Interfaith Youth Core

Interfaith Youth Core

Patel had taken a family trip to India with his family while in high school and disliked everything about India. He disliked that there were no showers at his grandmothers and that they did not have Frosted Flakes cereal. Along with man y more things once he had arrived in India. But now six years later after he had matured and went to college he and his good friend Kevin were about to take a trip to India again so that he could learn to appreciate his culture. Once Patel and Kevin arrived in India one of the first things Patel wanted to do was go and buy Indian clothing. One thing that Patel had to get used to was the fact that many people in India that had some sort of money owned servants and this was a shock to him to and his friend. They didn’t understand why and felt that they could do the daily duties for themselves. But Patel learned to accept it because it was part of his culture. Patel had been struggling to learn language and had finally picked up enough to communicate with the people.

“The dream of India is the dream of pluralism, the idea of different communities retaining their uniqueness while relating in a way that recognizes they share universal values” (Patel,92). Over weeks of reading books Patel and Kevin got the chance to meet the Dalai Lama. They meet in a meeting room of his place; Kevin was the first to speak to the Dalai Lama and he identified Kevin as a Jew after her had spoken and commended Kevin for deeping his study of his religion. Now it was Patel’s turn and the Dalai Lama did not ask questions he just stated that Patel was a Muslim and suggested he visit the Tibetan Muslims and Patel replied. Patel then took the opportunity to explain the program he had developed called the Interfaith Youth Core. The Dalai Lama felt that the program was a very good project and asked if he was too old to join which left them all laughing and carrying on.

The interfaith Youth Core was started by Patel to “build mutual respect and pluralism among young people from different religious traditions by empowering them to work together to serve others” (IFYC). After Patel’s visit with the Dalai Lama he was more encourage and excited to return to the United States and progress in the development of the interfaith youth group. This group has brought together more people than could be imagined and all with different religious backgrounds and cultures. In June President Obama made a speech saying “Indeed, faith should bring us together. That is why we are forging service projects in America that bring together Christians, Muslims, and Jews.…Around the world, we can turn dialogue into interfaith service, so bridges between peoples lead to action whether it is combating malaria in Africa, or providing relief after a natural disaster” (Kirby& Patel). With this being said it has been proven thatdifferent religions and cultures can come together and had a mutual ground with some similarities.

Patel, Eboo, Kirby, Samantha, Tikkun. Hungry for Change: Interfaith Service in Action. Sep/Oct2009, Vol. EBSCOhost. 24, Issue 5. Web. 1 Dec. 2009

Patel, Eboo. Acts of Faith. Boston: Beacon Press, 2007.

"Interfaith Youth Core". IFYC. December 3, 2009. http://www.ifyc.org/about_movement.

Eboo Patel’s Acts of Faith and Pluralism

The United States, being the most religiously diverse country in the world, gives way to pluralism. Due to the fact that so many religions have existed in the United States through a long period of time, has made it possible for there to exist different types of ethnicities. Religion can be considered an aspect of ethnicity and by being so religion plays a different role with each different type of ethnicity. There is the hidden ethnicity which is when people in America believe they have no ethnicity, situational ethnicity which is found mostly in second generation immigrants who retain an ethnic fluency with parents, but are also fluent in the new place they find themselves in. Also, there is symbolic identity, with targets fourth generation immigrants who can’t necessarily recall where their ancestors came from. With all of these different ethnicities and religions many times bring conflicts rise which is why the idea and act of disestablishment came to be.
In Acts of Faith, by Eboo Patel, Patel writes about his journey through life as a Muslim in America with the vision in creating an interfaith youth movement. According to Eck, “pluralism is when people of different backgrounds seek mutual understanding and positive cooperation with one another” (Hartman 26). It is pluralism that Patel is in search of throughout his journey. Patel speaks about the different relationships that he holds with different people in different periods of his life who come from many different religious backgrounds. He states that when he was young, his family was a devout Islam family who prayed as it was expected of them from the religion, but with time, his parents became more attained to their jobs and slowly let go of the ritualistic prayers. He remembers that the prayer told from his mom before going to bed was one that never disappeared.
Patel can probably fit in the situational ethnicity because as an immigrant who was raised in the United States, he retains the ethnic fluency with his parents, who constantly remind him that he is Muslim, but is also fluent with the new place that he finds himself in, the United States. In the beginning of the story he begins by introducing a suicide bombing that takes place in London and carefully compares himself with the young men that commit the bombing. Identity is a very significant theme in this story and also the way that identity revolves around religion.
In the article, Religious Pluralism Civil Society’s Hope in a Diverse community, the author Becca Hartman states that there is a division between “inner” and “faith. She states that there are places where people from diverse religious communities gather like public schools, shopping malls, ect, and that these places are considered spaces of “inner” (Hartman 26). The spaces of “faith” are those places where people from particular religious communities gather to speak about religion and these places are churches, synagogues, mosques, temples, and other such places (Hartman 26). With this she states that there are very few places where people from diverse religions come together to speak about matters of religion. This is what Patel encounters throughout his journey. He finds places like the Catholic Worker house and is involved in many projects, but cannot find the pluralism that he is searching for.
It is Patel’s vision to create an interface community where people of different faith can come together and make changes in society. He, along with a group of friends come together to organize Stone Soup, a place where activists and leaders can come together and make positive changes. Throughout Patel’s journey, he makes many positive changes as he learns about different people and their religious backgrounds, although he mentions to others that he really is not religious himself. Religious pluralism is a great challenge and Patel does not give up hope in creating an interfaith community in order to have pluralism. This shows how religion plays an important role in society because Patel is not satisfied with only having a diverse group of people speak about projects, he wants to involve religion as well. To have this, people of different ethnicities must come together which is something as Hartman states, “can only happen if “inner” and “faith” come together (Hartman 27).

