Spencerville Seventh-day Adventist Church in Montgomery County, Maryland is presently assembly on the Lutheran Church of St. Andrew, after their constructing suffered a fireplace. It’s one instance of interfaith cooperation in essentially the most religiously numerous county within the nation.
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SILVER SPRING, Md. — About 30 miles north of Washington, D.C. is a winding street surrounded by leafy timber and plenty of church buildings. However not simply church buildings.
There is a Kingdom Corridor of Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Cambodian Buddhist Society, Muslim Group Heart, the Maryland Hindu Milan Mandir, and even a house with an indication out entrance promoting psychic readings.
This stretch of New Hampshire Avenue in Silver Spring, Maryland is so full of homes of worship, it has been referred to as the Embassy Row of Religions. However locals comprehend it because the Freeway to Heaven.
The Freeway to Heaven sits on the jap a part of Montgomery County, Maryland, which was decided to be essentially the most religiously numerous county within the nation, according to the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI). The U.S. Census does not collect data about religious affiliation, so the PRRI Census of American Faith is taken into account to be probably the most dependable sources of information on the subject.
Melissa Deckman is the CEO of the Public Faith Analysis Institute, which carried out the survey. She mentioned the counties with essentially the most spiritual range have some frequent denominators.
“[They are] essentially the most populated counties within the nation, however they’re additionally essentially the most racially and ethnically numerous,” mentioned Deckman.
Simply 40% of residents in Montgomery County are white, one other 20% are Hispanic. The county additionally has bigger populations of African-People and Asian-People, mentioned Deckman. “There are larger percentages of residents who’re Hindu, who’re Buddhist, who’re Muslim.”
Different counties on the prime of PRRI’s range record included Kings County, New York, which incorporates Brooklyn; Suffolk County, Massachusetts; and San Francisco County, California. Counties with the least spiritual range included Holmes County, Mississippi; Macon County, Alabama; and Appling County, Georgia
A wall in an exterior hall of the Muslim Group Heart on the Freeway to Heaven in Silver Spring, Maryland.
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Interfaith cooperation
On a sunny Saturday morning, households from the Spencerville Seventh-day Adventist Church collect for worship. (For Seventh-day Adventists, the sabbath is Saturday versus Sunday as in most Christian denominations.)
However the congregation is not really assembly at their very own church. As a substitute, males in fits greet worshippers on the door of the Lutheran Church of St. Andrew — a couple of mile and a half up the street.
In August, Spencerville Seventh-day Adventist Church suffered a fire, and the congregation remains to be unable to make use of the constructing.Crystal E. Ward, the church’s government pastor, mentioned it has been a optimistic expertise to have supportive communities of religion close by.
“The Lutheran church and the pastor right here [have] been so welcoming and gracious to us to permit us an area the place we are able to worship. So we’re right here worshiping each Saturday.”
These sorts of interfaith partnerships are sometimes the aim, however the geographic closeness on the Freeway to Heaven could make them extra attainable.
“There is a mosque, the Muslim Group Heart, that are superb interfaith companions and do so much locally,” mentioned Kate Probability, the Religion Group Outreach Supervisor for the Workplace of Group Partnerships in Montgomery County.
“They’ve a well being clinic to assist of us, and proper subsequent to it’s the Ukrainian church. And they also share parking heaps. They’re superb mates. However when the Ukrainian church was supporting Ukrainian newcomers, they’re taking the newcomers to the MCC’s well being clinic.”
Communities with deep roots
Two miles north of the Muslim Group Heart and St. Andrew Ukrainian Orthodox Church is Holy Trinity Ukrainian Catholic Church. It is a placing constructing — tall, picket, and topped with a polygonal pyramid that may be seen from the street. It might look misplaced wherever else in Silver Spring. However on the Freeway to Heaven, the log building (typical within the Carpathian Mountains) is only one of many thoughtfully constructed homes of worship.
Holy Trinity Specific Ukrainian Catholic Church follows the Byzantine Ceremony and sits on the “Freeway to Heaven” in Silver Spring, Maryland.
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“That is the church that I grew up in. I had my first communion. I used to be part of this congregation earlier than the church was even constructed, we had our first church in Washington, DC in a home,” mentioned Lila Johnson. She drives together with her household round an hour and fifteen minutes every strategy to come to this church.
She enjoys celebrating the mass totally in Ukrainian — identical to her mother and father and grandparents did.
“The mass is simply shifting and delightful, and I could not think about going wherever else,” mentioned Johnson
On the Freeway to Heaven, there are sufficient choices that most individuals do not should.
