Source: Center for Oral and Public History at California State University, Fullerton

On April 17, 2003 the Center for Oral and Public History at California State University, Fullerton issued a press release announcing the publication of Behind the Orange Curtain: Religious Pluralism in a Southern California County, edited by M. Margaret Tanaka and Cheryl Amarasuriya Eberly. The press release stated that "Behind the Orange Curtain probes through oral history interviews [to uncover] the phenomenon of religious pluralism. Until recently the site for this study-- Orange County, California-- widely epitomized 'white bread Christian America.' But, in fact, the 1965 Immigration Act opened the doors of this county (as well as the entire country) to people from Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, and Africa, and these immigrants of color brought with them their religious traditions. As a result, the U.S. became the world's most religiously diverse nation and Orange County one of America's most profoundly heterogeneous religious areas... this case study's interviews illustrate the changes in the religious landscape of the U.S., illuminate how the traditions of the major world religions have been transformed within the American environment, and demonstrate the impact of these religions on our culture and society. Readers of this book will discover and grapple with the reality that religion is arguably supplanting race as the dominant social issue in the post-9/11 twenty-first century."