Patel, Eboo "Act of Faith". Beacon Press, Boston, MA. (2007): 1-76. Print

Hartman, Becca. "Religious Pluralism Civil Society’s Hope in a Diverse Community" National Civic Review. (2009):25-30. Print

Patel's Search for Religious Pluralism

In searching for one's identity, one must confront and explore their history to find where and how they fit in. Heritage, culture and traditions all reflect the experiences within an individual’s religious community. The personal story that Eboo Patel shares in "Acts of Faith”, gives way to the enormous possibilities that arise from surrounding yourself with progressive thinkers and active public servants. The light that shines on Patel's grassroots interfaith meetings arose from common ideals; the search for truth and compassion for humanity and diversity!

The interfaith programs placed value on religious harmony, sharing an open dialogue, which embraced religious pluralism. Patel's personal journey in finding his religious identity stems from his experiences in India. A subtle transformation became realized in his early adult years that getting angry and fighting the system were counterproductive. The America that shunned him could embrace him, but he just didn't know where he fit in yet. Writings of Malcolm X and Elijah Muhammad played into his racial injustices and need to demonize American and it's dark past. Pluralistic writings and views of James Baldwin persuaded Patel's softer side..."saying that love between people of different identities was not only possible but necessary, and that we had to insist on it."(Patel, pg.89) As Elizabeth Plantz explains in her book “Bridging the Gap: Islam in America”, “…they may soon outnumber Jews, making them the second largest religious group in the United States.” (Plantz, pg. 1)

As leadership qualities and confidence build, scholarly readings opened Patel's eyes to a diverse religious fulfillment. Patel and his group of like-minded visionaries seek community support by human contact and connection. Patel learned of "ubuntu" while searching spiritual principles in South Africa, "people are people through other people." (Patel, 116) Throughout his travels to India, South Africa, meeting the Dalai Lama and his work in Chicago, Patel soon discovered the many layers he shared with his interfaith group/meetings and activist circles. As his friend Jeff explained to Eboo early on, "the most important thing you can learn is how to turn an idea into reality."(Patel, pg. 45)

The roots of the diverse interfaith movement act on life's injustices and bring a powerful and positive force globally. Enlightened religious groups make bridges to connect a pluralistic existence. Violence breeds violence, and if we don't change our outlooks on tolerance, democracy and religious pluralism; we will repeat the past over religious dominance and radicalism.

Patel's multi-ethnic friendships were a beneficial to his inner growth and self-realization. Mormon friends, Jewish friends, Christian friends alike found core beliefs to tap into and change the quality of life for others, a sacrifice which benefits everyone.

Patel, Eboo "Act of Faith". Beacon Press, Boston, MA.2007. pg. 77-180
Platz, Elizabeth, “Bridging the Gap: Islam in America”, www.islamfortoday.com/library.htm

Hindu Nationalism

Much like Christian nationalism, which focuses on “restoring” America to its “Christian roots”, Hindu nationalism is seen as a doctrine concerned primarily with promoting unity within the nation among Hindus, but wherein the motivation is focused on discriminating minorities, specifically the Muslims (Swami, 12). The Hindu Nationalists are neither a religious sect nor a political party, though they have a party. They are not a single organization; rather, they are a network of fundamentalists, traditionalists, anti-modernists, and right-wing conservative whose members are strong believers of the representative democracy (Bhargava, 11). They run the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP), in hopes to capture state power, just like Christian dominionism. Despite the tendencies of the people to move independently, they are cemented through their belief of antiliberalism, disgust in socialism, belief of reinstating a strong Hindu nation, and antipathy to Muslims.

