Religion Today

May 25-31, 2003

World Religions in Rural America
Paul V.M. Flesher

          When we think of immigrants to the United States, we tend to think of two different types. If we think of historical immigration, perhaps a century or more ago, we think of Europeans, mostly Christians, moving into both urban and rural areas. If we think of recent migration, we tend to think of non-Europeans, often practicing religions other than Christianity, who settle in the cities.

          Few of us are aware that non-Christians were settling in rural areas of the mid-western United States a century ago, but that is just what happened. At the start of the 20th century, Jews and Muslims came in significant numbers to the Dakotas, Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming and Montana. The difficulties of homesteading and eking out a living in small farming communities eventually caused some of them to leave, while others converted to the religion of the majority population, Christianity. But for many years, there were thriving communities of Muslims and Jews in the Midwest.

          Muslims from Syria initially arrived in Ross, N.D., as peddlers. Some of them earned enough money to buy land to homestead or merchandise to establish a general store. By 1920, the community was large enough to build one of the first mosques in America in the mid-1920s, the Muslim community consisted of perhaps 40 families, but as the children grew up, the boys found that their Christian neighbors did not want their daughters marrying non-Christians. So many of them converted to Christianity upon their marriage, or moved to the cities to find a larger Muslim community. By 1948, the Muslims in Ross had disappeared and the mosque was replaced by a store.

          Muslim peddlers from Lebanon first arrived in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in 1895. The Muslim community grew, and became large enough for Muslim marriages to take place during the course of several generations. The mosque was not built until 1935, but it remains in active use today.

          Jews also moved into the Midwest and the West as peddlers at the start of the 20th century. Many served the mining towns of Colorado and South Dakota. They also settled in many small towns as homesteaders and local shop keepers. Many of them formed the nucleus for the modern Jewish communities of Cheyenne, Denver and Fort Collins. But those in small rural villages suffered from the same pressures that affected the Muslims. In addition to the problems of making a living from agriculture, there also was the added difficulty of finding marriage partners. Many young people moved to larger cities, while others assimilated and adopted Christianity. These changes have caused the rural towns to lose any modern symbol of their multi-religion past.

          The Jews came west -- to Wyoming, to the Dakotas -- by another way as well. This was the drive of Zionist idealism. As Zionism became popular in Eastern Europe, it inspired its members to emigrate to the "Promised Land." But where was the Promised Land? Today, the state of Israel represents one answer to that question, and there was another answer -- America! Many groups of Zionists came to the American West to settle in this new Promised Land. They formed cooperative farms on land no one else wanted and struggled to establish successful businesses. Unfortunately, Mother Nature did not cooperate. Those who survived until the Dust Bowl were unfortunately wiped out by it. Defeated, the Zionists swelled the ranks of local cities, especially in Denver.

          Although little remains from the history of Muslims and Jews in the small-town west and midwest, they formed an important component of life on this region during the early 20th century.

          Flesher is director of UW's Religious Studies Program. More information about the program can be found on the Web at www.uwyo.edu/relstds