Source: The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52812-2004Jan3.html
On January 4, 2004 The Washington Post reported, "A tradition in ancient cultures, the home altar has flourished in recent years among Americans who find that it powerfully expresses their intensely personal spirituality, religion scholars said. Some home shrines are designed and maintained in accordance with formal religious guidelines. But many others are eclectic, highly individualized collections of objects. John McGuckin, an Orthodox priest and professor of early church history at Union Theological Seminary in New York, said he has seen altars that combine figures of saints with running shoes and photos of boyfriends. In rural parts of medieval Europe, home altars were kept by Christians who could not easily travel to church for communal worship, McGuckin noted. But in modern times, the altars' popularity has less to do with physical distance than with the spiritual gulf that separates many people from organized religion, he said." The article highlights the popularity of home altars among Buddhists and Mexican-Americans.