The origin of Hindu Nationalism started as a response to British colonialism. Uprooted from tradition, the Indians suffered because they had not defined their own identity. They had to compare themselves with others to come up with their own identity; thus, the birth of Hindu nationalism (Swami 11). Clearly, perverse comparison does not only play a major role in the Hindu-Muslim conflict; one can clearly see that perverse comparison also made possible the creation of religions, as dictated by Weber’s theory of religion. One figure important to the movement’s conception was K.B Hedgewar, who saw that the Hindus were disunited and physically weak compared to the strong, cohesive Muslims. He made a notion that if the Hindu were to unite and become strong, they would have gained political power, which was threatened by the growing numbers of Muslims and Christians. This led to the mindset of creating a pure culture focused on the “formation of a narrow, hardened, and belligerent identity-formation” (Bhargava 12).

As what I have learned from another class, the core values of Hinduism are eclecticism and diversity, yet “stigmatization and emulation” defined the strategy used by the nationalists to attain the goal of defining a national identity (Bhargava 14). An example would be the protection of the holy cow, the symbol of upper-caste Hindu identity. They had clearly defined themselves from the Muslims, the barbaric cow-slaughterers. They had missionaries to spread their dedication to “Mother India,” while mainly servicing people of upper-caste families. They put up schools, money-lending agencies, and youth associations, not for social service, but to spread the “conflictual, violent engagement with the ‘Other’” (Bhargava 14). Would the contradiction between the religion’s core and the strategies only nullify the belief and the system?

Extreme Hindu nationalism cannot survive without an enemy. Until today, perverse comparison propels extreme Hindu nationalism. Only 11 percent of the population is Muslim, British imperialism can only be found through the traces it left behind, and self identity has grown strong, yet the upper-case Hindus still dominate all political institutions. Hindu nationalism has only grown stronger since the 1980s, and the BJP has heavily influenced the elections (Bhargava 14). Why does the majority still feel and behave like a persecuted minority?



Bhargava, R. (2003). The cultural nationalism of the new Hindu. Politics Abroad. 11-17

Swami, A. (2003). Hindu nationalism: What’s religion got to do with it? Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies. 1-17.

Striving for Pluralism

In America today we maintain an incredibly diverse society, catering to people from all around the world. With this great diversity, it is inevitable that there will be a clashing of values and beliefs for those participating in our society. Our country is becoming increasingly more plural in its varying religious views that have been introduced into the social sphere over the years. Yet, to be a truly pluralistic society requires that those with varying beliefs must acknowledge and respect the belief systems that are different than theirs. “History shows us that in most societies, pluralism does not occur naturally; it must be deliberately and carefully nourished, for it evolves gradually. It must also be protected and never taken for granted, for we have plenty of examples of societies that were once pluralist becoming exclusivist and antipluralistic.” (Asani p.42)
Being a pluralistic society does not mean simply tolerating others beliefs that are different than yours; this creates ignorance for all beliefs that are different than the ones you hold and is not conducive to creating a productive society. This is largely the problem with the current social situation in America, we recognize that there are many people around us who come from varying cultures and backgrounds that differ from ours yet very few of us make a conscious effort to learn and understand these differences. We tend to stay in our own private social spheres and when encounter other beliefs that differ from ours “it is not so much a clash of civilizations as it is a clash of ignorances.” (Asani p.42)
By taking a step back and realizing that while the differences across our cultures may be vast at times, these different beliefs are extremely important to others and cannot be simply written off as “wrong”. By making a stronger effort to really understand the beliefs that differ from us we can help to achieve a society that is truly based on pluralism.


