For nearly 19 years, I have defended the relevance of courses about religion in a college curriculum by maintaining that no human culture at any time in history can be fully understood without understanding its religion. Until recently, this remark has been met with looks of skepticism from college sophomores, especially the ones majoring in business or a natural science.
But the skepticism is fading. Today, globalization refers not just to global economic markets or Internet access to different cultures. Our own society is more diverse than ever. Understanding religion helps us relate to people in our own neighborhoods. Furthermore, religious prejudice, rooted in fear born of ignorance, is more prevalent today than ever. Substantive religious dialogue, therefore, is more critical than ever.
U.S. colleges and universities have been stressing “multiculturalism” for the last twenty years. But as Eboo Patel, founder and president of Interfaith Youth Core, points out, multicultural curricula and programming has focused almost entirely on racial and ethnic differences and has largely ignored religious diversity. In his book Sacred Ground: Pluralism, Prejudice, and the Promise of America, Patel calls for robust interfaith dialogue, which he says “is not about religions being the same, or even an agreement that everyone is going to heaven,” but instead focuses on “building bridges with people of different faiths.”
Patel cites texts from different spiritual traditions that emphasize the importance of welcoming and caring for those who are different – even those who have different belief systems. As an Arab-American Muslim, Patel has much more facility with the Quran than with other sacred texts, and that is to be expected. His sole reference in Christian scripture is Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan. He rightly points out that the hero in Jesus’ story was different from his audience in both ethnicity and religion. But there is a much more compelling biblical case to be made in favor of a “theology of interfaith cooperation” (to use Patel’s term).