ReligionsMN

Wa Shoua Vang's txiv neeb (Hmong Shaman's) altar
Wa Shoua Vang's txiv neeb (Hmong Shaman's) altar
Wa Shoua Vang's txiv neeb (Hmong Shaman's) altar

Hmong Shaman's Altar in Minneapolis Home

Buddha
Buddha
Buddha

The Buddha who has moved with practitioners to various venues throughout the life of the Northfield Buddhist Meditation Center in Northfield, MN

Minnesota Hindu Temple
Minnesota Hindu Temple
Minnesota Hindu Temple

The Hindu Temple of Minnesota in Maple Grove, MN

Photograph of Compass App at Masjid
Photograph of Compass App at Masjid
Photograph of Compass App at Masjid

Masjid leaders explain how an iPhone Compass App helps worshippers to determine the proper orientation for their prayers. At the Abubakarsidiq Islamic Center in Faribault, MN

Lake Superior
Lake Superior
Lake Superior

Lake Superior, MN

Swami Ganeshananda Mother's Day Concert
Swami Ganeshananda Mother's Day Concert
Swami Ganeshananda Mother's Day Concert

Swami Ganeshananda at the Mother's Day Concert at the Minnesota Hindu Milan Mandir in Farmington, MN

St. George's Cathedral Sanctuary
St. George's Cathedral Sanctuary
St. George's Cathedral Sanctuary

Sanctuary at St. George's Greek Orthodox Church in St. Paul, MN

Lonsdale, MN—September 21, 2016
Lonsdale, MN—September 21, 2016
Lonsdale, MN—September 21, 2016

One example of the rise in Islamophobic sentiments in recent years and the public nature of many of these expressions. This sign could be seen just outside a store located in Rice County, not far from Carleton College. Muslim communities in MN have experienced a range of troubling incidents in recent years.

Family Sunday-Mother's Day
Family Sunday-Mother's Day
Family Sunday-Mother's Day

Family Sunday—Mother's Day Planting at the Minnesota Zen Meditation Center in Minneapolis, MN

Sacred Pipe at Pipestone National Monument
Sacred Pipe at Pipestone National Monument
Sacred Pipe at Pipestone National Monument

A bowl for a sacred pipe being carved at Pipestone National Monument in Pipestone, MN

Friday Langar at Sikh Gurdwara, MN
Friday Langar at Sikh Gurdwara, MN
Friday Langar at Sikh Gurdwara, MN

Langar (communal meal) at the Sikh Society of Minnesota in Bloomington

The ECK Temple
The ECK Temple
The ECK Temple

The Temple of Eck in Chanhassen, MN

Ancestor Worship
Ancestor Worship
Ancestor Worship

Reverence for the Ancestors at Chùa Phât Ân Vietnamese Buddhist Temple and Association in Roseville, MN

New Temple Exterior
New Temple Exterior
New Temple Exterior

Watt Munisotaram, Cambodian Buddhist Temple in rural Hampton, MN

Visahka Puja at Watt Munisotaram
Visahka Puja at Watt Munisotaram
Photograph of wedding henna, forearms
Photograph of wedding henna, forearms
Photograph of wedding henna, forearms

Hennah in Preparation for a Somali Muslim Wedding in Faribault, MN

About ReligionsMN

ReligionsMN brings together scholarship on a range of religious traditions with Minnesota’s communities and professional organizations to promote religious literacy, to foster nuanced and informed public conversation about and across religious difference, and to provide publicly accessible web-based resources to support that effort. Rather than keep the rich knowledge and wealth of research within the confines of the academy, including that originally produced here by Carleton undergraduates, ReligionsMN seeks to promote collaborations with community partners to help Minnesota communities access and leverage scholarly resources for public good.

Please Be Patient. This Site is Currently Under Construction.

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Lonsdale, MN. September, 2016.

Minnesota is no outlier to the divisions in America. The divides are racial, ethnic, economic, generational, and geographical in nature, but they are increasingly and crucially religious. Talk of registering Muslim neighbors simply because of their religion has found disturbing traction in the mainstream of public discourse.  By turns, evangelical Christians of a wide array of political, social, and theological positions are lumped together as though they think and act as a single entity. The particular circumstances, histories, and nuanced perspectives that shape Minnesota's diverse communities are often lost in a sea of generalization. 

At the same time as Minnesota is not unlike other states, it has enjoyed a reputation for social capital and civic capacity to address these challenges. To be sure, the murder of George Floyd in 2020 at the hands of Minneapolis police and that of Philando Castille in 2016 by a police officer from St. Anthony laid bare what the state's people of color have known all along: that what was once dubbed the "Minnesota Miracle" is belied by some of America's worst racial gaps in educational and economic achievement, social well being, and safety. At the same time, whether measured by electoral participation, volunteerism, charitable giving, or refugee resettlement Minnesota has a capacity for civic engagement and an ethos of neighborliness that—fragile and limited as it is—can be commended and drawn upon as a powerful resource for healing divisions in the current climate.

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Qur'an, Open Mosque Day, Masjid An-Nur, Minneapolis

ReligionsMN aspires to address some of the challenges of religious difference by tapping into this ethos and nurturing it through accessible public scholarship that helps Minnesotans understand one another’s religious commitments in all their difference and commonality. We believe this endeavor to be all the more important as we continue to see profound changes in Minnesota’s religious landscape coupled with an increasingly charged political climate over religious, racial, and ethnic difference.

The visibility and pace of these changes have generated enormous tensions in civic life, as workplaces, public spaces, schoolrooms, hospitals, and courtrooms contend with new realities and unexamined assumptions. Minnesota’s religious, racial, and ethnic communities have found themselves in the position of having to educate others about their religious beliefs and practices. Navigating cultural and religious difference presents on-going and ever-shifting challenges and we hope this project helps, in some small way, to address them.