Decoupling Religion and Ethnicity: Second-Generation Indian American Christians

Latino Religious Affiliation and Ethnic Identity

“…In contrast to early immigrant waves, it may be the religious sphere that is more earnestly de‐ethnicizing and individualizing among contemporary ethnic populations (Yang and Ebaugh ). Kurien () argues, then, that contemporary ethnic churches are the mirror image of earlier ones with the religious and secular dimensions reversed: the secular sphere embraces the ethnic dimension, and the religious sphere rejects it.…”

“…If inculturation is low, then the bridging function supporting ethnic identification may be weakened (Min ). In addition, if a religious affiliation rejects ethnic culture as a hindrance or simply not integral to religious goals in the host country, then de‐ethnicization would appear the more probable outcome (Garces‐Foley ; Jeung ; Kurien ; Min ).…”

The Impact of International Migration on Home Churches: The Mar Thoma Syrian Christian Church in India

“…This article draws on a larger project on Mar Thoma Christians focusing on the transnational dynamics of the church, based on multisited research in the United States and India (see Kurien , , ). Between 1999 and 2003 and then between 2006 and 2009, I carried out field research and interviews for this project in various parts of the United States.…”

“…While the church tradition is that the intergenerational Mar Thoma community worships together, the second generation was asking for separate youth services. They also tended to be quite critical about how “India‐focused” the church was and the fact that Mar Thoma achens from India did not have strong English‐language skills and the knowledge of the American context to understand their lives (Kurien ). Some of the achens who were serving or had served in North American parishes confessed to me that their training to cater to “sacramental questions” had not equipped them to deal with the many challenges they faced during their foreign posting.…”

Episodic ethnicity: a case study of a Japanese Buddhist temple

“…1 An evolution towards multi-ethnic membership, the focus of this paper, means ethnicity becomes detached from religion in the IROs, and the organizations focus on the universalism and generalities of religion rather than the exclusivities and particularities of ethnicity. The decoupling thesis has supporters among those studying immigration, religion, race, and ethnicity (Ebaugh and Chafetz 2000;Jeung 2005;Kurien 2012;Min 2010;Roy 2006;Warner 1993Warner , 1998 Nonetheless, the thesis has been questioned by skeptical scholars in recent years. These scholars note the importance and persistence of race and ethnicity in the U.S and how the lines between religion and ethnicity have always been blurred for immigrants (Cadge 2008;Cheah 2011;Chen and Jeung 2012;Hirschman 2004).…”