The incidence of conversion to Christianity among Khmer refugees is
     negligible by comparison with the rates reported among such Southeast
     Asian refugee groups as the Hmong. However, among those Khmer who do
     convert, there is a notable tendency toward strict religious
     orthodoxy. Based on ethnographic research among Khmer refugees in the
     metropolitan Boston area, this article examines the phenomenon of
     Khmer conversion, exploring why some Khmer convert despite the strong
     association of Khmer identity with Theravada Buddhism. It also
     examines the sociocultural forces that encourage some converts to
     adopt orthodox attitudes toward their new religion. Finally, it
     considers the long term impact of Christian conversion on
     Cambodian-American identity, class stratification, and assimilation to
     American culture. [Khmer refugees, Christian conversion,
     acculturation, ethnic identity, Theravada Buddhism]

In recent years studies of Southeast Asian refugees in the United States
have revealed intriguing patterns of cultural accommodation and change. One
of the most important, if complex, of these cultural adjustments has been
conversion to Christianity. The most dramatic reports of conversion come
from among Hmong (a hill-tribe minority from Laos), where Christianity
appears to have made far-reaching inroads. Information is still
preliminary, but several accounts indicate upwards of fifty percent of
Hmong refugees have become Christian (Dunnigan 1986: 47; Scott 1987: 44;
Tapp 1989: 90-91). By contrast, despite the large number of Cambodians who
reportedly attended churches in border camps in Thailand and the even
larger number who have been involved with churches in the United States,
the total number of Khmer converts remains negligible. Within the
metropolitan Boston Khmer community, the site of the research upon which
the present discussion is based, there are an estimated 700 Protestants in
a total Khmer population of over 25,000. There are even fewer Khmer
Catholics.

Students of Southeast Asia and those familiar with the diverse cultural and
historical backgrounds of Southeast Asian refugee groups may not be
surprised by this variation in the incidence of conversion. Unlike the
Hmong, the great majority of Khmer subscribed to a world religion,
Theravada Buddhism, long before their transit to North America.
Furthermore, Khmer are the majority ethnic group in Cambodia and have a
strong sense of national identity, an important element of which has always
been Buddhism (Ebihara 1968; Keyes 1977). By contrast, Hmong are an ethnic
minority in their Laotian homeland and have struggled over the years to
distinguish themselves from the surrounding Buddhist majority (Keyes 1977;
Tapp 1989). Christian missionaries based in mainland Southeast Asia have
long been aware of these differences of religious commitment and have, as a
result, typically focussed their evangelizing efforts on ethnic minorities,
particularly marginalized hill tribes (Tapp 1989; Kammerer 1990). It is not
surprising that cultural and historical factors like these have played a
role in patterns of religious affiliation among Southeast Asian refugees in
the United States.

Other features of the conversion process, however, are less easily
explained in terms of these sociohistorical precedents. Among those few
Khmer who do embrace Christianity, for example, it is not unusual to find a
strong, self-conscious commitment to religious orthodoxy. Ethnic Khmer
pastors, in particular, place great emphasis on strictly delineating belief
and behavior compatible with Christianity from that which is Buddhist.
Similarly, among Khmer converts themselves there is a clear tendency to
affiliate with denominations that are notably less tolerant of
non-Christian belief than some mainline Christian Churches. The greatest
proportion of new Khmer Christians are members of evangelical Protestant
churches.

Khmer conversion thus raises several intriguing questions. First, what
motivates the conversion of that minority of Khmer who do convert despite
the strong Khmer identification with Theravada Buddhism? Second, why is it
that evangelical Protestantism tends to be so appealing among these
converts? What moral and ideological concerns underlie their insistence on
orthodoxy?

Based on thirty months of research among Khmer refugees in the metropolitan
Boston area, this article addresses these and related questions by
examining the social and cultural concomitants of Khmer conversion to
Christianity. The discussion is also intended to assess the likely impact
of conversion on the longterm situation of Cambodians living in and
adjusting to the United States. The study thus contributes to the growing
ethnographic literature on Christian conversion among Southeast Asians
(Tapp 1989; Kipp and Rodgers 1987; Kammerer 1990; Hefner 1993) and speaks
to anthropological debates concerning the roles of religion and ethnicity
in the assimilation of American immigrant minorities (Gordon 1964; DeVos
1975; Dolan 1975; Miller and Marzik 1977; Palinkas 1984).

The Metropolitan Boston Khmer Community

In the early 1980s Boston was identified as the site of one of twelve
"cluster communities" selected by the federal government for Khmer
resettlement (ORR 1982; Ebihara 1985). The city was chosen largely because
of its well-established Chinatown, accessible public transportation,
availability of housing and work opportunities, and long history of
welcoming and absorbing newly-arrived immigrants. Today there are an
estimated 5,000 Khmer living in the city of Boston itself, and some
2025,000 living in nearby cities of Lynn, Lowell, Chelsea, and Revere (MORI
1988). The city of Lowell alone is estimated to have a Khmer population of
18,000 or more, making it the second largest Khmer community in the United
States after Long Beach, California (Vlahou 1988; Coakley 1989).

Most Boston-area Khmer have been in the United States fewer than ten years.
They are, therefore, members of what is often referred to as the "third
wave" or most recent cohort of Southeast Asian immigration (Ebihara
1985).[1] In contrast to the earliest Southeast Asian arrivals these Khmer
tend overwhelmingly to come from poor farming backgrounds, and in general
they have had no more than a grade-school education. Many, in addition,
experienced serious physical and psychological trauma under the Pol Pot
regime and in the course of escape from their devastated homeland. Most
have lost one or more close family members. Once arrived on the Thai-Khmer
border, these refugees were then commonly obliged to wait in refugee camps
under conditions of painful uncertainty for two or more years before being
allowed to resettle in the United States (Smith-Hefner 1990).

A large number of the Cambodians living in metropolitan Boston were
originally settled elsewhere and have moved to eastern Massachusetts from
other states. These secondary migrants have come hoping to find work in
local electronics factories, medical labs, microchip plants, and seafood
companies (Viabou 1988). Equally important, they come to be reunited with
family members, friends, and an active and integral Khmer community. It is
not unusual to find Khmer who were originally settled in Wisconsin, Texas,
Seattle, and even California, who have moved to metropolitan Boston upon
the urgings of friends or relatives (Costello 1989).

