Religious Diversity and Cooperation on Campus

This article addresses the issue of religious diversity and cooperation on college campuses. Nowhere is America’s religious diversity more apparent than on college campuses. College campuses have done much to engage issues of race, gender, and other important markers of identity. Religion has typically been left out of this conversation. It is a critical time for higher education to engage religious diversity seriously. The American campus is a unique space which encourages both identity commitment and pluralist community; it values both individual freedom and contribution to the common good. Successfully promoting pluralism and inter-religious engagement on college campuses could impact not only individual campuses, and the broader system of higher education, but even the country in which we live, and perhaps the world. The Interfaith Youth Core employs a unique methodology which combines service learning and interfaith dialogue. IFYC provides young people and the institutions that support them with leadership training, project resources, and a connection to a broader movement of interfaith cooperation

The Civic Relevance of Interfaith Cooperation for Colleges and Universities

As tensions around religious diversity escalate in America, there is an increased realization that interfaith cooperation has broad civic relevance. In this realization, there is an opportunity for American colleges and universities to play a leadership role in constructively engaging religious diversity. The authors of this article explore the current challenges posed by religious diversity, a model of interfaith cooperation focused on civic engagement and social cohesion. They also explore how college students have a particular leadership role to play in building interfaith cooperation

Building Religious Pluralism: The Interfaith Youth Core Approach

Building Religious Pluralism: The Interfaith Youth Core ApproachEboo PatelFounder and Executive DirectorInterfaith Youth CoreCassie MeyerDirector, Outreach Education & TrainingInterfaith Youth Cor

In Our Time: Advancing Interfaith Studies Curricula at Catholic Colleges and Universities

People who orient around religion differently are interacting with greater frequency than ever before. These interactions, especially in the context of college and university campuses, require young people to grapple with their own identities in ways that previous generations could more easily avoid. Conversations about religious diversity have become elevated at colleges and universities, which has led Drs. Douglas Jacobsen and Rhonda Hustedt Jacobsen to claim that religion is “no longer invisible” in the context of American higher education. As an organization that works with hundreds of American colleges and universities every year, Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC) believes that Catholic institutions are not only well-equipped to engage in interfaith conversation, but already are on the vanguard of this work. Interfaith efforts are particularly salient within Catholic Higher Education curriculum, where Interfaith and Interreligious Studies courses and programs are being established. As these exciting academic programs continue to take shape across the country, we recommend that scholars and educators continue to consider professional applicability, attention to intersectionality, and assessment as three important practices to adopt in their Interfaith and Interreligious Studies programs

Acts of Faith: The Story of an American Muslim, The Struggle for the Soul of a Generation

In this memoir, Eboo Patel relates his journey to faith-based activism with American youth. Patel, a native of the Chicago area who was born of Indian immigrants and raised in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, recounts the challenges he faced straddling multiple worlds, making the case that religion can play a constructive role in young people’s lives. His struggle is not one of choosing a Muslim identity over assimilation, but of discovering how to embrace difference. Founder of the Interfaith Youth Core, which involves youth of different religions in service projects, Patel seeks to chart a course toward genuine pluralism. He presents the work as a high-stakes effort to guide young people toward constructive social engagement, noting that extremism is an appealing alternative that some will take in the absence of authentic leadership.https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/muslim-journeys-books/1002/thumbnail.jp

Acts of faith: the story of an American Msulim, the struggle for the soul of generation

This book is a remarkable account of growing up Muslim in America and coming to believe in religious pluralism, from one of the most prominent faith leaders in the United States. Eboo Patel?s story is a hopeful and moving testament to the power and passion of young people?and of the world-changing potential of an interfaith youth movement

Sacred ground: pluralism, prejudice, and the promise of America

In the decade following the attacks of 9/11, suspicion and animosity toward American Muslims has increased rather than subsided. In this timely new book, author, activist, and presidential advisor Eboo Patel says this prejudice is not just a problem for Muslims but also a challenge to the very idea of America. . To this end, Patel offers a primer in the art and science of interfaith work, bringing to life the growing body of research on how faith can be a bridge of cooperation rather than a barrier of division and sharing stories from the frontlines of interfaith activism