<h4>Etiquette Resources</h4> A good resource for preparing to visit religious sites for the first time is available in the Reference Room in Orradre (Ref BJ2010.H68): Stuart Matthews and Arthur J. Magida, eds., How To Be A Perfect Stranger: The Essential Religious Etiquette Book, 3rd edition (Woodstock, VT: Skylight Paths Publication, 2003). This text has one chapter on each of 29 select faith communities in the United States. It is representative but not exhaustive—e.g. it includes a chapter on Baha’i but does not have one on Jainism. Each brief chapter presents information in the same format—architecture, worship services and specific “life cycle” events (funerals, marriages, etc.), guidelines for attire for men and women, expectations for visitors, etc. The book also includes a brief glossary, a calendar of religious holidays, and a summary of proper forms of addressing leaders of various faiths. There is no index. The Tanenbaum Center for Religious Understanding provides a useful guide to titles used in addressing religious leaders in different traditions. This can be helpful as students make initial contact by phone, e-mail or letter. http://www.tanenbaum.org/resources/ReligiousEtiquette.aspx LRP can recommend (and on a limited basis loan) additional background resources, including Diana Eck’s On Common Ground: World Religions in America, which has background on various religious traditions in the American context. This work and others are now part of a complex and large website, www.pluralism.org, which includes more perspectives on fieldwork. To varying degrees congregations have their own suggestions for visitors--e.g. Temple Emmanu-El in San Jose has an excellent guide that uses text and images to help individuals prepare for a visit: http://www.templesanjose.org/Visiting.htm. (They too cite How to Be a Perfect Stranger. ) Congregations may also have outreach coordinators or communities—e.g. the Muslim Community Association of San Francisco Bay Area in Santa Clara(MCA; http://www.mcabayarea.org/) maintains an outreach office staffed by an individual who uses volunteers to help students visit the mosque and in some instances begin research projects.
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