However, secondary migration to the Boston area has not brought significant
numbers of wealthy business people, or large numbers of better-educated
Khmer. Unlike California and metropolitan Washington DC, where
earlier-arriving, highly-skilled, and socially prominent Khmer have settled
in large numbers, the Khmer community in Boston has relatively few people
of solidly middle-class background.[2] The Khmer middle class, of course,
suffered the brunt of Pol Pot's ruthless policies; a significant proportion
of its membership died or were murdered during the period of Democratic
Kampuchea (1975-78) (Ablin and Hood 1987). The small number of middle-class
Khmer who have located in the Boston area tend quickly to move outside of
the city and vanish into outlying suburbs where housing is less expensive
and schools for their children are of better quality. The lack of
middle-class Khmer living in metropolitan Boston is evident in the
difficulty public schools have had in locating individuals qualified to
serve as bilingual teachers, and in the inability of social service
agencies to secure bilingual translators (Malone 1989). The absence of a
substantial Khmer middle class has also influenced the course of Khmer
religious change in the metropolitan community.

Buddhism and Khmer Identity

Theravada Buddhism was the official national religion of the Khmer Republic
(Ebihara 1968: 68) and remains the religion of the overwhelming majority of
ethnic Khmer. May Ebihara, an anthropologist who conducted ethnographic
fieldwork in Cambodia in the late 1950s, comments that efforts at Christian
conversion in prewar Cambodia among ethnic Khmer met with little success
(Ebihara 1968). Though there was a significant Roman Catholic community in
Cambodia prior to the war, the majority of its congregation were French or
Vietnamese. Not surprisingly, those Khmer who were Catholic tended to be
urbanites and often held government positions or had some earlier ties to
the French. There were even fewer Khmer Protestant converts; most of them
had converted in the 1950s and 1960s through the missionizing efforts of
Baptist and Missionary Alliance Churches (Headley 1990: 124). Exact figures
are hard to come by, but Francois Ponchaud, himself a Catholic priest, has
written that in the mid-1970s, just prior to the Khmer Rouge takeover,
there were only "about five thousand [Khmer] Roman Catholics and three
thousand Protestants" in the country (1977: 133).[3]

Among Khmer refugees in the United States this identification of religion
and ethnic identity remains strong. Typical responses to the question, what
is your religion? include, "to be Khmer is to be Buddhist" (Khmae preah
putesasnaa) and "we Khmer are all Buddhist" (Khmae yeeng teang qah kenia
preah putesasnaa). Currently there are three Khmer-Buddhist temples or wat
in eastern Massachusetts serving the Khmer community, one in Lynn and two
in the Lowell area. There is a fourth temple in Providence, Rhode Island,
just sixty miles southwest of Boston. Each of these temples has three or
four resident monks (look song buah cab prosaa), far too few in the opinion
of most Khmer Buddhists to satisfy the demands of the community. Whereas in
Cambodia the temple was a central fixture in most villages and served as a
school, religious shrine, and social center, in the United States space
limitations and distance have resulted in the greater compartmentalization
of both the temple and Buddhist religious activities.[4]

Most refugees live a considerable distance from the nearest wat, and, even
in those neighborhoods where wat are located, their practical and symbolic
prominence in quotidian life are undercut by the burden of long-distance
commutes, busy work schedules, and other activities which draw refugees
away from the temple and into the surrounding, non-Buddhist society. To
many adult Khmer this centrifugal patterning of social life away from
temple and Buddhist institutions is disturbing.[5] But it is something to
which most have resigned themselves in the face of the new demands and
opportunities of life in the United States.

Despite this profound transformation in the organization of their key
religious institution, Buddhist beliefs remain powerfully central to Khmer
self-identity. Among adult refugees there is widespread emphasis on the
need to maintain solidarity in the face of pressures to assimilate; this
concern appears to have reinforced or even strengthened the association
between "Khmerness" and Theravada Buddhism. The lavish celebration of
Buddhist holy days, wedding ceremonies, and above all, the Khmer New Year
(Col Cnam) is viewed as a critical vehicle and expression of cultural
solidarity. Significant sums of money are amassed and expended by community
members on such occasions, and virtually all Khmer Buddhists report
attending a number of these events each year.

Leaders of the Christian minority among Khmer readily acknowledge that this
close linkage of Buddhism and Khmer identity is a major obstacle to their
conversion efforts. Many Buddhist Khmer view disaffiliation from their
religion as evidence of a person's desire to adopt a new, non-Khmer
identity (cf. Barth 1969; DeVos 1975). Individuals who convert to
Christianity are often subject to bitter accusations of having "forgotten
their culture" (neak plic prapiynii/tumloap Khmae). One Khmer Catholic lay
leader, a man in his mid30s who had grown up in a Catholic family in
Cambodia, expressed his deep frustration over the small numbers of
Cambodians in his parish in just such terms:

     [Ethnic Khmer lay leader]: It is very difficult to convert Cambodians
     because maybe 95% or 97% of them are Buddhists; they believe their
     religion is their culture. Those who convert to Christianity, they are
     criticized by their friends who say, "Why did you convert? You forgot
     your culture! You are Cambodian and you are supposed to believe in
     Buddha. If you believe in Jesus, that's the religion for Americans or
     the French!" So it's very difficult to convert them.

Just as Khmer identify Theravada Buddhism with Khmer nationality, they also
identify Catholicism with the French--or, even worse, with their long time
historical rivals, the Vietnamese. In this regard the fact that the lay
leader of the Khmer Catholics in one Boston area parish is an ethnic
Vietnamese who happens to speak Khmer does not escape the attention of most
Khmer. Given the continued uncertainty surrounding the future of the Khmer
homeland and the intense longing many feel for deceased loved ones in
Cambodia, it would appear likely that this identification with Theravada
Buddhism will remain strong for some time.