"So That You May Know One Another": A Muslim American Reflects on Pluralism and Islam
Ali S. Asani
Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol. 588, Islam: Enduring Myths and Changing Realities (Jul., 2003), pp. 40-51
Published by: Sage Publications, Inc. in association with the American Academy of Political and Social Science
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1049853

The World of Religions

A World of Religions
Due to the many accounts of terriorist attacks taking place around the world and their affiliation to the Muslim religion, it now has a very negative connotation to the name. Unlike the Christian religion who still has the over all positive connotation as still being holly, we often seem to forget the fact of this religion having a large part in the creation of slavery. No to say that Christianity is the only religion that can be tagged with a negative connotation, it is just an example of how all religions have their flaws, but why is it that the Muslim religion will forever be tagged as being ‘terrorist?’
In ‘Acts of Faith,’ by Eboo Patel, he brings the lives of the London bombers to our attention, making us realize how young and innocent they once were. Rather than the total blame being on themselves and their terrorist leader, he acknowledges the fact of how things could have been different if we were to have gotten to them first (Patel, 6). Although the terrorist of 9-11 may have not been as young or inexperienced, they too were making decisions based of the belief of the order coming from their god. In many ways such a practice could have a very positive and influential impact on ones mind, better yet on a child’s mind, so what went wrong?
Paul Harris, a religious scientist began a study on the lives of the London Bombers and in more detail of their childhood. They all came from families in which their religion was a very important priority, but it wasn’t until very much later in their lives did they come across their terrorist leader. “By implication, children’s trust in testimony does not simply amplify the range of empirical data to which they have access, it also leads them to believe in a set of far-reaching but ultimately nonempirical propositions (Harris, 2).” This meaning, as religion is often drilled into a child’s mind in hope that it will always allow them to make the right decisions, but in reality a mind is ever changing and even at a very young age are they capable of picking out the unreachable.
What if different religions from our own were not so shunned by all, would terrorist attacks like these never occur? The answer may not be ‘never,’ but attacks in relation to religion would be highly unlikely as it is taking place on the boundaries of inequalities. Like Patel says, it would also mean people escaping their little bubbles, racist slurs to children in schools, and presidents simply pronouncing a name of a country correctly, in order for such hate to end. It would also mean befor one to assume a negative connotation on another to first look at their own and realize if the same thing could be defined with their own.




Resources
Harris, Paul. Koeing, Melissa. “Trust in Testimony: How Children Learn About Science and Religion” Child Development, May/June 2006, Volume 77, Number 3, Pages 505 – 524

Patel, Eboo. “Acts of Faith.” Beacon Press. Boston, MA. 2007. pgs 1-76.

Feminism and Traditional Judaism

The feminist movement changed the way many women viewed their roles in society; women were becoming less accepting of traditional male and female roles. Jewish women in particular experienced feelings of separation between their religion and their own self-worth. Blu Greenburg, describes in her essay, "On Women and Judaism: A View from Tradition", her female responsibilities as a young women and even as a young wife, in her Orthodox Jewish community. She remembers sitting in the women's section of the synagogue with her friends without any feelings of resentment for being separated from the males. On the contrary, she and along with the other women in her community were extremely content with the ways of the traditional Jewish women. The separation of males and females is a practice in Orthodox Judaism in which women sit behind a mehitzah. A mehitzah, as described by Dufour, is a divider in a synagogue, often times a curtain that is between men and women. In Greenburg's experience, reading Betty Friedan's, Feminist Mystique (1963), gave the feminist movement relevance in her own life. The feminist movement led to a sub-group known as inclusionist Jewish feminists, which believed that women should be considered equal to men in religious participation.

The traditional roles of men and women are no longer accepted by inclusionist Jewish feminist. In order for these women to accept Judaism, the religion must allow women to take on any role that a man can, as well as be allowed to participate in any religious activity that was once reserved for men only. Inclusionist Jewish women ask to be part of practices such as the Minyan, a daily prayer service including ten adult men, and even the Bat Mitzvah which is equivalent to a Bar Mitzvah: a party for young men entering their puberty.

Inclusionist women do not reject their religion or feel oppression because of their religion, despite the fact that they may not entirely agree with many of the practices. Like Greenburg, Inclusionist Jewish women find a way to include themselves in the religion by creating new roles for women. Greenburg believes that Jewish have been conditioned to maintain traditional values, yet this does not mean they cannot be challenged.

References

Greenburg, Blu. "On Women and Judaism: A View from Tradition". Jewish Publication

Society of American. 1981. Mathisen, Robert R. Critical Issues in American Religious History. Waco Texas. Baylor University Press. 2005. Pg. 757-760.

Dufour,Lynn Resnick. "Sifting through Tradition: The Creation of Jewish Feminist Identities". Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, Vol. 39, No. 1 (Mar., 2000), pp. 90-106. JSTOR Web. 20 November 2009.