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Faithful Generations ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Faithful Generations Race and New Asian American Churches RUSSELL JEUNG FOREWORD BY ROBERT N. BELLAH ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ RUTGERS UNIVERSITY PRESS NEW BRUNSWICK, NEW JERSEY, AND LONDON LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA Jeung, Russell, 1962– Faithful generations : race and new Asian American churches / Russell Jeung. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0–8135–3502–6 (hardcover : alk. paper) — ISBN 0–8135–3503–4 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Asian Americans—Religion. 2. United States—Religion. I. Title. BL2525.J48 2005 277.3’083’08995—dc22 2004003827 A British Cataloging-in-Publication record for this book is available from the British Library. Copyright © 2005 by Russell Jeung All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher. Please contact Rutgers University Press, 100 Joyce Kilmer Avenue, Piscataway, NJ 08854–8099. The only exception to this prohibition is “fair use” as defined by U.S. copyright law. Manufactured in the United States of America CONTENTS Foreword by Robert N. Bellah vii Preface ix 1 Introduction 1 2 Chinese and Japanese Churches in the United States 16 3 The Emergence and Institutionalization of Asian American Churches 42 4 Evangelical Constructions of Asian American Panethnicity 63 5 Mainline Christian Constructions of Asian American Panethnicity 82 6 Asian American Panethnicity at Grace Faith Church 103 7 Asian American Panethnicity at Park Avenue United Methodist Church 125 8 Conclusion: Asian American Christians in a Multiethnic Society 146 Appendix A: Research Methodology 169 Appendix B: Description of Congregations 171 Notes 175 Bibliography 193 Index 209 v FOREWORD The changing configuration of American society, at once the most secular and the most religious of all the advanced industrial societies, is full of surprises. A society that has “absorbed” immigrants more successfully than most comparable nations also continues to view people in racial categories. Some doors are opened while others are closed. If assimilation means rapid appropriation of English, and concomitant loss of the immigrants’ original language in two or three generations, together with the affirmation of dominant patterns of lifestyle and career in a society that values upward mobility above almost any- thing else, then no group has failed to be “assimilated.” But if assimilation means full acceptance without stereotypical pigeonholing, then, for all immigrant groups, but particularly for those who appear racially different, the process is slow if it occurs at all. Asian Americans seem to exhibit what might be called marginalization of the similar. The very characterization of them as a “model minority” is demeaning, as it denies difference while at the same time affirming it. In the face of these peculiar but persistent characteristics of the American pattern, ethnic and racial minorities in America have adopted a variety of strategies. One minority that may be closer to Asian Americans than many, sur- prising in that it is not a racial minority, is American Jews. Having apparently assimilated successfully to the American pattern of occupational success, Jews, only partially in response to lingering anti-Semitism, have persisted in affirming their cultural difference. In earlier days Jewish identity could be affirmed in secular as well as religious associations. Today Jews are faced with the reality that they will identify religiously or lose their separate identity altogether. Though the situation of Jewish Americans is different from the situation of Asian Americans, the ability to retain cultural identity through religion, even when successfully assimilating in terms of social class, may make these cases interestingly comparable. One of the many interesting findings of Russell Jeung’s study is that the congregations he describes are not primarily interested in holding on to ancestral culture. The ethnic congregations of an older generation, often the parents and grandparents of those Jeung has studied, were very much concerned with vii viii FOREWORD holding on to the past and, if possible, passing along the ancestral language to their children. But Asian American congregations have an ambiguous, if not downright ambivalent, relationship with their ancestral culture. Having largely lost the immigrant language and having learned little about the ancestral cultures in American schools, they, even their ministers, are far from at home in Chinese or Japanese milieus. On the one hand, they do want to assert pride in their heritage and to learn more about that part of their past; on the other hand, they experience a degree of alienation from the parental generation, particularly over childhood experiences viewed as involving too much parental pressure and not enough parental reassurance. The Asian American culture that is developing in these congregations is, then, only peripherally related to geographical