Conversion Narratives

Though the great majority of Cambodians remain Buddhist, there are,
nonetheless, six Khmer Protestant congregations in the greater metropolitan
Boston area. The largest and most prominent of these congregations identify
themselves as evangelical and/or Baptist in orientation.[6] In addition to
these more substantial congregations, there are also several less prominent
Khmer Christian groups: an ecumenical Lutheran congregation in East Boston;
a Catholic congregation in Chelsea; and another Catholic Church in Lowell.
Each of the evangelical/ Baptist congregations has between eighty and 100
members; East Beston's Lutheran congregation has about twenty. Each of the
Catholic congregations has between sixty and seventy-five worshippers in
regular attendance.

In most congregations there are more women members than men. Church pastors
relate this pattern to the large number of widows in the refugee community;
it may also be linked to the traditional pattern of greater religiosity
among Khmer women than among men. (In Khmermen, unlike men, cannot join the
monkhood, a major means of accruing merit among men. Barred from the
monastery, women accrue merit by committing themselves to a variety of
ongoing and smaller meritorious behaviors throughout their lives, such as
feeding the monks and preparing and serving food at religious ceremonies
[Ebihara 1968; see also Van Esterik 1982]). There are also more young
people in these congregations than adults, a pattern which distinguishes
Christian congregations from Buddhist ones, where, typically, individuals
are only marginally involved in regular temple activities when young and
devote increasing amounts of time to such activities as they grow older.
Among adolescents, however, there are usually more males than females in
evidence at any single church event, since during their adolescent years
Khmer parents often prefer to keep their daughters at home rather than
allow them to roam about unescorted (Smith-Hefner 1993).

Even if one assumes that, in addition to the Khmer congregations listed
above, some other Khmer have joined American churches (which hold their
services in English and are thus inaccessible to most adult Khmer), the
total number of Khmer Christians, Catholic and Protestant, in the Boston
metropolitan area is surprisingly low. In a population of some 25,000
people it appears that approximately 900, or less than five percent, have
converted to Christianity or were already Christian before migrating to the
United States. The low figure is especially surprising in light of the fact
that in the refugee camps most Khmer were exposed to intense Christian
proselytization and many attended Church services. Christian organizations
have also been actively involved in Khmer resettlement and continue to be
involved in providing various social services for refugees and immigrants.

The core of Boston's Khmer Christian community, including virtually all of
the ethnic Khmer pastors, is in fact comprised of individuals who converted
to Christianity in the refugee camps before coming to the United States.
Understandably, many of these people link their conversion to the suffering
and pain they experienced during Pol Pot times (semai [a] Pol Pot) and to
what they regard as their miraculous escape from Cambodia to Thailand. Not
uncommonly these people were tormented by the question of why they survived
their ordeal when so many of their friends and family members did not.

After making it to the border camps and meeting Christian missionaries,
these Khmer were exposed to a new religious narrative, one that offered
them the possibility of interpreting their difficult experience in
redemptive terms, as a sign that a Christian God had deliberately chosen
them to be saved from death. As was repeatedly emphasized in my interviews
with Christian Khmer, many converts were drawn to this new religious
discourse and adopted it, sometimes in great desperation, as their own (cf.
Snow and Machalek 1984; Harding 1987). The following remarks from a
middle-aged male were typical:

     [Male, age 57]: I had an experience like a miracle. I was living in
     Battambang Province and I was very sick. I couldn't walk at all, my
     legs were so swollen, big like this. If I walked even two meters, I
     got very tired. I had to walk to the Thai border, to escape, but I
     didn't know where I could get the strength. Still, I started walking
     and, somehow, I didn't get tired! I faced many more obstacles. A
     soldier stopped me and told me I had to go back, but I just kept
     walking. That soldier shot at me, at my back, and I kept running and
     running and his bullets didn't hit me. I was so afraid! Finally, after
     many days of walking I made it to the border of Thailand and I felt
     like I had a power or force in my body and I, when I talked to the
     Christian people there, I knew it must be God to do that, to give me
     that force.

This man was baptized in a refugee camp in the Philippines and has become
an active lay leader in the Lutheran Church in East Boston.

Another young woman recounted the story of her conversion in equally
dramatic terms:

     [Female, aged 33]: During Pol Pot times I had no family with me and I
     lived with a woman from the city. She was the head of our group and I
     was like her younger sister. I washed her clothes and helped her when
     she was pregnant. Then they took her away to kill her. The Khmer Rouge
     accused her of being a CIA spy, They took me too and locked me in a
     room. I just prayed and prayed, I didn't know who I was praying to,
     just, I said, "If heaven and earth has a God, please help me!" And the
     Khmer Rouge came and said, "You are lucky, they won't kill you."
     Later, in the camps, I knew that my prayers had been answered by
     Jesus.

This woman converted to Christianity in Khao I Dang camp in Thailand and
eventually convinced the other members of her family, her husband, her
sister, and her sister's husband (and their respective children) to convert
as well.

In the conversion accounts of older Khmer women and widows, in particular,
the rationale for converting is typically linked to a desire to alleviate
the anxiety, pain, and loneliness experienced as a result of the traumatic
loss of husbands, children, and parents. For these women prayer and Bible
study in the camps appear to have played an important and genuinely
effective role in alleviating depression, assuaging guilt and physical
pain, and providing moral direction for a life experience threatened with
meaninglessness. This was clear in the comments of one woman, who had lost
her husband, only daughter, and nine other family members at the hands of
the Khmer Rouge.

     [Widow, age 47]: The missionaries in the camp saw that I was so sad
     and worried, they told me that if I am upset I should pray to God for
     help, that Buddha cannot help me. In the camp I felt a lot of
     suffering. I could not forget my husband, my parents, and my only
     daughter. They told me I have to pray to God to ask for peace. So I
     started to believe in Jesus and slowly I could forget about the past,
     about my daughter and all of my suffering under Pol Pot and the Khmer
     Rouge. So I repented and I entrusted my life to God.

