Mosaicism: a condition in which patches of tissue of unlike genetic constitution are mingled in an organism.19 Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary
There is only one religion, though there are a hundred versions of it. George Bernard Shaw
Houston's diversity of religion reflects a multiplicity of ethnic groups and denominational sects. Although Anglo Christian communities number in the majority of faiths found throughout the greater Houston area, other groups, such as non-Anglo Christians, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, and Hindus claim large populations and many places of worship. Other lesser known communities, such as the Bahá'í, Zoroastrians, and Pagans have growing memberships and resources, and are committed to integrating their congregations into their local communities and the city.
The Zoroastrians, for example, met for many years in private homes for religious functions, worship services, and religious classes. Because this small ethnic group keeps itself as a loosely segregated community and maintains a web site on the Internet (for URL address see references), it was able to counterbalance the problems associated with lacking their own suitable place of worship. Nevertheless, this debit had the effect of limiting participation, fellowship, and dissemination of information relating to current news and upcoming events. In 1999, they completed the construction of a worship center and are now able to accommodate the entire congregation at one location. In December 2000, the group will play host to the Seventh World Zoroastrian Congress; it will be a four-day event consisting of meetings, exhibitions, athletic competition, religious celebrations, and a book and film festival.
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In much the same manner, the Pagans of Irmin's Way-Kindred of Asatrú have endeavored to expand their resources and develop their community. Currently, the small group of approximately ten members meets at the home of the prayer leader in the northwest section of Houston, but on occasion will hold special functions at other locations. At the end of each summer, the members hold a ritual called "Harvest Celebration" on the shores of Clear Lake, just southeast of Houston and roughly forty miles away from the clan's home base. The group, which also maintains a web site (for URL address, see references), currently is arranging for the purchase of land in Corsicana, a town located 180 miles north of Houston, and plans to build facilities for the clan's services and functions.
Groups such as the Pagans and Zoroastrians exemplify the extraordinary range of religious systems, such as the Missionary Baptists, Unitarian Universalists, ultra orthodox Jews, Bahá'ís, Buddhists, Hindus, Jehovah's Witnesses, Catholics, and Muslims, that has shaped and continues to define the mosaic-like culture of Houston. Such a vibrant evolution has the effect of attracting and encouraging fledgling groups to locate their congregations within and around the city limits. It also fosters an environment of spiritual innovation, in which groups redefine or advance their ideologies, with the consequence of spawning breakaway factions and hybrid associations.
Houston is home to numerous variations of several denominations-the Greater Houston Area Southwestern Bell Yellow Pages contains between 4000 and 5000 listings for churches, megachurches, chapels, temples, mosques, assemblies, fellowships, missions, kingdom halls, sanctuaries, worship centers, and life centers.20 This tremendous figure, even for a metropolitan area of three million inhabitants, does
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not include the number of religious centers that do not have advertisements in the telephone directory or other generally available publication.
In fact, it is reasonable to conclude that even an exhaustive sociological study comprising detailed census information would not be able to definitively determine the number and kinds of religious affiliations and physical spaces of worship in Houston, for many groups meet in borrowed or shared places of worship, office buildings, commercial centers, garages, tents, and private homes. Furthermore, factors such as financial resources, fluctuating membership, available or dependable leadership, and submission to the authority of denominational hierarchies determine the vitality and longevity of each group, causing some groups to disband, become extinct, or merge with other congregations.
This fury of growth, hierarchical mobility, and physical migration increased the difficulty of trying to select which places of worship I would solicit and eventually investigate. There were occasions in which I learned from various sources about groups that showed interest in participating in my research, but setbacks such as disconnected telephone services, ambiguous organizational schemes, and sporadic schedules for worship thwarted many prospective collaborations and disrupted my timetable. Nevertheless, I made many successful contacts; of the approximately forty places of worship I researched and visited, seventeen actively participated in the project and fifteen were represented in the exhibition.
This photographic representation of religious diversity in Houston draws attention to the multitude of belief systems that coexist in a metropolitan area where its ethnic populations are among the fastest growing in the United States. The vitality of this multicultural expansion, informed by the principles or moral codes of religious
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constitutions, contributes to the individual's definition of self and to the social identity of the local population.
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