Lavishly illustrated with over 100 color photographs, Places of Faith: A Road Trip Across America's Religious Landscape embarks on a fascinating religious odyssey across the country that invented religious freedom.
Christopher Scheitle and Roger Finke have crisscrossed America, visiting churches in small towns and rural areas, mega-churches, storefronts, synagogues, mosques, Eastern temples, and many other places of faith.
Each stop on their tour provides an opportunity to introduce a particular current of American religion. For instance, Memphis serves as a window into the Black Church, a visit to Colorado Springs provides insight into evangelicalism, and a stop in Detroit sheds light on American Muslims. Readers visit Hare Krishnas in San Francisco, the Amish in central Pennsylvania, and a "cowboy church" in Amarillo, Texas.
As the authors journey across the country, they retell unique religious histories and touch on local religious profiles and trends. They draw from conversations they had with pastors, imams, bishops, priests, and monks, along with ordinary believers of all kinds. Most of all, they tell the reader what they saw and heard, putting a human face on America's astounding religious diversity.
