. While my research also confirms the important role that social bonds play in the conversion process, the problem with relying on such an explanation alone is that it fails to take into account the important role that various social and cultural traits may also be playing in predisposing Chinese American college-age people to be increasingly open and receptive to Christianity. Using the popular Lofland-Stark Model of Conversion as a guide, I developed two models to explain why many Chinese American college students are being drawn to Christianity. One model takes into consideration the important social and cultural background factors or "predisposing conditions" that are enabling Chinese American young people as a group to be open and receptive to Christianity; the other model pinpoints the "situational contingencies" that are arising out of the interaction between Chinese Christians and Chinese non-Christians and that are prompting some of these Chinese American young people to actually convert to the Christian religion.

    Helpful Hunters in a Materialist Maelstrom: What Chinese Protestants Make of Christianity

    Andrew Abel, University of Massachusetts linanzhu@hotmail.com

    This paper presents results from a four-and-one-half year participant observation study of conversion at a Chinese Protestant church, Northbrook Chinese Church. It was found that a variety of helping behaviors held important consequences for conversion. These behaviors are unusual in Chinese society and suggest that conversion to Protestant Christianity relates to social conditions faced by Chinese immigrants. Church members were found to provide favors and gifts in ways that are unusual in Chinese society (e.g., anonymously, to perfect strangers, with no expectation of return, and to persons of lower status). These patterns of giving confound the traditional Chinese manner of building social networks and instead bind individuals to a larger society of Chinese Christians. In this sense, Northbrook's Christianity provides for the Chinese a new technology of interaction. This paper concludes by suggesting a possible link between Chinese people's rising interest in Christianity and longstanding concerns about a perceived lack of social solidarity in Chinese society.

    Chinese Conversion to Christianity

    Lai Fan Wong, Boston University School of Theology laifan@hotmail.com.

    Owing to the quickly growing population of Christians in the Chinese church in the U.S., the basic questions addressed in my project are: "Why do a large number of Chinese convert to Christianity after they come to the U.S.?" and "What experiences lead to their conversion?" The sub-question is: "Do the Chinese who grow up in a non-Christian culture and then convert to Christianity fit the interpretation of conversion developed in the West?"

    This project is designed to enhance the understanding of religious conversion in an evangelical setting in a non-Christian culture, specifically a Chinese one. I would like to reflect upon Chinese religious conversion with the help of various theories, mainly those supporting psychological perspectives and social and cultural perspectives. By doing so, I hope to further my competence in the ministry of evangelism. I think the Chinese church can promote its ministry more effectively by understanding the conversion phenomenon clearly.

    A conversion narrative is mostly an autobiography of the convert. It is rarely seen from the perspective of an advocate. In this project, I try to analyze Chinese conversion experiences from the perspective of a researcher, and, as a minister, I try to integrate theological reflection into the discussion.

    I interviewed eight Chinese intellectuals to find out the reasons for their conversion. My targets were four women and four men. Five interviews were done in person and three interviews were done by phone. All of the participants finished their college education and were not Christians before they came to the U.S., but they define themselves as Christians now and are actively participating in Chinese churches in Boston.