HOW TO BECOME A PARTNERSHIP ORGANIZATION
PARTNERSHIPS IN URBAN STUDIES: USA AND LATIN AMERICA
We would like to invite professors at universities, theological seminaries, Bible colleges and other programs of formal education to participate in our Urban Studies Program by involving their students in directed fieldwork on ethnic and religious diversity in major urban areas of the Americas (in English and/or Spanish) by selecting one or more target areas (such as the Greater Los Angeles Metro Area, GLAMA) and one or more ethnic communities (such as those currently available in our GLAMA Database Project) in which to conduct research and evaluation as part of this global effort. The resulting research reports, term papers, thesis and/or dissertations can then be uploaded to our Server via FTP, reviewed by our editors, and, if acceptable, can be placed on the appropriate webpages for public use, giving proper credit to the respective educational institutions, faculties, professors and students. We prefer that the documents be sent to us in PDF format for use on our webpages.
The annual cost for each participating educational institution will be $1,000, which would allow a maximum of 5 professors and 50 students to participate and send us their respective documents for placement on our webpages yearly.
Individual professors can also participate at a cost of $100 annually for each 10 students who submit documents for placement on our webpages.
Individual researchers can participate in this program at a cost of $100 annually, and can contribute up to 10 documents yearly to our webpages.
We reserve the right to reject any particular document submission that does not conform to our ethical and professional standards, as outlined in the section below: Our Committment to Religious Tolerance and Freedom of Religion.
You may choose one or more major urban areas with various geographical levels of definition: the entire metro area (e.g., GLAMA), a sub-region (e.g. San Gabriel Valley), city (e.g., Pasadena), district (e.g., Mid-Wilshire is a district within the City of Los Angeles), zipcode (e.g., 91104) or cluster of zipcodes (e.g., 91101-91109) as the target population for each research report.
You may choose one or more race, ethnic or national origin/ancestral group (see the 2000 Census categories available at: sample) as the target population for your research.
Your may choose one or more religious group, denomination, family of denominations or religious tradition as the focus of your research (see our Classification document for more information: clascode-eng.pdf
The focus of your research may be sychronical or diachronical, or you may choose both perspectives.
The focus of your research can be historical or contemporary, descriptive or analytical, bibliographical or observer-participant, etc.
Also, each research document may be the work of one or more students (group project), professors or independent researchers.
Please fill out our ENROLLMENT FORM to indicate your personal information, research interests, institutional affiliation and form of payment.
You may also pay by US$$ check made out to "IDEA Ministries" and sent to our Treasurer at: c/o Richard Holland, 176 Willow Avenue, Fairfax, CA 94930.
PARTNERSHIPS IN RELIGIOUS STUDIES IN THE AMERICAS (RITA)
We would like to invite professors at universities, theological seminaries, Bible colleges and other programs of formal education to participate in our Religion in the Americas Studies (RITA) Program by involving their students in directed fieldwork on ethnic and religious diversity in major urban areas of the Americas (in English and/or Spanish) by selecting one or more geographical target areas (region, country, subregion or metropolitan area), race/ethnic/national origin population (such as those currently available in our GLAMA Database Project) and/or religious traditions or denominations in which to conduct research and evaluation as part of this global effort. The resulting research reports, term papers, thesis and/or dissertations can then be uploaded to our Server via FTP, reviewed by our editors, and, if acceptable, can be placed on the appropriate webpages for public use, giving proper credit to the respective educational institutions, faculties, professors and students. We prefer that the documents be sent to us in PDF format for use on our webpages.
The annual cost for each participating educational institution will be $1,000, which would allow a maximum of 5 professors and 50 students to participate and send us their respective documents for placement on our webpages yearly.
Individual professors can also participate at a cost of $100 annually for each 10 students who submit documents for placement on our webpages.
Individual researchers can participate in this program at a cost of $100 annually, and can contribute up to 10 documents yearly to our webpages.
We reserve the right to reject any particular document submission that does not conform to our ethical and professional standards, as outlined in the section below: Our Committment to Religious Tolerance and Freedom of Religion.
You may choose one or more GEOGRAPHICAL AREA (region, country, subregion or metropolitan area) as the target population for each research report.
You may choose one or more RACE, ETHNIC OR NATIONAL ORIGIN POPULATION as the target group for your research in any particular geographical area.
Your may choose one or more RELIGIOUS GROUP, DENOMINATION, FAMILY OF DENOMINATIONS OR RELIGIOUS TRADITION as the focus of your research (see our Classification document for more information: clascode-eng.pdf
The focus of your research may be sychronical or diachronical, or you may choose both perspectives.
The focus of your research can be historical or contemporary, descriptive or analytical, bibliographical or observer-participant, etc.
Also, each research document may be the work of one or more students (group project), professors or independent researchers.
Please fill out our ENROLLMENT FORM to indicate your personal information, research interests, institutional affiliation and form of payment.
You may also pay by US$$ check made out to "IDEA Ministries" and sent to our Treasurer at: c/o Richard Holland, 176 Willow Avenue, Fairfax, CA 94930.
The Latin American Socio-Religious Studies Program, known by its Spanish acronym PROLADES (Programa Latinoamericano de Estudios Sociorreligiosos), was founded in 1977 by Clifton L. Holland, a Protestant missionary (Presbyterian) who at that time was serving with the non-denominational Latin America Mission in Costa Rica. Currently, our international headquarters are located in San Pedro, Montes de Oca, Costa Rica -- a suburb of the capital city of San Jose. Holland has lived in Costa Rica since 1972. See our History for more information.
OUR COMMITTMENT TO RELIGIOUS TOLERANCE AND FREEDOM OF RELIGION
In the modern context of "freedom of religion" in the Americas, every member of every religious group (whether Christian or non-Christian) should be allowed to exercise their personal religious faith without discrimination or persecution, as guaranteed by the various laws of the land based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (United Nations, 1948), the Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief (1996) and other international agreements regarding the tolerance of diversity in all of its forms and respect for the rights of the individual and minority groups.
Our motivation in creating the RITA Database is to add to our collective knowledge about religious groups of every kind in Latin America and the Caribbean regions, using the tools of the social sciences and enlisting social scientists and other interested researchers in this process, as well as to encourage tolerance of diversity, respect for human rights and the free exercise of religion without discrimination in every country and throughout the Americas, Spain and Portugal.
The Scientific Study of Religion in Latin America and the Caribbean is a discipline that needs to be encouraged and respected by all, especially by those who are committed to a particular religious faith as well as by those who profess no religious affiliation or belief system. The lack of tolerance and respect for other people's human rights and their religious freedom is a social disease that needs to be cured, regardless of the source of the disease--religious fanaticism and any form of persecution by any group against any other group is a violation of our collective human rights in a free society.
PROLADES is dedicated to upholding these principals and values as we pursue our research and information goals, and we are willing and eager to work with any person or organization in any country of the Americas (and Spain and Portugal) that respects and lives by these guidelines, regardless of their religious affiliation or lack thereof.
We welcome inquiries about our research activities and training programs, and we are eager to find individuals and organizations in each country of the Americas, Spain and Portugal that are interested in working with us in accomplishing these stated objectives. Currently, we have a working relationship with individuals and organizations in more than 70% of the countries of the Americas via e-mail and Internet services. See Help Wanted: Country Research Associates for more information.
For further information, please contact us at:
Last updated on 12 August 2007