For individuals who found themselves adrift, bereft of moral and economic
support (as was particularly true of many women), Christianity offered
consolation and hope, the promise of a new life, and a new Christian
family. An important cultural confirmation of their religious
transformation, many of these people also reported having had a dream or
vision which they interpreted as a sign of the Holy Spirit and as proof,
therefore, of the truth of their new conviction.[7]

This connection between extreme social loss and moral disorientation, on
one hand, and openness to the possibility of conversion, on the other, did
not escape the attention of the Christian missionaries who worked among
Khmer refugees in the border camps. Conversely, American pastors regard the
more comfortable and socially reconstituted situation of refugees in the
United States as notably less conducive to, as one minister put it, the
"realization of spiritual need." The diminution in emotional turmoil
concomitant with resettlement in the United States, this same minister
observed, results in "a lesser degree of spiritual openness." Khmer pastors
make similar comments, noting that government welfare and the obsessive
desire to acquire new cars, color televisions, and VCRs have all diminished
the interest among American-based Khmer in exploring new spiritual
horizons.

Pastor as Patron

In their conversion narratives Khmer women tend to focus on suffering,
depression, and loss of support as their primary motives for turning to
Christianity. By contrast, Khmer men often voice dissatisfaction with
traditional morality and social arrangements as their reasons for
converting. They speak critically of the "laziness" of Buddhist monks, the
futility of giving gifts to the temple as a means of securing one's
spiritual future, and the impossibility of attaining forgiveness within
Buddhism. This gender variation in conversion accounts does not mean,
however, that traditional forms of Khmer social relationships have not been
reproduced within the new Christian congregations. As noted above, women
are still a more active presence within the church, just as they were in
the temple, although men continue to fill virtually all church leadership
roles.

All of the Christian Khmer congregations in the metropolitan Boston area
have or are in the process of training ethnic Khmer pastors. Typically they
do so through an individual's apprenticeship with an American pastor. A
pastoral candidate normally steps forward from the congregation to indicate
his interest in becoming a church leader, but it is the American pastor who
nurtures, trains, and in effect legitimates the ethnic pastor's status.
With only one exception, these ethnic pastors are all male. There is,
nonetheless, an interesting feature to the process of pastoral
socialization. Khmer pastors, especially those affiliated with evangelical
churches, are given considerable latitude in interpreting the Bible,
selecting sermon topics, and ministering to their congregation. In part
this is due to the fact that their American counterparts are often not
fluent in Khmer--at least not sufficiently fluent to conduct a full sermon.
And, since many, particularly older, Khmer have limited English proficiency
and are unable to understand English-language services, services for
Americans and refugees identified as members of the same church are usually
held separately.

The Khmer minister's relative autonomy in sermons, ministering, and
scriptural interpretation is also, however, a reflection of the important
emphasis among Christian evangelicals on a personal revelatory experience
and belief in the possibility of direct access to God's word through Bible
study. American evangelical pastors who work with Khmer talk willingly and
insistently of "the priesthood of all believers"; not infrequently they
invoke this feature of their religion in pointed contrast to Roman
Catholicism (cf. Martin 1990 for a similar emphasis in Latin America).
While most Khmer pastors take courses at local Bible colleges to train them
in their reading of the Bible, and, as mentioned above, initially work very
closely with an American counterpart, church leaders agree that the most
critical aspect of their socialization originates in the depth and force of
their own personal religious experience. This experience is revealed
through the process of bearing witness; such personal religious testimony
is then invoked to legitimate pastoral autonomy.

An important result of this pastoral autonomy is that most refugee
congregations quickly become identified in Khmer eyes with their church
leaders. In the case of the ethnic Khmer pastors, these men are viewed not
only as religious leaders but also as patrons to their congregational
clients.[8] In the most common pattern the pastor-patron dispenses goods
and services and is repaid by the members of the congregation, as clients,
with expressions of loyalty and deference which include regular attendance
at his church. As figures with ties to other American institutions, Khmer
pastors are well positioned to play this gatekeeping role. Often,
especially for recent arrivals, they assume primary responsibility for
assessing a family's needs and allocating clothing, furniture, food, and
other resources that come into the church for redistribution. They may also
provide translation services, transportation to hospitals or welfare
offices, information on employment opportunities, and counseling on social
and governmental agencies. Not surprisingly given the pastor's complex
role, when discussing their religious affiliation, church members often
identify their church by the pastor's name, not its denomination, Indeed,
many in the congregation confess to not knowing their church's name,
denominational affiliation, or distinguishing doctrines.[9]

The loose structure of evangelical churches allows for a great measure of
institutional flexibility as well as considerable pastoral autonomy. These
characteristics provide positive attractions for congregants looking for
new spiritual self-direction and for individuals seeking to exercise their
skills as pastoral entrepreneurs. At the same time, however, such patterns
make the new Christian churches dangerously susceptible to personalist
abuse and institutional instability. One result here in metropolitan Boston
has been a recurrent pattern of pastors "falling from grace." At least one
Khmer pastor ran off with the wife of a close friend, leaving behind his
own wife and three children. Another collected $20,000 for an elementary
school in Cambodia and used the money instead for his airfare to Cambodia
and as gifts to members of his own family. Another Khmer pastor was forced
to resign when it was discovered that he was using his position in the
church to take advantage of lonely widows. Scandals like these have given
many Khmer churches a short institutional existence.

This pattern of church instability is not unique to Khmer congregations.
David Martin (1990) discovered many of these same institutional tensions in
his study of evangelical churches in Latin America. He describes how small
groups regularly "hive off" as a result of abuse and disagreements to form
new churches, allowing for the church's continued regeneration. Lawrence
Palinkas (1984) and S.S. Shim (1977) note a similar pattern of expansive
recruitment and institutional fissioning in Chinese and Korean-American
churches. This regenerative pattern, however, does not appear to be as
common among Khmer-American congregations. Perhaps because the role of the
charismatic pastor is still foreign to most Khmer, the more common pattern
in the aftermath of a church crisis is for some congregants to leave to
join another Protestant congregation (and a new patron). Others cease
worship for an indefinite period of time, or quit altogether to return to
the temple. New Khmer churches typically arise, if at all, through the
efforts of an American pastor. This pattern of Church growth, splintering,
and then decline suggests that among Boston-area Khmer, ethnic churches
have yet to consolidate themselves as integral parts of the Khmer
community.

