“Talking Faith” blog at America.gov welcomes guest blogger Eboo Patel, the founder and Executive Director of the Interfaith Youth Core, a Chicago-based international nonprofit working to build mutual respect and pluralism among religiously diverse young people.
I had the chance to speak to 3,000 young people at the United Church of Christ’s National Youth Event in Tennessee recently. I paused in the middle of my talk to ask a question: “How many of you know someone from a different religion personally - a Jew or a Muslim or a Hindu?” Almost every hand in the room went up.
Faith formation, for these young people, is going to not only involve the question: “What does it mean to be a Christian?” It is going to have to include an additional element: “What does it mean to be a Christian in a community/country/world of Hindus, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, Sikhs, secular humanists, etc.?”
The great comparative religions scholar Wilfred Cantwell Smith predicted this in his book, “The Faith of Other Men,” based on his experience in South Asia a half century ago: “The religious life of mankind from now on, if it is to be lived at all, will be lived in a context of religious pluralism.”
Cantwell Smith was way ahead of his time. My bet is that many Americans over a certain age still don’t know someone from another faith. But their children do. And it’s not just an urban America experience. A good number of the young people in the audience I spoke to were from rural areas - small towns in Wisconsin, Texas, Pennsylvania. Religious diversity has become an everywhere phenomenon in America. And it means the first “Interfaith Generation” in America is growing up in front of our eyes.
Alexandra Abboud has five years experience reporting on the legal and cultural dynamics that shape American society. At America.gov, she manages coverage of cultural diversity, the arts, education and sports. Abboud has also served as a managing editor of the State Department's eJournal USA series, producing internationally circulated publications on innovation and fighting corruption.
Comments (1)
Sherwood MacRae
14 August 2008 at 15:24 EDT
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As I am about to enter my 80th year, as a Christian of long standing, I am embarrassed that those of my generation and the one to follow who have little or no knowledge - and ever less, understanding, of people who profess differing religious beliefs.
Worse, we don’t even seem to care to celebrate our faith with others in differing denominations.
It is as if have no real understanding of the teaching of the Bible that we defend by our words, but seldom support by our actions.