JEFF SHELER: Lawrenceville, Georgia -- a suburb of Atlanta -- deep in the Bible Belt, and also home to thousands of Muslims. They've built more than a dozen mosques and schools in the area. But they are far outnumbered by Southern Baptists and other Christians. Gary Laderman is a religion professor at Emory University in Atlanta.

Dr. GARY LADERMAN (Emory University): The kind of pluralism we're seeing is unheard of, and we don't know what the response is going to be.

SHELER: The community did respond when a mosque in Lawrenceville bought this plot of land next to a new subdivision and across the street from a Methodist church and cemetery... and asked the county for permission to turn their land into an Islamic cemetery. The community's response? "Not in MY backyard!"

DREW JOHNSON (Neighbor): Number one, they put the cemetery in the middle of a subdivision -- health issues, property value, safety for kids.

MOIZ MUMTAIZ (Cemetery Supporter): We have worked with the county and with the neighbors to make sure their property values don't go down. At the same time, we have to do what our rights are in terms of religious rights.

SHELER: For many residents, the Muslim practice of wrapping the unembalmed body in a shroud and burying it within hours of death, without a casket, is unacceptable. Funeral services at the nearby Methodist cemetery follow more familiar customs.

HEATHER STONECYPHER (Neighbor): I didn't see a man in a sheet being toted around on someone's shoulders. I mean it was a coffin, it was very discreet, it was a very quick service, and I didn't have to be exposed to potential health hazards.

SHELER: But were health, safety, and property-value concerns the real issue? Or was something more behind the neighbors' opposition? County Commissioner John Dunn says he tried to give the Muslims a fair hearing.

JOHN DUNN (Gwinnett County Commissioner): The sense that I got was, you know, "We have Christian cemeteries in our country. And we believe that in America, land of the free, we should have a cemetery here. Now, what do we need to do to make this come to pass?"

SHELER: Dunn ordered soil sample and water table studies requested by the community, checked with state and federal health officials and others, and concluded that a cemetery at the site would pose no health hazard. But the neighbors were not satisfied. They complained that another Muslim cemetery south of Atlanta, near Lovejoy, was a hazard and an eyesore.

DREW JOHNSON: The issue is we're afraid there's going to be an unsightly scene in our backyard as far as unkept cemetery and gravesites, open graves, sunken graves, general appearance of the place, and degeneration of our property value.

SHELER: Hafiz Khan, the imam at the Lawrenceville mosque, was willing to compromise on some traditional Muslim burial practices in order to satisfy the neighbors' objections. Dunn says he tried to find a middle ground.

Mr. DUNN: Obviously, I wasn't going to require that they embalm. I wasn't going to require that they have a hermetically sealed casket in a hermetically sealed vault, because that would seem to strike at the foundation of their burial beliefs. So I didn't want to do that. But what I did want was something that was safe.

SHELER: The commission approved the cemetery, with conditions: Unlike the Islamic cemetery in Lovejoy, people would be buried inside wooden caskets and open-bottomed vaults, no graves would be dug more than 24 hours in advance, and an eight-foot-high wooden fence would surround the cemetery. Leaders of the mosque agreed, even though it meant modifying their traditions.

Mr. MUMTAIZ: But that does not violate the Islamic burial process in any way.

SHELER: Still, the residents were not happy, and several homes have gone up for sale. That leaves Dunn and others convinced that something more was afoot.

Mr. DUNN: Every time that I'd come up with an answer, a solution to one of their questions, it seemed like there was always something else that would come up.

SHELER: Joshua Salaam of the Council on American Islamic Relations says it's not unusual for religious intolerance to show itself in land-use cases such as this.

JOSHUA SALAAM (Council on American Islamic Relations): It happens enough where many times it's worthy to investigate the issue, and that's what we've found.

SHELER: Members of the mosque seem satisfied and are moving forward. But Professor Laderman of Emory University says the Muslim compromise on burial practices illustrates the kinds of accommodations religious newcomers often must make in adjusting to new surroundings.

Dr. LADERMAN: But the Christian groups also in the area will have to modify their stance about religious toleration, about religious openness to new people in the community.

SHELER: One adjustment local Christians may have to consider, Laderman says, involves proselytizing.

LADERMAN: Well, the recent resolution by the Southern Baptists to proselytize Hindus, for example, as a primary goal in their missionary activity. I think that's an extreme reaction, and that doesn't sit well with many people who want to celebrate American religious freedom.

SHELER: Pastor James Merritt, president of the Southern Baptist Convention, leads a church one town over from Lawrenceville. But he supports diversity and is not convinced adjustments are needed.

JAMES MERRITT (President, Southern Baptist Convention): One of the things that I'm grateful for in America is that we do have religious diversity.

SHELER: But that doesn't lessen his commitment to evangelism.

Mr. MERRITT: Evangelism for a Christian is not an option. It's an obligation.

Mr. LADERMAN: I don't think you'll find any religious groups giving up their belief in a Truth with a capital "T". But, in terms of daily practice, in terms of how they arrange and schedule their lives and their communal rituals, there will probably have to be adjustments.

SHELER: As the nation becomes more religiously diverse, experts say American culture itself is likely to face difficult adjustments. And not everyone is ready for that.

Mr. LADERMAN: It's going to be difficult to for the nation to hold all of these forces together, especially because they have such a wide-ranging, diverse number of values -- value systems and sacred texts and commitments and motivations.

SHELER: Living together peacefully and productively in a patchwork of religions, many experts say, will require a greater commitment to local interfaith activities -- to personal engagement with people of other faiths in local civic projects and in interreligious dialogue.

Gerald Durley is a Baptist minister and leader of Atlanta's interfaith community.

Pastor GERALD DURLEY (Missionary Baptist Church): If there's ever to be a civilization that is somewhat progressive, people must understand one another, trust one another, and respect one another.

Mr. MERRITT: A lot of times what people are interested in, in these interfaith gatherings is basically, "Let's all come together and," implicitly, "let's affirm the truth claims of one another and let's affirm that we're all equal and that your claim is no more valid than mine and mine is no more valid than yours." And, obviously, as a Christian, believing that Christ is not just a good way to heaven or the best way to heaven, or even the Baptist way to heaven; that he is the only way to heaven, we can't compromise that singular belief.

SHELER: In spite of their religious differences, Christians and Muslims in Lawrenceville did find a compromise on the cemetery.

Mr. MUMTAIZ: I think the purpose of our religion is to promote peace, and that's our goal.

Dr. LADERMAN: It was probably a big deal to make the change, 'cause they would prefer not to. But, on the other hand, this is a face of Islam that we need to see more of, I think, in America, which is one that is about being good neighbors.

SHELER: For Religion & Ethics Newsweekly, I'm Jeff Sheler in Lawrenceville, Georgia.

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