We live at a time when people of different faith backgrounds are interacting with greater frequency than ever before. We hear the stories of people who seek to make faith a barrier of division or a bomb of destruction all too often. Instead, we view religious and philosophical traditions as bridges of cooperation. Our interfaith movement builds religious pluralism.
We define religious pluralism as a world characterized by:
Respect for people’s diverse religious and non-religious identities,
Mutually inspiring relationships between people of different backgrounds, and
Common action for the common good.
We think pluralism is achieved by two things:
The science of interfaith cooperation: by creating positive, meaningful relationships across differences, and fostering appreciative knowledge of other traditions, attitudes improve, knowledge increases, and more relationships occur. These three are mutually reinforcing and backed by social science data, what we call the “interfaith triangle”.
The art of interfaith leadership: people who create and foster opportunities for positive knowledge and opportunities for engagement move others around the interfaith triangle and lead to a community marked by pluralism.
We believe that American college students, supported by their campuses, can be the interfaith leaders needed to make religion a bridge and not a barrier.
My hopes for you:
I hope today's presentation inspired you. I hope you are still thinking about what Eboo Patel discussed. I hope that it has made the book, "Acts of Faith", more meaningful and not just another book that you place on your shelf that you felt forced to read. I hope you will take this book and use it as a reminder of what you can and will become.
Your assignment is two parts. First, you are to email me your orginal paper on "Acts of Faith". On this orginal paper, I want you to revise in red areas that you you wish to add to, change and elaborate on from what you heard Patel speak about.
Secondly, on this blog, I I want you to ask yourself: How can you an College Student, become an interfaith leader needed to make religon a bridge not a barrier?
As a college student, I can become an interfaith leader with the intent to make religion a bridge not a barrier in various ways. One way could be to remind people, particularly young people that the purpose of religion is to love not hate. People are so often taught that in order to be a part of a religion that one has to hate a certain group or religion as a whole, and that with hatred comes anger and with anger comes violence. Those who are non-believers are accused of hating all religions when that’s not always the case, and are often seen as enemies of religion. People are forgetting that and are twisting what identifying and belonging with a religion really means. Another way could be to embed service in everyday life because with service comes understanding and with understanding comes bridges of cooperation. It gives diverse religions a way to come together for a common purpose, which will then bring diverse religions together to cooperate. Basically, what Eboo and what President Obama concluded about what was needed with building religion as a bridge is exactly what needs to be done to do so. On a college level, by creating places and spaces for people to voice their opinions and to come together for a common good is a great place to begin building a bridge across religions. It takes young people, their voices, action, and a common purpose as the recipe for an interfaith group, and as an interfaith leader I can make sure that people are understanding each other and are not creating barriers between them.
ReplyDeleteEboo Patel mentioned in his talk today that college campuses provide the best environment for making ideas into a reality. He said that this process happens faster on campus than any other place. Several things make this possible, but just to name a few, students are given opportunities to explore new things—whether that means new classes, clubs, sports, or even a new language. To go along with this, faculty and staff are especially supportive of new ideas presented by young minds that want to make some sort of difference. The resources on campus are so bountiful that coming up with an idea is really all one has to do to get the ball rolling on a new endeavor. For myself, I can become an interfaith leader that works toward making religion a bridge instead of a barrier first and foremost by being open-minded. Not only can I accept that other people have different beliefs and ideas, but I can learn about them. Instead of just agreeing that people think differently about various topics, I can take the time to actually go ahead and learn about their perspectives, and why they value the things they do. Understanding where people are coming from makes a big difference on how easily we can accept their ideas. This way, it is less likely that we make judgments without really knowing everything that leads one person to believe what they do. In addition, we are less likely to jump to conclusions about things we don’t have all the facts about.
ReplyDeleteCollege is a place where things happen. It is a place where people try and discover who they are and what they want to do with their life. While you are out discovering yourself, you can't forget your surroundings and the what is happening in the world. I think that as a college student, I can be an Interfaith leader by actively keeping track of what is happening in the world and try to get other people to become more aware of major world issues. If more people know about issues, especially the wars of religion, more people might want to become involved in stopping the violence.
ReplyDeleteI can also become an Interfaith leader by teaching and making people aware of the importance of religious pluralism in the world. This can be achieved by starting a pluralist club dedicated to bringing together people from different cultures, different geographical locations, and different faiths. As Eboo Patel explained in his presentation, the whole reason for his creation of Interfaith Youth Corps(bringing people of different faiths together and volunteer to help make connections between young people) is so that the young people become inspired and want to go out in the world and become an Interfaith leader. He hopes it will be a "domino effect":people reach out to others, then those people go out and spread the message, ect. The dream is to have a lot of people more aware of how important having diversity in the world is a very good thing. I can be an Interfaith leader by doing this very thing: reaching out to others and teach them about pluralism so that they understand. I think that a major problem with youth these days is how unaware we are about global issues. It is not necessarily our fault. The resources for making a change or becoming involved are not readily made available. Through education, reaching out to people, and making sure people know how to get a hold of resources, this can lead to change, change can lead to action, and eventually I believe that religion will become a bridge that will connect people together and make the world more accepting of each other, despite differences in faith.