Asia. Primarily, it grows out of the shared experience of being Asian American in a period when everyone, except perhaps the dominant majority, is supposed to have a culture and to be proud of it. But in a heavily commercialized society where making it is the national ideal, holding on to any distinct culture, majority or minority, is a problem. As Jeung makes clear, the creation of racial solidarities has several sources. Shared experiences of racial exclusion lead to common material interests and a degree of political mobilization. But in a very privatized society where most people are engaged in improving their life chances, if they are fortunate enough not to be worrying about how to pay the rent, political mobilization is never easy, even when there are shared material interests. In this situation, the vital- ity of American religious life provides opportunities not present in most other spheres. Emile Durkheim laid the groundwork for all subsequent sociology of religion by pointing out the correlation between shared religious symbols and the creation of social solidarity. For Asian American Christians, whether conservative or liberal theologically, the new panethnic congregations have provided a fruitful context, culturally and socially, for working out new under- standings and new forms of solidaristic relationships. So far the new congregations have attracted mainly Chinese and Japanese Americans, though Korean Americans are beginning to join as well. These congregations are very much a work in progress and there is much variety among them, helpfully described by Jeung. American religious life, though more persistent than many other cultural spheres, is hardly changeless or even very stable. What Jeung has told us is a story very much in progress of unfolding. It gives us a window into salient features of American religion, a window into which it will be worth looking again as time goes on. Robert N. Bellah December 2003 PREFACE I have a question. A lot of you have said that part of the reason why Yao is so popular is because a lot of Chinese people are rooting for him (a type of nepotism or ethnic pride). However, how do those of you who are Chinese feel about other Asian groups sharing the same views about Yao? Of course, these other Asians do not share exactly the same feeling of pride as a true Chinese blooded person, but I can imagine the feeling is pretty close. I’m just curious because I am a non Chinese Asian person who thinks Yao is representing not just Chinese but Asia as a whole. Why is that? I mean yes, we are all Asians but we come from different cultures. Do you think people of Italian descent get excited over a German born player like Dirk? I don’t think so. —Submission to “Why Is Yao So Popular?” discussion thread on YaoMingMania.com1 Does anyone know if Yao is Buddhist? I’m 99% sure Yao is not a Buddhist. Why? For the reason I posted earlier, almost no Chinese born after the 80s is associated with any religion. They might be agnostics, deists, atheists, etc. but definitely not Bud- dhists, Christian, or Muslims. However, because China had been a religious nation before, some traditions of Yao’s might look religious. For instance, he wears the red band on his wrist, which can be understood as some religious symbol. —Submissions to “The Functions and Exploitation of Religion” discussion thread on YaoMingMania.com2 Why do Asians from different cultures come together to root for Yao Ming, a seven-foot-five-inch Chinese center who was the first player picked in the National Basketball Association 2002 draft? As stated in this sports Web site posting, European Americans do not get as excited over a German-born player, ix x PREFACE but Asian Americans from various ethnic backgrounds have taken great pride in this Chinese-born player. In fact, the creator of the Web site is John Taka- hashi, a Japanese American who spends thirty-five hours a week after work writing detailed analyses of Yao Ming’s every game. Besides gushing over Yao Ming, members share new Korean basketball prospects, debate the gung fu abilities of different actors, and review Asian American films. Yao Ming mania has swept over the Asian American community, but why does Yao represent not just Chinese but also other Asian Americans? This book examines this question and why Asian Americans have come together to generate a panethnic identity and to form solidarity along racial lines. For an increasing number of Asian Americans, religion has become the means by which they have organized panethnically. Although it has received scant attention in research literature about Asian Americans, religion—both personal faith and institutional traditions—plays a central role in the lives of the 12.5 million Asians in the United States. It provides comfort and meaning, shapes our ethical and political beliefs, and influences our culture and arts.3 Even on YaoMingMania, a basketball fans’ Web site, the members discuss the role of religion in the community and wonder whether certain Asian symbols are religious.

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