ABSTRACT
ALTHOUGH at first glance there does not seem much connection between towns based on shrines, on health, and on scenery; yet in general we find that all these places attract tourists; even though there is some attribute which separates them from the normal settlement, which is usually established to make a living. In the present chapter a number of localities are described because they were founded in response to a religious urge of one sort or another. Some of these occur in good farming country, as in the case of the Lutherans at Amana (Iowa) and the Mennonites in southern Manitoba. Others have been founded primarily to get away from the rest of the world, as in the case of the Mormons in the desert at Salt Lake. Two localities which are described in some detail originated as shrines. One of these settlements is the Vatican City at Rome, a community of less than 700 people, which vitally affects the religious life of 334 million Catholics. The other site described is a modern example of a vast growth in a town due to the Catholic Church making it a place of pilgrimage. There are many such, but our example is Lourdes in the French Pyrenees.
