Religious Diversity in Lubbock

Marilyn Dykes, a member of the Baha’i Community of Lubbock, remembers being a serious child in Denver, Colo., and encouraged by her mother to find her own religious path.

She spent years researching to find the right faith for herself.

While she was studying physical therapy at the University of Texas in Austin, Dykes accompanied a friend to a meeting of the Baha’i faith.

“I felt completely at home,” she said.

Marilyn Dykes

Marilyn Dykes

After waiting to find her own religious path, she was finally finished searching. However, her family was not thrilled with her transition at first.

“I went home at some point that year,” Dykes said, “and my mother was mostly disapproving.”

Later, after doing their own research, both Dykes’ mother and brother became Baha’i.

Lubbock has a very diverse religious population, according to a study funded by the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies and published in “Religious Congregations & Membership in the United States: 2000,”

More than 140 religious groups participated in this study, allowing Dale E. Jones to compile data describing the religious bodies in each county in the United States, and how many members there were in each congregation.

In 2000, Lubbock County was home to 40 different religious groups with more than 200 places of worship. These groups include a variety of Christian-based faiths, Baha’I, Islam, the Religious Society of Friends, also known as Quakers, and Jain, a religion of non-violence.

Richard Hopson, board president of the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Lubbock, said he thinks most people in Lubbock have never heard of Unitarian Universalism.

Hopson said his church is like a melting pot of different beliefs.

“We do believe in the inherent worth and dignity of every person,” Hopson said, “and we try to be welcoming of all different views.”

Richard Hopson

Richard Hopson

Imam Samer Altabaa, of the Islamic Center of the South Plains, agreed with Hopson, and said the center is very involved with the interfaith community in Lubbock.

During Ramadan, a month in which Muslims fast during the day in order to focus on worship, Samer Altabaa said he invites members of different religions to break their fast with the Muslim community, where they discuss what it means to worship and fast in a variety of faiths.

Samer Altabaa

Samer Altabaa

Ryon Price, senior pastor at Second Baptist Church, and the only Baptist pastor in Lubbock contacted who was willing to comment, said he recalls a time where the Islamic Student Center was vandalized.

Price said he and Mark Webb, professor of World Religions and Philosophy at Texas Tech and board member of both the Lubbock Interfaith Association and the local Dialogue Institute, took it upon themselves to assist in repainting the building.

“It seems like what a good neighbor would do,” Price said.

Dusty Thompson, lead pastor at Redeemer Church in Lubbock, said he thought cleaning up the Mosque was the right thing to do.

“It’s a great way to demonstrate, from my perspective, the love of Jesus. We should stand with someone that was wronged, regardless of who that individual is that’s wronged.”

Mark Webb said he believes that when his class has a diverse religious population, the students benefit.

“They don’t just get book learning.” Webb said, “They actually meet somebody who seriously believes something different from them.”

Jim Brewer, minister at South Plains Church of Christ, said he has a strong belief in his church.

“That doesn’t make me look down upon other people,” he said, “or fail to have respect for their faith, and so I can participate with other people and be involved in their lives without making them less of a person.”

However, not everyone in Lubbock is as receptive to the idea of religious diversity.

Father Joseph Noonan of Corpus Christi Roman Catholic Church said he believes religious diversity and Catholicism contradict each other.

“I’m from the old school,” Noonan said, “where we are about conversions.”

He said because of this, he is not involved with either interfaith community in the area.

However, he said neither he nor his congregation is directly under the Catholic Diocese because he conducts Mass in Latin rather than English.

Price said he does not agree with Noonan.

“I would say forming friendship is at the core of what it is to be Christian,” Price said.

Samer Altabaa said he believes this problem is not exclusive to Lubbock, but is pervasive throughout the western world.

“These days there is a stereotype about Islam and Muslims in the west,” he said, “and I just want to correct this stereotype, or correct this information and say that Islam is a religion of peace.”

Jason Landrum, an atheist, senior creative writing major and former president of the Secular Student Association at Tech, said he had a similar message for Lubbock citizens.

“We’re people,” Landrum said, “despite anybody’s misgivings about people that lack any faith. I would say a lot of us are probably a lot nicer or better than a lot of people who are very spiritual or very religious.”

Hopson said he thinks people of all faiths need to work together to protect and respect each other.

“If people can’t find a way to talk,” he said, “they’ll find a way to shoot each other.”

First Unitarian Universalist Church of Lubbock

First Unitarian Universalist Church of Lubbock

 

 

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