College campuses are breeding grounds for relationships between people with different backgrounds. Well that is to say if everyone is open-minded. This comes with a "service"for other people, teach them your traditions and they in return can teach you their's. With the interaction there is bound to be something in common. Religion may be different with the name and beliefs, but some morals have to be the same.Knowledge of others is what I think is one of the largest keys to unlock the bridge for interfaith communities. With knowing what others believe in, everyone can communicate respectfully. With this students would be able to start better together groups, and just groups open to the public. The people in the groups must be from different backgrounds, with that comes the opportunity of becoming a leader.
ReplyDeleteI believe that as a college student, I can help make religion a bridge instead of a barrier by listening to other peoples stories about their religions and backgrounds growing up. To help become an interfaith leader by going to church and helping other people learn about the religion that I follow. If we help teach people about religions, they will understand that religions are more closely related than we believe. Also, by keeping an open mind to other religions is important to becoming a good religious leader. Respecting and accepting others and what they believe in is what we need to work on to help build the bridge of religion. All in all, learning others religions and keeping an open mind is what students need to create religious groups and become more close to each other and our religious beliefs.
ReplyDeleteAs a college student i could become an interfaith leader and help build a bridge for religions rather than a barrier by listening and interacting to all view points and people and accepting that not all people have the same opinions and beliefs. Hopefully, by doing this, people with different opinions and beliefs would feel more confident to speak up and make their voice heard and listened to. This would then lead to people with different backgrounds interacting with each other and talking about their own feelings an noticing that most beliefs have the same basic building blocks. The main aspect to building a bridge is respecting others and what they feel.
ReplyDeleteJosh,
DeleteI really like the way you way to build a bridge for religions instead of being a barrier. I never thought of it that way! It would definately be beneficial to the world if people did speak their mind about their beliefs. Except that can cause conflict as well. But there is already so much conflict in the world already that I feel that if people stopped just taking what others are saying and start standing up for ourselves, alot of the worlds problems will be solved. There won't be any sneaking around planning revenge. A conflict would be solved and over and done with.
Josh,
DeleteI agree with what you had to say about building bridges with people rather than barriers. Accepting that everyone has different opinions about things is a great start to this. By listening to others you can begin to understand their point of view. I also agree that people will feel more comfortable sharing their opinions in this kind of setting.
I completely agree with Eboo when he said that ideas transform into reality the fastest on college campuses. This is extremely true especially on such small campuses like the College of Saint Scholastica. It is really easy to meet all kinds of different people from different cultures and religions. When you meet many different kinds of people you can come up with great ideas. I love how you brought up building a "bridge of cooperation".
ReplyDeleteAs a college student I can become a Interfaith youth leader within my campus by not having restraints that exclude other people in my community. I can use religon as a bridge because by not having restraints that would exclude others I can learn and see others poing of views as well as their beliefs. I feel like doing this will draw us closer in a relationship and help build bridges instead of burning the bridges that I would have with others.
ReplyDeleteI, being a college student, can become an interfaith leader in a variety of ways. I can be an interfaith leader by starting a group that has to do with interfaith things. For example, religion. I think this would be successful because many people feel very strongly about their religions but they don't seem like it.
ReplyDeleteJohn,
DeleteI think your idea of creating some kind of group in effort to become an interfaith leader was great. You said people feel very strongly about their religion, but a lot of the time, they don’t show it. This reminded me a little of the upcoming presidential elections. Some people have very strong opinions one way or another, but people display their attitudes in different ways. Some are the first to plan a protest, and some sit quietly on the sidelines, keeping their opinions to themselves. Some kind of interfaith group would encourage discussion of different religions, but would keep debate off the table.
Being a college student, I can become an interfaith leader by simply reaching out to others and listening to others ideas and beliefs. There are so many wars about beliefs today it is unbelievable. The most sickening one to me is the 'Vote Yes' or 'Vote No' campaign going on right now. In my opinion, love is love and marriage shouldn't matter who it is between. I am so sick of seeing posters and billboards and T.V. commercials. I just want to go for a walk or watch some T.V. I do no want to be bombarded with slander from both political parties. This is why I hate election years. They cause nothing but drama and hurt feelings. I understand they are important but it's just annoying! Anyways, Patel spoke about how the college years are the one time in your life when nothing gets put into place faster. A college campus is full of new ideas and employees ready to help those ideas become realities. In the real world, the people you need to go to to make a change are above you and not always willing to listen to someone not as high up as them. But at a college, most employees will help student(s) into making their dreams realities before anything else.
