Local World Religions

I spent the first part of my afternoon doing some online research on nearby religious groups, especially in Eastern traditions (Hinduisum, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Daoism). I didn't really have much luck with Daoism, although I did find a local "Taoist Tai Chi" place--I'm not sure if it would count as a religious-studies oriented activity to visit there. I also found out some info on the local Chinese community, but as far as I could tell, this is to a large degree centered around a Chinese Missionary Alliance Church, so while their cultural activities would doubtless by enriching and educational, I'm not sure it would be that helpful for my purposes in finding places to require my World Religions students to visit in the Spring.

Hinduism was easy--I knew that there was a temple locally, and found its website with a good deal of information, including the name and e-mail address of the priest and the hours of operation. There is more than one Zen/other Buddhist meditation group in the area, as well. No Sikh groups in Toledo that I found, although I did find an address and phone number for a group of Jains.

A couple of interesting general resource sites: this is a directory of Buddhist groups in Ohio; and this is the site of Harvard's "The Pluralism Project", which allows me to search the state for various religious traditions (not Jews or Christians).

Elsewhere in the state, probably within driving distance, there are several different kinds of Buddhist that I found on that first site: Pure Land, Therevada, Tibetan. This is a really interesting part of the world to be studying World Religions in.

On the Western side, there are lots of kinds of Orthodox, Eastern Rite, and of course American Catholic and Protestant churches in Toledo. And we have three synagogues--an Orthodox, a Conservative, and a Reform congregation. There's a large Mosque here, too. To find Baha'i I would have to go farther, like to Dayton or Cincinnati. No luck with Zoroastrians.

I'm thinking I should plan to make some visits myself, before the semester begins, or at least some phone calls and e-mails to make contact with some of these communities in order to open the door a little before my students go.

Anyway, the opportunities are exciting.
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"He Himself is our Peace." (Eph 2)