Decoupling Religion and Ethnicity: Second-Generation Indian American Christians

Classic assimilation theory was based on the assumption of individualistic adaptation, with immigrants and their children expected to shed their ethnic identities to become Americans. In the sphere of religion, however, they could maintain their communitarian traditions through American denominations. In contemporary society, multiculturalism, spiritual seeking, and postdenominationalism have reversed this paradigm. First- and second-generation immigrants integrate by remaining ethnic and group-identified, but religion is viewed as a personal quest. This paper examines how this paradigm shift affects the ethnic and religious behavior of second-generation Americans. It is based on research among Malankara Syrian Christians belonging to an ancient South Indian community.     

Evolution and Dimensions of a Women's Clinic in a University Setting

Abstract

As theologian Henri Nouwen has pointed out, the opposite of love is not hate; it is fear. Nowhere is the fear which strips us of our capacity to behave rationally better evidenced than in relation to AIDS. Only as we allow ourselves to be moved from what Nouwen calls the house of fear into the house of love will responsible answers begin to be formulated to the emerging moral questions presented by AIDS. The questions are threefold. To those potentially at risk for AIDS or actually infected with it, it raises questions about honesty and love in sexual relations. For caregivers, it raises questions about the nature of our professional obligations. And for society at large, it raises questions about confidentiality and scapegoating. It is the author's contention that an experience of the divine love—unconditional, unmerited, unbounded—is alone sufficient to move us from fear, and its responses to AIDS, to a more loving (and courageous) stance. Only thus will we begin—whether as victims of AIDS, as caregivers, or as members of society at large—to exercise moral responsibility with respect to this dread disease.