I am standing here in Bushwick, Brooklyn, in front of Wykoff Hospital Chapel, next to the exact geographic center of New York City, according to the city’s Department of Planning. No matter which way I look, the city spreads equally around me. Here, one can gain a perspective on the future of New York City independent of the imperious attention of Manhattan.
From here, we can see the religious churning by gentrification in a predominately poor and working-class Hispanic and African American area. We will match our observations here with those in the Asian American powerhouse of Flushing, Queens, and an older lower-middle and working-class neighborhood in the Morris Park area in the Bronx. Every neighborhood of the city has its unique religious flavors.
This central, yet peripheral, place in Bushwick is a good perch to start because the city changes fundamentally when outsiders come crashing into the center to shake things up, do things differently, and seize power. Eventually, they may become “Manhattanites,” self-satisfied, insulated, and oblivious to stirrings here in the hinterland from which they originally came.
The big religious changes in the city actually started in the outer boroughs between the late 1970s and late 1980s. Immigrants from other countries, migrants from within the United States, and converts new to religion started to bring new vigor and re-ordering to the putrid mess that New York City had become. Then, the changes swept into Manhattan. Networks of believers started to pray, plan, and act together in a way that they hadn’t been doing for years.
This was a Hinge period: a time when New Yorkers decided to go forward to save their city and themselves. It took some outsiders and disaffected insiders to jump-start the process. We have seen a surprising result in the growth of religion in Manhattan also.
Will the religious boomlet continue to grow? It might depend upon what happens in the boroughs.
Today, we are in another Hinge period.
If you are interested in the future of religion in NYC, we are running the first of its kind comprehensive series on the faith-based landscape of the Five Boroughs of New York City as part of our HINGE series on the future of religion in New York City.
Our city is changing. It is in a hinge period that may last five years or over several decades. Which way will religion swing — low or high or sideways into a new direction? How much do the religious groups contribute to the socio-economic well-being of the city?
Find out how the ethnic, racial, and economic changes in the city are affecting the practice of religious faith in New York City.
What are the big issues being tackled by the faith-based groups: living wages; reform of schools; helping the homeless; religious freedom; city health; the environment; restoring civility and compassion to public life; criminal justice reform; and remembering in our monuments great religious leaders and events of the past.
Our non-partisan, non-sectarian coverage started with Flushing, Queens, and Bushwick, Brooklyn. We focused on the number and location of religious groups, their ethnic and racial groupings, and their contributions to social services, religious liberty, and environmental consciousness. We outlined how health care organizations and faith-based groups could work together to reduce illness and premature deaths in the city.
Next:
Bronx — Hunts Point, Highbridge, Mott Haven, Morris Park, Morrisania, Soundview
Brooklyn — Bedford-Stuyvesant, East New York, Flatbush, North Crown Heights, South Crown Heights
Manhattan — East Harlem, Harlem, West Harlem, Washington Heights
Queens — Astoria, Elmhurst, Corona, Jackson Heights, Jamaica
A Hinge moment is a time when we need to look around and see what we have been missing. We need to fill-in our mental map of the city in order to take into account all the resources, problems, and developments.
Since A Journey through NYC religions began, our viewers and Journey have developed a much better understanding of the role of religious groups in the city. But we still need to keep on top of the trends. So, what are the next religious changes coming from the boroughs and how will they also affect Manhattan?
We are combining street smarts and data lab stats to give a deep nonpartisan, nonsectarian look at religion as we journey in the city. We have selected out some areas of New York City that taken together will reveal many of the trends that are going on. So, we are starting in Bushwick and Flushing, then will pivot over to other places in the city. Then, we will land back in Bushwick for some summing up.
Join us in the journey to The Hinge! Give us your take on the future of religion in New York City with your comments, essays, photos, cartoons, and videos. We will publish as many of them as we can.
[20170426_0600]
