The Pluralism Project carries out various research projects in pursuit of information, disseminating findings through broadcast media and publications, through the creation of a network of scholars, and through symposia that explore the implications of growing religious diversity for public policies and discourse. The research itself involves scholarly work to:

• document and better understand the changing contours of American religious demography, focusing especially on those cities and towns where the new plurality has been most evident and discerning the ways in which this plurality is both visible and invisible in American public life - for instance, in the media
• study the religious communities themselves
• explore the ramifications and implications of America's new plurality through case studies of particular cities and towns, looking at the response of Christian and Jewish communities to their new neighbours; the development of interfaith councils and networks; the new theological and pastoral questions that emerge from the pluralistic context; and the recasting of traditional church-state issues in a wider context
• discern the emerging meanings of religious pluralism, both for religious communities and for public institutions, and to consider the challenges and opportunities of a public commitment to pluralism.

The hosting of interpersonal discussions is also a key component of the Project's consultations on Women's Networks in Multi-Religious America. For example, a September 2004 forum featuring a number of female religious leaders focused on the theme of "Religion and Politics 2004: Women's Votes, Women's Voices." The aim of the forum was to discuss issues of concern for women in the upcoming USA presidential elections, with a special emphasis on the voices of diverse religious women, "now largely absent from the public conversation".

The Pluralism Project website is one of the central channels for sharing state- and tradition-specific resources, alerting affiliates and citizens to upcoming events related to religious diversity, and sharing current research projects and publications emerging from the process. To cite one of the resources available here, in 1994, the Pluralism Project began working toward the production of a multimedia CD-ROM to present some of the work that had emerged from 3 years of research and presentations at an annual autumn conference and semester-long working seminar process. Entitled "On Common Ground: World Religions in America", the CD-ROM (now in its second edition) is an effort to make the findings and insights of the Pluralism Project available to teachers, students, researchers and religious leaders in the United States and elsewhere. It provides an overview of America's religious traditions through text, images, voices, and music. It also provides perspectives on questions related to religious freedom, religious diversity, and interreligious encounters.

Grant-making to support research and teaching by other USA-based institutions is another programme strategy. In 1997, the Project extended its research by involving the participation of affiliate religion departments, theological schools, and researchers. Ford Foundation funding enables the provision of mini-grants to professors and/or departments to involve themselves and their students in research on the changing religious life of their own city or region, with special attention to the new presence of Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Jain, Sikh, Afro-Caribbean, and Zoroastrian religious communities. Small teaching development grants for high school teachers are also offered.

Rights

Diana Eck of the Pluralism Project explains that "The United States is becoming one of the most religiously diverse nations in the world"; yet "pluralism is not a 'given' but an achievement." According to the Ford Foundation, in the United States a new mosque is being founded almost every 10 days. Changes brought about largely by the Immigration Act of 1965 that eliminated national quotas have resulted in the arrival in the USA of Muslims, practitioners of Yoruba and other traditional African religions, Buddhists, Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Zoroastrians, and new groups of Jews and Catholics from countries around the world. Alongside long-established religious minorities - both indigenous and immigrant - these new immigrants complement the various Christian and Jewish traditions brought mainly to the United States from Europe. Quickly taking root at the community and national level, these traditions that newer immigrants bring with them - once labeled "non-Western" - are now also American religions, and they are changing in response to American life.