ReplyDeletePaul,
ReplyDeleteI found your ideas to be quite interesting and realistic. Realizing commonality between other religions really make a difference when learning about different perspectives that people hold. Also, realizing that we all can bring something to the mix by interconnecting is truly how forming bridges between religions happens. You cannot expect to make meaningful relationships if one cannot respect a person nor have an open mind about their religion. Patel’s ideas about being “better together” are exactly what pluralism needs. We are better together and need to mindfully reject all poison inject into our religions. I thought religion was supposed to be about compassion, love for all, community and living for a greater good than ourselves, no matter the title. Since when does accepting hate into our lives regulate what we live by and what we believe?
Emily,
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting how you pointed out that we can all come together because every religion has a form of the Golden Rule-I never thought of that before. It is at least one thing that pretty much every religion shares and can come together for.
I also completely agree that service plays an important role in building a bridge because it is a chance for people of different faiths to put aside their differences and come together for a better cause. It is essential that people step out of their comfort zones and come together to serve the community. With this, I think that college students have the power to change the world.
John,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. Simple things just as having a talking group, or something as complicated as having meetings and objectives for a large groups of people. This has so many ways in which you could start being a leader only the sky is the limit.
If you are interested in some new ideas on the interfaith movement and the Trinity, please check out my website at www.religiouspluralism.ca, and give me your thoughts on improving content and presentation.
ReplyDeleteMy thesis is that an abstract version of the Trinity could be Christianity’s answer to the world need for a framework of pluralistic theology.
In a constructive worldview: east, west, and far-east religions present a threefold understanding of One God manifest primarily in Muslim and Hebrew intuition of the Deity Absolute, Christian and Krishnan Hindu conception of the Universe Absolute Supreme Being; and Shaivite Hindu, Buddhist, Taoist apprehension of the Destroyer (meaning also Consummator), Unconditioned Absolute, or Spirit of All That Is and is not. Together with their variations and combinations in other major religions, these religious ideas reflect and express our collective understanding of God, in an expanded concept of the Holy Trinity.
The Trinity Absolute is portrayed in the logic of world religions, as follows:
1. Muslims and Jews may be said to worship only the first person of the Trinity, i.e. the existential Deity Absolute Creator, known as Allah or Yhwh, Abba or Father (as Jesus called him), Brahma, and other names; represented by Gabriel (Executive Archangel), Muhammad and Moses (mighty messenger prophets), and others.
2. Christians and Krishnan Hindus may be said to worship the first person through a second person, i.e. the experiential Universe or "Universal” Absolute Supreme Being (Allsoul or Supersoul), called Son/Christ or Vishnu/Krishna; represented by Michael (Supreme Archangel), Jesus (teacher and savior of souls), and others. The Allsoul is that gestalt of personal human consciousness, which we expect will be the "body of Christ" (Mahdi, Messiah, Kalki or Maitreya) in the second coming – personified in history by Muhammad, Jesus Christ, Buddha (9th incarnation of Vishnu), and others.
3. Shaivite Hindus, Buddhists, and Confucian-Taoists seem to venerate the synthesis of the first and second persons in a third person or appearance, ie. the Destiny Consummator of ultimate reality – unqualified Nirvana consciousness – associative Tao of All That Is – the absonite* Unconditioned Absolute Spirit “Synthesis of Source and Synthesis,”** who/which is logically expected to be Allah/Abba/Brahma glorified in and by union with the Supreme Being – represented in religions by Gabriel, Michael, and other Archangels, Mahadevas, Spiritpersons, etc., who may be included within the mysterious Holy Ghost.
Other strains of religion seem to be psychological variations on the third person, or possibly combinations and permutations of the members of the Trinity – all just different personality perspectives on the Same God. Taken together, the world’s major religions give us at least two insights into the first person of this thrice-personal One God, two perceptions of the second person, and at least three glimpses of the third.
* The ever-mysterious Holy Ghost or Unconditioned Spirit is neither absolutely infinite, nor absolutely finite, but absonite; meaning neither existential nor experiential, but their ultimate consummation; neither fully ideal nor totally real, but a middle path and grand synthesis of the superconscious and the conscious, in consciousness of the unconscious.
** This conception is so strong because somewhat as the Absonite Spirit is a synthesis of the spirit of the Absolute and the spirit of the Supreme, so it would seem that the evolving Supreme Being may himself also be a synthesis or “gestalt” of humanity with itself, in an Almighty Universe Allperson or Supersoul. Thus ultimately, the Absonite is their Unconditioned Absolute Coordinate Identity – the Spirit Synthesis of Source and Synthesis – the metaphysical Destiny Consummator of All That Is.
For more details, please see: www.religiouspluralism.ca
Samuel Stuart Maynes