Many people are very discouraged by the current climate of anti-Muslim and anti-“other” rhetoric that so fills the airwaves. However, the larger reality is that we are progressing as a nation towards a more positive appropriation of our rich religious diversity. It comes with fits and starts, albeit. But don’t be fooled to think otherwise. It is the way human social progress works.
All or Nothing?
If there is anything new under the religious sun in the United States it is the changing patterns of how people are or are not religious. What this means for feminist studies in religion is of interest to me because it reshapes the backdrop of our work.
The Shifting Sands of Religion in the United States
Last month Pew Research Center for Religion and Public Life published “America’s Changing Religious Landscape,” based on 35,071 interviews done between June and September last year, and comparing the new data with a similar survey in 2007.
The Joys of Interfaith in Hard Times
As we take stock of 2014, it can be difficult locating the joys of interfaith peacebuilding. The state of interreligious relations and social justice work in the U.S. is at a crucial turning point. It seems that our social fabric is increasingly being cut away by decaying trust in democratic social and civic institutions. It is up to leaders of faith and good will to take the helm, proclaim a way forward together and provide for alternative visions of life together in the U.S.
Foundations Working Together for Interreligious Cooperation
A Catholic, a Muslim, and a Jew were sitting together in a meeting. Sounds like the start to a religious joke, right? Or, perhaps, it would be an ordinary interfaith dialogue. Either would be a fair guess, but this time it is actually the start to an interesting development – the recent gathering of representatives from among the many different foundations interested in interreligious cooperation.
Allen Downey and the Internet & Religion Debate
This past April, Allen Downey, a professor of computer science at Olin College of Engineering, published his study on the relationship between Internet use and the decline in religious affiliation among Americans. His findings went viral. Downey concluded that the Internet is responsible for a growing number of Americans who do not associate themselves with a religion. Many news outlets reported on Downey conclusions, most without any criticism: a quick Google search of “The Internet and religion” results in nothing but paraphrases from this single study.
The Interfaith Movement Growing Exponentially
Pre-Assembly Youth Network Meeting with Religions for Peace USA
Interfaith Young Adults in Urban Community
Seventeen young adults, mostly in their twenties, gathered in San Francisco on February 2 for an urban field trip with a unique mission: to explore what a thriving interfaith young adult community would look like in the city. Through United Religions Initiative (URI), I was organizing the trip as a part of our Bay Area Young Leaders Program.
New “Interfaith Infrastructure” Website Documents U.S. Interfaith Movement
Cambridge, MA – Harvard University’s Pluralism Project last month launched America’s Interfaith Infrastructure: An Emerging Landscape, a website documenting and resourcing the interfaith movement in the United States. Dr. Diana Eck, a professor at Harvard University and director of the Pluralism Project explains, “While interfaith organizations play a vital role in cities and towns across America, their critical contributions to our multireligious society are often overlooked.”
Launching On Common Ground 2.0
Dr. Diana Eck and the Pluralism Project are updating their award-winning resource to explore the religious diversity of the United States. The first edition of On Common Ground: World Religions in America was released as a CD-ROM in 1996, providing teachers, students, and scholars with an innovative interactive resource in three parts: “America’s Many Religions,” “A New Religious Landscape,” and “Encountering Religious Diversity.”