[The camel and the eye of the needle].

Jesus of Nazareth reportedly said (to paraphrase) that the chance of a rich man getting to heaven was about the same as the chance that a camel could fi t through the eye of the needle—in other words, highly improbable. 1 But as historian Donald Worster put it, “Apparently, in America, however, our camels were smaller and our needles larger” ( 1993 : 14). Religious production is typically most intense and diverse at the peripheries, the “ecotones” between cultural, ethnic or religious groups. North America, a space once defi ned by its expanding frontiers (Turner 1893 [1956]: 3) and a variety of cultural backgrounds and modes of exchange, provided a unique breeding ground for innovative religious communities and practices. These novel religious forms were forged in the fi res of capitalism as it spread across the continent, consuming resources and promoting cultural homogenization. 2 But in many cases religious groups which were born in these diverse and highly productive peripheries have, through command of fi nancial and thus political power, moved into the mainstream.