Rice Bowl Christians?

These examples suggest that there is within the Khmer community
considerable movement back and forth between Christian church and Buddhist
temple. Among the several hundred people whom I have interviewed, the
number who had ever attended a Christian church was approximately
twenty-five percent. It is possible, of course, that such past
participation may have significant future effects, especially as Khmer
assimilate to American culture, and a generation of youth who never knew
Cambodia comes of age. For this younger generation, the force of
identification with Khmer ethnicity and nationalism may weaken. In such
circumstances a renewed interest in Christianity among Khmer would be
facilitated by the fact that Khmer Buddhists themselves tend to display an
open, inexclusive attitude toward other religions. Buddhist Khmer do not
consider it wrong or in any way sinful to attend Christian services.
Parents typically voice no objection to their younger children's
involvement in church activities. Many Buddhist parents state that they
would not mind if their child married a Christian, explaining that in
Cambodia if interfaith marriages occurred, both traditions were commonly
upheld.[10] Many Khmer readily acknowledge that they have attended a church
at some time at the urging of friends or relatives, or to please their
American sponsor.

As noted above, most Christian churches offer social resources and services
of various types (see also Shim 1977; Palinkas 1984; Marcucci 1986). In
principle, such resources are available to any Khmer who is in need,
regardless of faith. Not surprisingly, however, refugees who make use of
such services or who have a Christian sponsor commonly feel obligated to
attend church services for a period of time to repay their sponsor for his
or her kindness. Nonetheless, among Boston-area Khmer, the great majority
who have attended services for these reasons alone stop doing so once they
are off government assistance, have less contact with their sponsor, or
less leisure time.

Most Christians, American and Khmer, are aware of this pattern. Some church
leaders, moreover, accuse other Christian groups of using certain tactics
such as offers of material goods and various forms of support to attract
new members, luring them away from other churches. The criticisms of a
Khmer Catholic lay leader against evangelicals, below, resembles
accusations of a similar nature often voiced by evangelical leaders against
Catholics:

     They [the evangelical churches] criticize the Catholic church. They
     say, you don't have to go to confession, you can go directly to God!
     But if they sponsor a family, they tell that family you have to go to
     our church and if you don't go to our church, we won't help you. We
     don't force the people to come to our church. We help them and then we
     are happy if they want to come to church, we invited them to come and
     they come, but we don't force them to come, no.

Whether coercive or not, the role of the church in sponsoring resettlement,
providing material and emotional support, and proselytizing has clearly
played an important role in influencing the incidence of conversion among
refugees in Boston and other parts of the country. Not surprisingly, it is
in those areas of the country where refugee resettlement has been primarily
sponsored by Christian churches, rather than by secular organizations or
liberal denominations less concerned with promoting conversion, that the
highest percentage of Khmer have converted. This pattern seems to be most
strikingly apparent in Dallas, Texas, where a large number of Khmer
refugees first settled. There conservative, evangelical Protestant churches
played a primary role. in the resettlement program, and it appears that a
far larger proportion-upwards of fifteen percent--of the Khmer population
has converted.[11]

Walking the "Right Path"

Although Khmer Buddhists see no problem with involvement in Christian
churches and the monks have on occasion participated in interfaith
services, Khmer Christians in the United States tend to display a
considerably less open and inclusive attitude toward their Buddhist
brethren. Christian Khmer who attempt to maintain ties to the temple (wat)
and continue to attend Buddhist festivals while also attending the church
are denounced by their fellow Khmer Christians as "walking two ways" (dae
plew pii). For Christian Khmer, this is a serious charge, damaging to one's
face and family reputation. When such charges surface, moreover, the issue
is not left to itself. Demonstrating his patronage role once again, the
Khmer pastor often visits suspected delinquents to enquire as to the truth
of charges and urge amends where necessary. One pastor even makes regular
unannounced home visits to all of his congregants to check for alcohol and
cigarettes and to ensure that his people are not straying from the "right
path" (due plew trew).

This uncompromising attitude is not always shared by the American Christian
pastors who work with Khmer. By comparison with their Khmer counterparts,
most of the American pastors display a moderately "relativistic" attitude
characterized by considerable tolerance for minor backsliding or deviation.
Indeed, one American Baptist pastor took issue with the strict intolerance
displayed by his Khmer counterparts, complaining that they were misguided
in their emphasis on the "sins" of smoking, music, and dancing. He was
aware that all of these things were strongly identified by Khmer Christians
with Khmer Buddhist tradition. Nonetheless, he felt that other issues, such
as lying, gossip, and intolerance merited more serious criticism because
they were more accurate measures of true Christian behavior.

     [American Baptist Pastor]: Many of the less educated, more rural
     Cambodians tend to be more fundamentalist in their belief system. And
     I would say our church is maybe 75% farmers. They'd rather reject any
     remembrance of Buddhism, including dancing, loud music, and smoking. .
     . . It's interesting, for the Cambodians, there are certain things in
     terms of lifestyle that are the "acid test" of whether you are a good
     Christian or not, and smoking is one of these. I have talked to people
     about it, saying yes, it's harmful, but there are other things more
     sinful, like lying or gossip. . . . So I try to minimize smoking, but
     it has taken on "super sin" status for Cambodian Christians.

Yet another indication of the preference for a strict, if distinctly
"local" orthodoxy among Khmer evangelicals is their criticism that the
Catholic Church is too liberal in allowing "Buddhist" practices within the
church, such as the modified celebration of the Khmer New Year or the
remembrance of deceased loved ones on Khmer Souls' Day (Prachum/Pchum Ben).
Similar criticisms were voiced against the Lutheran Church in East Boston,
because, committed as it is to interfaith religious ecumenicalism, it has
on occasion shared its building with Buddhist monks (see also Hansen 1988:
57-58).[12]

The logic of this preference for orthodoxy among Khmer evangelicals is
related to their attitude on Khmer identity as a whole and to what they
perceive as the limited possibilities for change within Khmer Buddhism. For
many evangelicals the appeal of Christianity lies, as several ethnic Khmer
pastors put it, in the desire "to be reborn like a newborn baby" (kaut cie
menuh boriksot/ kaut cie menuh songkruh). The meaning of this born-again
ideal is, for most Khmer, quite specific, and resonates against the
Buddhist concepts of redemption with which they are familiar. For Khmer, at
the heart of the experience of being born again is the idea that, contrary
to what they understand to be the case in Buddhism, sins can be forgiven
and their harmful consequences contained or even eliminated in this life.
What is at issue here is salvation through the forgiveness of sin and the
establishment of a personalized relationship with Jesus Christ. In the eyes
of Christain Khmer and their American counselors this Christian
understanding of salvation stands in marked contrast to the redemptionist
logic implicit in the Buddhist notion of karma--of incremental improvements
in one's condition through the accumulation of merit and cyclical rebirths.

