Mayor MALLOY: I describe it as really a model community for the 21st century. I think that there is going to be a natural trend for people to move out and move away from those cities and look for small communities that offer quality of life.

SEVERSON: The mayor is serving his second term. He was elected by both meditators and nonmeditators -- which is the way people divide themselves here. Fairfield has a population of about 10,000, with approximately one third claiming to be meditators.

For 30 years, meditators and nonmeditators here have been getting along in splendid isolation -- some grumbling, but nothing serious. There is growing unease, though, in some circles, but it's not about people or lifestyles. It's about whether it's possible to be both a meditator and a believer.

Reverend GREG CRAWFORD (Pastor, Jubilee Christian Fellowship Church): It's somewhat deceptive in the fact they're telling people it's a science when in reality, it's really a religion.

SEVERSON: Greg Crawford is pastor of the Jubilee Christian Fellowship, which has schools, churches, and missionaries throughout Africa and Asia. But in Fairfield, the church is struggling to attract new members, and Pastor Crawford believes it's because of competition from Transcendental Meditation.

Rev. CRAWFORD: From the forefront, it looks like it's a science and they've posed it as a science, but as you start to study it out more, you see that it's actually Hinduism.

SEVERSON: To attract more attention, the pastor sponsors weekly services where the pulpit and the music rock. Kai Druhl is a former TM'er who actually taught meditation at Maharishi, and is now a convert to Christianity.

KAI DRUHL (Former TM Teacher) (Speaking to Students): Let me explain to you how the whole thing will proceed today.

SEVERSON: He teaches physics at the local community college via closed-circuit TV. Druhl says he has no doubt that TM is derived from Hinduism.

(To Mr. Druhl): Does that mean it's anti-Christianity?

Mr. DRUHL: It excludes and takes away from the experience of Christ.

SEVERSON: Mario Orsatti could not disagree more.

Mr. ORSATTI: There's no doubt in my mind that the practice of Transcendental Meditation has helped me enjoy being a Catholic.

SEVERSON: Students like Jenoa Kohn agree.

JENOA KOHN (Student, Maharishi University): I'm a spiritual person, but I don't think that, you know, TM is something that I do that is separate. It's like brushing your teeth twice a day.

SEVERSON: Virtually all the TM'ers we spoke with insist that TM is a science of the mind, not a religion. But there appears, at least, to be a connection to Hinduism.

The lavish health spa outside of town offers treatments based on a 5,000-year-old Indian holistic medical system called ayurveda.

The official language of the new town on the edge of Fairfield, Maharishi Vedic City, is Sanskrit, the classical Hindu language -- although its significance is largely symbolic.

The Vedic architecture recommends that all homes face east to catch the warming rays of the morning sun. Pastor Crawford doesn't care so much about the architecture. It's the connection to Hinduism that troubles him.

Rev. CRAWFORD: Hinduism believes in reincarnation, believes in multiple gods; and so with a Hindu philosophy it enables you to embrace Christianity, but with Christianity you can't embrace Hinduism.

SEVERSON: TM'ers believe any conflict will eventually fade away. They believe if they can accumulate enough mediators in Fairfield and Vedic City, peace and harmony will pulsate from the Iowa prairie throughout the world.

For RELIGION & ETHICS NEWSWEEKLY, I'm Lucky Severson in Fairfield, Iowa.