City of Gods: Religious Freedom, Immigration, and Pluralism in Flushing, Queens

by R. Scott Hanson, Martin E. Marty (Foreword by)

Overview

Known locally as the birthplace of American religious freedom, Flushing, Queens, in New York City is now so diverse and densely populated that it has become a microcosm of world religions. City of Gods explores the history of Flushing from the colonial period to the aftermath of September 11, 2001, spanning the origins of Vlissingen and early struggles between Quakers, Dutch authorities, Anglicans, African Americans, Catholics, and Jews to the consolidation of New York City in 1898, two World’s Fairs and postwar commemorations of Flushing’s heritage, and, finally, the Immigration Act of 1965 and the arrival of Hindus, Sikhs, Muslims, Buddhists, and Asian and Latino Christians.

A synthesis of archival sources, oral history, and ethnography, City of Gods is a thought-provoking study of religious pluralism. Using Flushing as the backdrop to examine America’s contemporary religious diversity and what it means for the future of the United States, R. Scott Hanson explores both the possibilities and limits of pluralism. Hanson argues that the absence of widespread religious violence in a neighborhood with such densely concentrated religious diversity suggests that there is no limit to how much pluralism a pluralist society can stand. Seeking to gauge interaction and different responses to religious and ethnic diversity, the book is set against two interrelated questions: how and where have the different religious and ethnic groups in Flushing associated with others across boundaries over time; and when has conflict or cooperation arisen?

By exploring pluralism from a historical and ethnographic context, City of Gods takes a micro approach to help bring an understanding of pluralism from a sometimes abstract realm into the real world of everyday lives in which people and groups are dynamic and integrating agents in a complex and constantly changing world of local, national, and transnational dimensions.

Perhaps the most extreme example of religious and ethnic pluralism in the world, Flushing is an ideal place to explore how America’s long experiment with religious freedom and religious pluralism began and continues. City of Gods reaches far beyond Flushing to all communities coming to terms with immigration, religion, and ethnic relations, raising the question as to whether Flushing will come together in new and lasting ways to build bridges of dialogue or will it further fragment into a Tower of Babel.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780823271597
Publisher:	Fordham University Press
Publication date:	07/01/2016
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

R. Scott Hanson is a Lecturer in History at the University of Pennsylvania and an Affiliate of the Pluralism Project at Harvard University.

Table of Contents

Part I
1. Religion in Vlissingen (Flushing) from 1645 to 1945
2. Heralding "the World of Tomorrow": Religion and Community in Flushing, 1898-1965

Part II
3. Beyond Protestant-Catholic-Jew: The Immigration Act of 1965 and the Religions of "New Immigrants" in Flushing
4. A Blessing and a Curse? The Possibilities and Limits of Religious Pluralism
5. Flushing Since September 11, 2001

Appendix: Note on Methods
Acknowledgments
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

...a delightful journey through American religious history and into the future, as witnessed in the streets of what the author says is the most religiously diverse community anywhere.

America

"Minutely detailed. . . a 'case study' of the promises and drawbacks of pluralism.

The New York Times

City of Gods is an important and timely study in the age of Trump. As Americans debate issues surrounding immigration policies, religious expression, and national identity, it is vital that public discourse be informed by accurate and nuanced understandings of the nation’s history of engagement with the sometimes complementary—and other times conflicting—principles of religious freedom and pluralism.

Journal of American Ethnic History

City of Gods breathes fresh life into the religious pluralism tradition of theorizing and study. In this compelling—often lyrical—book, R. Scott Hanson sheds new light on urban religious history and offers vibrant, ethnographically grounded insight into the promise and challenges of life in this remarkably diverse religious environment. In our age of inter-religious conflict and immigration controversy, this work is very timely—but City of Gods is also a landmark to which people concerned with religious pluralism will return for many years to come.”——Omar M. McRoberts, author of Streets of Glory, Church and Community in a Black Urban Neighborhood

“Through this narrative, the reader gets close to battlers for religious freedom, will see immigration not as an issue but in a story of people, and come to regard pluralism anew, not as a philosophical analysis of diversity but instead as the perplexing and yet promising story of how people of different faiths share some features of a common life.”——Martin E. Marty, from the Foreword

“This invaluable study of America’s most religiously complex community effectively enshrines Flushing as a pioneer of American religious pluralism. Established by English immigrants—religious refugees from both Old and New England —under Dutch patronage, Flushing has offered a home to religious diversity from its seventeenth-century beginnings. Scott Hanson’s smart, lovingly researched account illuminates how connections between the local and the international transformed a small town into a globalized urban gateway to America’s religious future, while drawing inspiration from its distinctive colonial past.”——Evan Haefeli, author of New Netherland and the Dutch Origins of American Religious Liberty

From the Publisher

...this is a book that anyone with an interest in religion, immigration, intergroup relations, or urbanization will want to read.

