This county is the most religiously diverse in the U.S.
SILVER SPRING, Md. — About 30 miles north of downtown Washington, D.C. is a winding road surrounded by leafy trees and lots of churches. But not just churches.
There's a Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses, the Cambodian Buddhist Society, Muslim Community Center, the Maryland Hindu Milan Mandir, and even a home with a sign out front advertising psychic readings.
This stretch of New Hampshire Avenue in Silver Spring, Maryland is so packed with houses of worship, it's been called the Embassy Row of Religions. But locals know it as the Highway to Heaven.
The Highway to Heaven sits on the eastern part of Montgomery County, Maryland, which was determined to be the most religiously diverse county in the country, 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 Religion is considered to be one of the most reliable sources of data on the topic.
Melissa Deckman is the CEO of the Public Religion Research Institute, which conducted the survey. She said the counties with the most religious diversity have some common denominators.
"[They are] the most populated counties in the country, but they're also the most racially and ethnically diverse," said Deckman.
Just 40% of residents in Montgomery County are white, another 20% are Hispanic. The county also has larger populations of African-Americans and Asian-Americans, said Deckman. "There are higher percentages of residents who are Hindu, who are Buddhist, who are Muslim."
Other counties at the top of PRRI's diversity list included Kings County, New York, which includes Brooklyn; Suffolk County, Massachusetts; and San Francisco County, California. Counties with the least religious diversity included Holmes County, Mississippi; Macon County, Alabama; and Appling County, Georgia.
On a sunny Saturday morning, families from the Spencerville Seventh-day Adventist Church gather for worship. (For Seventh-day Adventists, the sabbath is Saturday as opposed to Sunday as in most Christian denominations.)
But the congregation isn't actually meeting at their own church. Instead, men in suits greet worshippers at the door of the Lutheran Church of St. Andrew — about a mile and a half up the road.
In August, Spencerville Seventh-day Adventist Church suffered a fire, and the congregation is still unable to use the building.Crystal E. Ward, the church's executive pastor, said it's been a positive experience to have supportive communities of faith nearby.
"The Lutheran church and the pastor here [have] been so welcoming and gracious to us to allow us a space where we can worship. So we're here worshiping every Saturday."
These kinds of interfaith partnerships are often the goal, but the geographic closeness on the Highway to Heaven may make them more possible.
"There's a mosque, the Muslim Community Center, which are amazing interfaith partners and do a lot in the community," said Kate Chance, the Faith Community Outreach Manager for the Office of Community Partnerships in Montgomery County.
"They have a health clinic to support folks, and right next to it is the Ukrainian church. And so they share parking lots. They're very good friends. But when the Ukrainian church was supporting Ukrainian newcomers, they're taking the newcomers to the MCC's health clinic."
Communities with deep roots
Two miles north of the Muslim Community Center and St. Andrew Ukrainian Orthodox Church is Holy Trinity Ukrainian Catholic Church. It's a striking building — tall, wooden, and topped with a polygonal pyramid that can be seen from the road. It would look out of place anywhere else in Silver Spring. But on the Highway to Heaven, the log construction (typical in the Carpathian Mountains) is just one of many thoughtfully built houses of worship.
"This is the church that I grew up in. I had my first communion. I was a part of this congregation before the church was even built, we had our first church in Washington, DC in a house," said Lila Johnson. She drives with her family around an hour and fifteen minutes each way to come to this church.
She enjoys celebrating the mass entirely in Ukrainian — just like her parents and grandparents did.
"The mass is just moving and beautiful, and I couldn't imagine going anywhere else," said Johnson.
On the Highway to Heaven, there are enough options that most people don't have to.
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