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Published on December 16, 2021 by Sean Flynt   Share this on:

Student Kelsey Richardson documented virtual worship services of Avondale’s Beloved Community Church during the COVID-19 pandemic.

¼«ÀÖ½ûµØ biblical and religious studies professor David Bains continues to expand a website dedicated to documenting Birmingham’s sacred spaces. , featuring essays by Bains’ students, provides a unique resource for those interested in the city’s diverse beliefs.

This semester, Bains and 35 students added 10 essays featuring local Roman Catholic, Maronite, Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim, Jewish and Messianic Jewish communities. Student Emma Buckles wrote . Over a total of five semesters, 128 students have contributed 69 essays for the project.

Bains was able to maintain the project’s momentum even during pandemic disruptions last year. His students observed worship services online and documented religious images on public display in Birmingham. The of his work led ¼«ÀÖ½ûµØ’s Department of Geography and Sociology to honor him as “Geographer of the Year” last spring.

Bains specializes in the study of sacred spaces. He is past co-chair of the Space, Place, and Religion unit of the American Academy of Religion, and author of several studies of religious space including “Protestant Spaces in North America” in the Oxford Handbook of Religious Space (forthcoming) and “Church Architecture Worldwide since 1800” in The Wiley Blackwell Companion to World Christianity. He will teach the course Global Religions/Global City at ¼«ÀÖ½ûµØ’s London, England, campus this spring. When he returns, he hopes to have students in his Race, Ethnicity, and Religion in America course research aspects of religion in the Birmingham’s Woodlawn neighborhood.