Folk presents in Kentucky, participates in survey of religious congregations

Holly Folk, an associate professor of liberal studies at Western Washington University, traveled to the Shaker Village at South Union, Kentucky, in September to present at the annual meeting of the Communal Studies Association. She ran into Liberal Studies grad John Sheridan (2013), who continues to research the Hutterites while pursuing a master’s degree at the University of Colorado. This quarter, Folk is working with students Josh Daniels and Britton Johnson on a survey project on religious congregations in Whatcom County. The “community count” is part of a larger project being conducted at the Institute for the Study of Religion at Baylor University. Folk's own research – in new religious movements – is taking an increasing international direction, supported by a small grant from Western last summer to visit several religious communities in Estonia and Hungary. She is currently writing up her findings on the Church of Scientology and Hit Gyülekezete, a “Word of Faith” megachurch in Budapest.