     [American Baptist Pastor]: "Evangelical" means . . . that you have to
     have a personal experience . . . we stress the importance of the
     personal experience, of recognizing and admitting your sin and
     receiving Christ as your Savior, that's the central issue as far as
     the evangelical church is concerned. So we feel strongly evangelical
     and that also means we want to share the message with others. . . .

     The bottom line is that we believe they need the forgiveness that
     Christ can give. . . . There is no forgiveness in Buddhism and this is
     one of the positive things that we have to share.

Many Khmer Buddhists are familiar with the Christian ideas of born-again
salvation and the cleansing of sin from one's soul. There is, in fact, a
widespread suspicion among Buddhists that those Khmer who convert to
Christianity do so because they are seeking respite from some unbearable
burden of sin, the result of unspeakable acts. Khmer Buddhists speak
disdainfully, for example, of the way in which "many former Khmer Rouge"
have converted to Christianity in the hope that a quick change of faith can
spare them from the spiritual repayments they must make in future lives for
the suffering they have caused. These Buddhists commented that while the
law of karma would condemn such people to repeated horrible rebirths for
hundreds of years, Christianity offers immediate, total, and unjustifiably
easy forgiveness. Viewed from their perspective of karmic justice, the
Christian concept of forgiveness is profoundly unjust.

From the point of view of Khmer Christians, however, these same elements of
belief are critically attractive. Pastors are quick to point out that the
acknowledgement of one's sin is a necessary prerequisite to conversion and
forgiveness through Christ; in some sense, the greater the sin or the
 burden of guilt, the more open to conversion one may be. In Buddhism, by
contrast, ethnic pastors say, "You are responsible for yourself. No one
else can help you. Even if you do some good works, you never know if it is
enough to erase the evil in your past; you can never have complete peace of
mind." In Buddhism the greater the sin, the more merit one must accrue to
redeem oneself, never knowing if what one has done is sufficient. "But in
Christianity you can rely on Christ. If you place your trust in Him and ask
His forgiveness, He will take care of all your needs and give you peace."
Through Christian witness and redemption, then, Khmer evangelicals exhort
each other not only toward salvation but toward a new way of life distinct
from that of non-Christian Khmer.

The desire to take on a radically new identity through conversion again
recalls Martin's work on evangelical conversion in Latin America (Martin
1990) and would seem to distinguish Khmer Christians from other
Asian-Americans (Shim 1977; Palinkas 1984). Many of the evangelicals Martin
describes were also attracted to the idea of discarding an old identity and
taking on a new one. For them, he argues, Christianity provided a "free
space" removed from the harsh realities of an often oppressive political
and economic situation. It also provided new and more expansive
opportunities for mobility into positions of authority and prestige within
religious social structures.

Seeking relief from pain, sin, and the guilt of their own survival, many
Khmer converts also appear to be seeking a kind of "free space," removed
from what is often regarded as the social opprobrium and limited
opportunities of the Buddhist community. Their new religion offers social
support and acceptance as well as the possibility of a decisive break from
the past. It also provides a new structure of status and prestige outside
the mainstream Khmer community. For these converts Christianity provides an
alternative to a world view where the most esteemed individuals are those
morally untainted and those who suffer calamity are viewed as somehow
individually responsible (Ebihara 1968; see French 1992).[13]

The notion that Khmer convert to take on a new identity and thereby erase a
tormented past is particularly interesting in comparison to the reports on
Christian conversion among Hmong refugees from Laos, where a quite
different patterns obtains. According to George Seott's descriptions of San
Diego Hmong, the Hmong seem drawn to the more ecumenical attitude of the
Catholic church precisely because it allows them to maintain much of their
culture and identity, while simultaneously acquiring a foothold in American
society (Scott 1987: 44). They convert to protect their cultural identity
while at the same time accepting a significant measure of assimilation to
the culture of their new homeland (Palinkas' work also points out the role
of the Chinese-American church in supporting a degree of assimilation among
congregants).

The Khmer example also indicates, however, that this "free space" has its
own structural and moral constraints. It requires careful attention to
rigorous and, from the perspective of ordinary Khmer, harsh rules of
conduct concerning cigarettes, alcohol, music, and dancing--cultural
elements that figure prominently in Khmer social celebrations. Conversion
also requires abstention from Buddhist festivals which play an otherwise
central role in the reconstitution of community life here in the U.S. Thus
conversion involves the renunciation of much of what other Khmer regard as
fundamental to their cultural and ethnic identity. For a few Khmer this
rejection of previous lifeways is deeply attractive. For most--even those
who have entertained converting to Christianity--it is not.

Conversion Over the Long Term

Over the long term, however, one of the most important sociological
features of Khmer conversion--above all for questions of Khmer assimilation
to American culture--may have less to do with belief, ritual, or morality
than with education. As noted above, a distinguishing feature of Christian
and Buddhist congregations is the degree to which young people are involved
in religious activities. In Christian congregations, in contrast to
Buddhist, young people typically devote several days a week to church
related functions. All of the congregations offer some kind of weekly youth
fellowship program which includes social activities with other Christian
youth, Bible study, and worship. Some of the churches, in an effort to keep
children (whose parents are often busy working) out of trouble, even offer
afterschool programs which assist children with homework. Youth fellowship,
Bible study, and other afterschool programs reinforce important academic
and employment skills, not the least of which is English literacy.