Ethnic and Racial Studies

City of Gods is a great addition to the pantheon of history books on New York City and is one of the first to explore the topic of racial diversity and harmony in Flushing.

Queens Gazette

Setting his gaze on Flushing, Queens, [Hanson] examines how the history of religious freedom and waves of immigration gave rise to a remarkable religious pluralism in that community, best known as the site of the 1964 New York World’s Fair. Combining historical and ethnographic research, he is interested in uncovering “how pluralism ‘works’ at the local level.

Journal of Urban History

“Flushing, Queens, is surely one of the most religiously diverse places on the planet today. Scott Hanson’s study shows how it got this way. This deeply researched and thickly described account of the gods of Flushing makes an important contribution to the history of immigration after the Hart-Celler Act of 1965 and to the study of American urban religions. City of Gods is as well a timely and necessary contribution to the public debate about the nature of American civilization.

author of The Madonna of 115th Street: Faith and Community in Italian Harlem, 1880-1950 - Robert Orsi

“This invaluable study of America’s most religiously complex community effectively enshrines Flushing as a pioneer of American religious pluralism. Established by English immigrants—religious refugees from both Old and New England —under Dutch patronage, Flushing has offered a home to religious diversity from its seventeenth-century beginnings. Scott Hanson’s smart, lovingly researched account illuminates how connections between the local and the international transformed a small town into a globalized urban gateway to America’s religious future, while drawing inspiration from its distinctive colonial past.

author of New Netherland and the Dutch Origins of American Religious Liberty - Evan Haefeli

“An illuminating account of what Scott Hanson rightly calls ‘perhaps the most compelling case of religious and ethnic pluralism in the world.’ City of Gods is an important contribution to the literature on religious diversity in America, and an inspiring read for those committed to interfaith cooperation."

Founder and President, Interfaith Youth Core - Eboo Patel

"Minutely detailed. . . a 'case study' of the promises and drawbacks of pluralism.

The New York Times

“Through this narrative, the reader gets close to battlers for religious freedom, will see immigration not as an issue but in a story of people, and come to regard pluralism anew, not as a philosophical analysis of diversity but instead as the perplexing and yet promising story of how people of different faiths share some features of a common life.

from the Foreword - Martin E. Marty

“City of Gods breathes fresh life into the religious pluralism tradition of theorizing and study. In this compelling—often lyrical—book, R. Scott Hanson sheds new light on urban religious history and offers vibrant, ethnographically grounded insight into the promise and challenges of life in this remarkably diverse religious environment. In our age of inter-religious conflict and immigration controversy, this work is very timely—but City of Gods is also a landmark to which people concerned with religious pluralism will return for many years to come.

author of Streets of Glory, Church and Community in a Black Urban Neighborhood - Omar M. McRoberts

★ 07/04/2016
In 1657, the people of Flushing, now a neighborhood of Queens, N.Y., drafted the Flushing Remonstrance, a plea for religious liberty and diversity, in the face of an attempt by New York governor Peter Stuyvesant to persecute anyone who was not a member of the Dutch Reformed Church. From colonial times, Flushing, which its residents often call "the birthplace of religious freedom," has teemed with religious diversity fostered by immigrants who bring their own religious traditions and fervently practice them. Hanson's intimate portrait of lived religion in this New York City neighborhood is at once tedious and inspiring. Hanson offers a detailed history of Flushing from its earliest colonial days, discussing its growth into a "community of churches" in the 19th century and its dramatic expansion in the 20th century beyond the "Protestant-Catholic-Jew" model into a bustling religiously diverse community where Hindus, Sikhs, Muslims, and Buddhists live side by side in relative religious harmony. Hanson points out that the relative absence of religious conflict in Flushing illustrates the promise of such a religiously pluralistic community, though spatial and theological limits challenge the quest for unity. He urges interaction and cooperation that lead to tolerance, ecumenism, and inclusivism, rather than conflict, intolerance, proselytism, and nativism. The prose is flat, but readers will still enjoy this glimpse at the lived religions of a particular community, which deserves a place alongside Robert Orsi's The Madonna of 115th Street. (July)

Publishers Weekly

...a delightful journey through American religious history and into the future, as witnessed in the streets of what the author says is the most religiously diverse community anywhere.

America