A brief overview of the Religious Pluralism in Southern California Project.

The Religious Pluralism in Southern California project examines the impact that religious pluralism is having on civic life in Southern California. The project is funded by a grant from the Ford Foundation.

Our inherited paradigms about religious pluralism offer two possible scenarios: assimilation to a mainline culture or social and cultural fragmentation-bubble or Babel. Neither seems to capture the dynamics of contemporary pluralism. Rather than assimilating the "American way of life" many new immigrant communities appear to be actively negotiating the terms of social life. This negotiation process takes place in the context of public institutions and in response to public events.

Furthermore,the process takes place in the context of a cultural system that attributes meaning to such constructions as race, gender, class, and religion and urges a normative response to the experience of diversity. Pluralism is more than just diversity, we argue; pluralism is meaningful diversity.

We have approached these abstract issues from three concrete perspectives: 1) by examining the ways that particular religious communities-Muslims, Sikhs, Korean Protestants, Buddhists, and African religious communities-negotiate place, status, and identity in the context of Southern California; 2) by examining the ways that particular institutions-namely multi-ethnic congregations, education, social services-are responding the demands of diverse constituencies, and 3) by examining dramaturgic performances of the culture of pluralism-namely public responses to current events such as 9-11, the dedication of Our Lady of Angels Cathedral, and the activities of the interfaith movement.