Even more notable is the tendency for Christian Khmer parents to send their
children to private, Christian institutions. A disproportionately higher
number of these children then go on to four-year colleges, many on
scholarship. This pattern of educational achievement is particularly
striking because among Khmer youth in general there is a relatively high
rate of school dropout in comparison to other Asian groups. By one local
count, one out of six Khmer students does not complete high school
(Lockwood 1987); teachers and community leaders argue that actual figures
are considerably higher. Khmer youth who leave school typically do so in
order to marry or to work to support their families or to purchase
prestigious consumer goods like new cars, stereos, and jewelry. Parents who
themselves lack formal education often feel financially and intellectually
unqualified to suggest alternative courses for their children's development
(Smith-Hefner 1993).

Many of the difficulties Khmer youth face in school are also a result, of
course, of the poor quality of services in the inner-city schools they
attend. On this point the institutional support provided by their American
church sponsors offers Christian Khmer an important educational
alternative, one that appears to provide them with a significant
educational advantage over their non-Christian counterparts. Christian
parents believe that religious schools offer a safer and more disciplined
learning environment, and they often make great financial sacrifices to
allow their children to attend.

Ironically, perhaps, this educational pattern does not seem to be the
result of any specific church doctrine on social or economic mobility so
much as it is a practical extension of another value complex: the church's
emphasis on the family. Church leaders place great emphasis on supporting
the nuclear family. In practical terms this means, among other things,
keeping youths off the streets, away from drugs, and out of gangs. It also
implies encouraging parents, especially fathers, to refrain from drinking,
gambling, and illicit sexual involvement. Where such efforts succeed, the
result is quite real. Money previously spent on gambling, cigarettes,
alcohol, and other diversions can be invested in other social projects such
as school tuition or a downpayment on a house. It is this complex of
social, religious, and family values, rather than an explicit concern on
the part of the Church with upward social mobility, which combines to
reinforce converts' educational achievement.

It is difficult to determine whether these educational and socioeconomic
patterns are the result of Christian conversion or whether families already
aspiring to educational and social mobility are attracted to Christianity
and use it to legitimize their self-imposed estrangement from the
community. The relationship is, most likely, a dialectic one, in which
social ideals and the religious environment interact. Whatever the case,
here in the Boston area Christian conversion appears to be having a
mutually reinforcing effect on patterns of socioeconomic mobility and
assimilation toward American culture. Though the Khmer example is in many
ways distinctive, a similar pattern of socioeconomic mobility through
assimilation was evident among earlier European immigrants to America as
well (cf. Spiro 1955; Gordon 1964).

Conclusion

Educational data on Khmer Christians are still preliminary; Cambodians have
been in the United States for too short a period to make any definitive
assessment of their long-term accommodations. What we can say, however, is
that if the educational and socioeconomic trends identified above continue,
we are likely to see the reinforcment of an already existing bifurcation of
the Khmer population into two distinct groups. Ruben Rumbaut and Kenji Ima
(1988) discuss just such a dual pattern of adapation among Khmer in a study
of Southeast Asian adolescents. Among Khmer and Lao immigrants, they
report, there is an emerging but striking differentiation occurring
between, on one hand, a small group of "haves" and, on the other, a much
larger group of "have-nots." The larger group of have-nots, they report, is
overwhelmingly Buddhist. They describe its adaptive style as "more passive
than reactive, less pragmatic, more fatalistic, and more oriented toward
recreational values than to an ethic of personal value and hard work"
(Rumbaut and Ima 1988: 77-78). By contrast, they comment that the outlook
of the elite "have" group has been influenced by the values of the French
middle class. They emphasize social mobility through education and hard
work and, in good individualist fashion, they display fewer ethical
reservations about the accumulation of personal wealth unaccountable to
broader social interests. Rumbaut and Ima predict that social class and
educational background (as well as the value complex that both support)
will continue to be the strongest influences on the successful adaptation
of Lao and Khmer refugees to American society. While a small segment of the
immigrant community will thus succeed, the gap between this group and the
have-nots will continue to widen (p. 78).

The present study suggests that for some Boston-area Khmer there is an
alternate route--or the aspiration for such a route--into the middle class.
That route involves not the acquistion of Franco-Khmer cultural values, but
conversion to evangelical Christianity and, with it, participation in a new
array of social institutions characterized by new social habits and
American cultural values. It should be emphasized once again that, as the
examples here have illustrated, the meanings and motives involved in Khmer
conversion to Christianity are varied and complex. For some individuals
Christianity has provided therapeutic solace, and for others access to
basic social, economic, and spiritual resources. For many young Khmer
Christians, however, conversion to Christianity has brought with it
exposure to an array of new social institutions--hutch congregations, Bible
study clubs, youth groups, and Christian schools, among others. These
institutions present new opportunities and socialize at least some Khmer
youths into a lifeworld and value complex quite distinct from those of
Khmer Buddhists.

One of the most striking aspects of this conversion is that it involves a
fundamental adjustment in the terms of Khmer self-identification. In
converting to Christianity, many Khmer distance themselves from the symbols
and habits of Khmer ethnicity. They do not become "non-Khmer"--though some
Buddhists fault them for doing just that--but they do alter the social
barriers that separate them from mainstream American society. They also
facilitate their involvement in religious and educational institutions
which seem likely to reshape the practices and commitments of their
identity in the future (Gordon 1964; DeVos 1975).

One can already see the consequences of this emergent differentiation of
Buddhist and Christian Khmer identity. Buddhists seem to be characterized
by a stronger or more stable sense of ethnic identity, somewhat less
educational achievement (if compared with people from a similar class
background), and, again controlling for class, a less pronounced pattern of
upward social mobility. By contrast, Christian Khmer display a somewhat
more permeable sense of social community, in large part because their
religious and ethnic affiliations no longer overlap. They insist that their
children marry only Christians, and are tolerant of marriage to non-Khmer
Christians. A growing number of Khmer Christians do in fact appear to be
marrying Americans, typically met in the context of the Church. Involvement
in Churches, Bible study, and religious schools provides many young
converts with both the attitudes and skills required for higher education
and a measure of upward mobility. With all this, converts also tend to
display a more assimilationist attitude toward the values and lifestyles of
American society. They are Khmer, and certainly think of themselves as
such, but the way in which they conceptualize "Khmerness" is quite
different from that of their Buddhist brethren.

