Mapping Religious Sites

Spatial Studies of Religious Sites and Communities 

“The most obvious sign of China’s religious revival is the growing number of places of worship” (Ian Johnson 2017:29). 

In the classic conceptualization of the sociology of religion (e.g., Durkheim, Weber), religion is a social fact of collectivity. However, social surveys usually focus on individual respondents and their individual religious beliefs, practices, and identities. With the dominance of survey-based quantitative studies of religion, the social nature of religion is often neglected.  

The mapping of religious sites provides a platform for scholars to both analyze and visualize the institutional side of religiosity. We adopted the big data approach and have collected the most comprehensive data on worship sites of all religions in East Asian societies and diasporas.  

We have developed the Online Spiritual Atlas of the Global East (OSAGE), which includes East Asian societies and East Asian diasporas in the United States.  

Database access: (link). 

Publications: