Could you also tell me if how Buddhists participate in worship in the Diaspora differs for Mahayana or Theravada Buddhists?

Answer:

by: Venerable Nicolas Thanissaro

Theravada Buddhism by its nature is more conservative - it tends to be practised in a way authentic to how it is practised in Asia. Most of the modernisations of Buddhism that have come as byproducts of the so-called Buddhist Diaspora have happened within the Mahayana school - because by its nature it is more adaptive to circumstances (it emphasises more the spirit than the letter of the Buddhist teachings).