Immigration

The legal and illegal, forced and voluntary migration of individuals, families, and whole communities across national borders and indeed across hemispheres has had a dramatic influence on the current shape of religion in both sending and receiving countries. While humans have always been mobile, contemporary migration is uniquely marked by economic, social, cultural, and religious globalization as well as highly efficient and relatively inexpensive travel and communications technologies.

Immigration to settler or predominately immigrant-receiving countries such as Canada, the United States, and Australia was once based on racially and religiously discriminatory practices that guaranteed that these states would remain almost exclusively White and Christian. However, since the late 1960s, most of these societies have moved toward relatively liberal, market-driven, and rights-oriented policies. While the United States ...