By David Bornstein for the Opinion Pages of New York Times – November 29, 2016.
Four years ago, I reported on the Interfaith Youth Core, which trains leaders to build relationships and respect between diverse faith communities. The work has expanded considerably. The organization now has more than 350 active campuses in its network, and more than 1,000 colleges have used its resources.
This year its founder, Eboo Patel, explained in a book, Interfaith Leadership, what this type of leadership entails and why he considers it vital in today’s world. Patel, who is Muslim, recently spoke with me about democracy, the responsibilities of citizens, and his fears and hopes after this year’s election. Here are excerpts:
Bornstein: What’s the big question on your mind today?
Patel: How do we build a healthy religiously diverse democracy? It has great relevance to the current moment.
Democracy is not just a place where you elect representatives; it’s a society where you can make personal convictions public. And diversity isn’t just the things we like. It isn’t just samosas and egg rolls. Diversity is also the things you don’t like. We have to recognize that expressions of some identities will injure others.
A religiously diverse democracy is even more intense. Because, as the theologian Paul Tillich said, religion is about ultimate concerns. People can make public opposing views about concerns like: How are we created? What is a good life? What happens after we die? And frankly, this could be a recipe for civil war….
Read more of this interview with Eboo Patel, at the source: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/29/opinion/wanted-leaders-to-turn-interfaith-conflict-into-trust.html
Eboo Patel is the Member of the National Committee of the Aga Khan Foundation USA
Eboo Patel was named by US News & World Report as one of America’s Best Leaders of 2009. Eboo Patel is the founder and Executive Director of Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC), a Chicago-based institution building the global interfaith youth movement. He is a member of President Obama’s Advisory Council of the White House Office of Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. Author of the award-winning book Acts of Faith: The Story of an American Muslim, the Struggle for the Soul of a Generation, Eboo is also a regular contributor to the Washington Post, National Public Radio and CNN. He holds a doctorate in the sociology of religion from Oxford University, where he studied on a Rhodes scholarship.
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