Author, speaker, educator and interfaith leader, Ebooks Patel founded Interfaith Youth Core on the idea that religion should be a bridge of cooperation rather than a barrier of division. Named by US News & World Report as one of America’s Best Leaders of 2009, Eboo Patel founded Interfaith Youth Core to encourage religion as a bridge, not a barrier. He’s worked with governments, social sector organizations, and college and university campuses, and is a contributor to the Washington Post, USA Today, NPR and CNN. Patel will sign his important book, Sacred Ground – Pluralism, Prejudice, and the Promise of America. Join us on November 8th at 1:00pm.
Patel holds a doctorate in the sociology of religion from Oxford University, where he studied on a Rhodes scholarship.
Please arrive early to enjoy a beautiful selection of sweets, desserts, hot and cold drinks.
Commentary taken from the Interfaith Youth Core Website:
If you pay attention to today’s news, it’s easy to assume that the paradigm of 21st century religious difference inevitably revolves around conflict. Sadly, conflict and violence fueled by religious disagreement is all too common around the world. The United States certainly isn’t immune, but we also have a strong history of interfaith cooperation and committed institutions (including colleges and universities) that raise unique possibilities to positively engage the growing diversity that characterizes modern life. Interfaith leaders – people with the vision, knowledge, and skills necessary to create the spaces and craft the conversations such that people who orient around religion differently can have a common life together – are a key part of this. As more citizens make interfaith leadership a part of their commitment to American pluralism, the greater our chances of achieving that pluralism become.
In the end, interfaith cooperation is a way of moving America closer to its ideals, but it is also an act of citizenship. When you work to bring people into relationships, even when forging that link is difficult, you actively strengthen the bonds that hold our society together. In divided times, that citizenship is more important than ever.
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