Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: In recent years, many have used the term “silent exodus” to describe the phenomena of the children of immigrants leaving their parents’ churches. While some choose to attend either a panethnic Asian or racially neutral (usually majority white) church, others choose to disassociate from Christianity itself. Based on nine months of ethnographic work, and both semi-structured and conversational interviews with members of both a Korean-specific church and a pan-ethnic Christian church, this paper argues that the silent exodus is a reflection of Karl Mannheims’ “problem of generations,” and that ironically, second generation Korean Americans leave the ethnic church for the very reasons their parents joined them. Thus, this paper first discusses the functions and purposes of the immigrant church for the first generation and second, speaks to the second generations' experiences with the ethnic churches and their rationale for the "silent exodus." This is followed by a discussion on how the propensity to leave the Christian church is driven by cultural clashes between generations, and different functions of the church for the parental and their children’s generation.