It is not inconceivable, of course, that at some point this Christian
minority within the Khmer community may experience its own neo-ethnic
revival, as has recently occurred among other American minorities (Ra'anan
1980; Fishman 1989). For the time being, however, it seems equally or even
more likely that large numbers of Khmer Christians may blend relatively
indistinctly into the broader Asian-American community. In this Khmer
example, as in so many other instances of Christian conversion, then, the
force of faith is and will continue to be seen not only in religious
practice and belief, but in the attitudes and practice of ethnicity and
community in a complex, plural society.
                                   NOTES

Acknowledgments The findings reported here are part of a larger research
project on the social and cultural adaptation of Khmer refugees to life in
the United States. This investigation was carried out within the greater
metropolitan Boston Khmer community from 1989 to 1991. Over 150 in-depth
interviews were conducted with Cambodians, both Christian and Buddhist, as
well as numerous informal discussions and participant observations of
family interactions, religious celebrations, and community events. Research
was supported by grants from the Spencer Foundation and Boston University's
Institute for the Study of Economic Culture. I would like to acknowledge
the important contribution of Ms. Kim Nay Biv who assisted me at all stages
of the research. I would also like to thank participating members of the
Khmer community and Christian church leaders, both American and Khmer, who
were so generous with their time and hospitality. Finally, I would like to
thank Robert Hefner, Tim Sieber, Nina Kammerer, and an anonymous reviewer
for their careful reading and helpful suggestions for revisions.

1 The first phase of Southeast Asian immigration began in 1975. The exodus
was prompted by the collapse of the U.S.-backed government of South Vietnam
and the withdrawal of American personnel. These represented the most
highly-skilled and educated of the Southeast Asian refugees who would
eventually come to the United States. Fully ninety-five percent of this
initial group were Vietnamese (Gordon 1987: 155; Kelly 1986: 43).

The second migratory movement of refugees began in late 1978 (Strand and
Jones 1985: 34). This wave was precipitated by the expulsion of ethnic
Chinese by the Vietnamese government and the genocidal attacks by the Lao
government on their ethnic minorities. In this wave many of the boatpeople
of Vietnam, as well as Hmong, Mien, and Lao, began to arrive in the U.S.
Larger numbers of Khmer refugees also began to arrive at this time.
Although at first a number of educated, urban individuals were included in
the ranks of these refugees, in general this group of immigrants had much
less education than those who had come earlier (Strand and Jones 1985: 35).

The Refugee Act of 1980 marked the third period of Southeast Asian
immigration. Like the second group of immigrants, these late arrivals tend
to be less well educated than those of the first wave. The majority are
people from rural areas; significantly, many are illiterate in their native
language (Kelly 1986: 41).

2 This is according to the perceptions of various community leaders; see
also Hansen 1988; The New York Times 1988.

3 Other sources cite significantly larger numbers of Catholics, but it
seems likely that these figures conflate numbers of Khmer with Vietnamese
and French Catholics living and working in Cambodia (cf. Headley 1990:
124).

4 Anne Hansen, who worked with the Khmer Christian community in East Boston
(Hansen 1988), makes a similar observation.

5 There has been talk for some time, for example, of moving the Lynn temple
to a new and larger site. On this point, however, Boston Khmer make
unfavorable comparisons of their situation with that of the Khmer community
in Washington DC. There the refugee community raised large sums of money to
build a new and larger temple complex, complete with gilded statues of the
Buddha imported from Thailand (one of which reportedly originated from
Angkor Wat). Though their community is large, the general feeling among
Boston area Khmer is that they lack both the capital and financial savvy of
their middle-class counterparts in Washington.

6 The six congregations are the Revere Evangelical Church, the Lynn
Southern Baptist Church, the Tremont Temple Southern Baptist Church in
Cambridge, and, in Lowell, the Lowell Cambodian Baptist Church, the Elliot
Presbyterian Church, and the New Jerusalem Evangelical Church.

7 The validation of lifechange through a sign offered in a dream is a
common theme in Khmer culture. The following comments of a 46-year old
woman reveal the importance attached to such dreams in conversion
narratives:

     I converted in Khao I Dang camp because I was so worried and so
     unhappy about my life. I missed my parents and my older sister. I
     could not see any future. The next day after I was baptized, I had
     surgery so that I wouldn't have any more children. And when they put
     me to sleep I saw water and the water was golden colored and I saw
     Jesus Christ floating on the water above me. And at that time I knew
     everything would be alright. At that time I really believed in Jesus
     Christ.

8 See also Ledgerwood 1990 and Mortland and Ledgerwood 1985 for further
details of Khmer patterns of patron-clientism.

9 Identifying one's church is complicated by the fact that many Khmer
Christian groups hold their services in a rented space in a church building
owned by a congregation of a different denomination.

10 My Khmer associate, the daughter of the first Khmer Baptist pastor in
Battambang Province, was married to a Buddhist in 1973. Her wedding
involved both Christian and Buddhist ceremonies. She confirms that this
pattern was quite common.

11 The figure of fifteen percent was cited in an interview with an American
Protestant pastor who worked for eight years in the East Dallas Christian
Khmer community. John Marcucci, who conducted ethnographic research in East
Dallas, cites even higher conversion figures among the Khmer he interviewed
(Marcucci 1986), but also notes the tendency for Khmer to leave the church
once they are better situated and no longer need the church's support.

12 Serious disagreements have also erupted over the proper form of
Christian Khmer wedding ceremonies, with Khmer pastors insisting that all
Buddhist symbolism be excluded and non-Christian kin of the bride and groom
arguing for their inclusion to please and honor Buddhist ancestors.

13 Khmer Buddhists commonly view personal or familial calamities as
reflecting a moral failing or misdeed committed by an individual or his
family member either in a past life or in the present one.
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~~~~~~~~

By NANCY J. SMITH-HEFNER

University of Massachusetts at Boston
                            -------------------