by Cody Nielsen
Higher education may be the most important invention of the second millennium. Consider for a second that, alongside the Gutenberg press, higher education holds a value…
Higher Education is an Inclusive Key
A Call to Professionalize Interfaith in Higher Education
by Cody Nielsen
In the past twenty years, the world of religious, secular, and spiritual identities (RSSIs) has grown considerably on college and university campuses across North America. Once a forgotten and at times taboo topic, higher education is slowly embracing these identities as it re-imagines itself as a force for global citizenship.
Coming to Grips with Christian Normativity
by Kevin Singer
This fall I started the journey toward a Ph.D. in higher education at North Carolina State University. While walking around various parts of campus, I noticed the presence of several bi-fold signs fastened to campus fixtures like streetlights and trees with bike locks.
An Unexpected Vocation
by Kevin Singer
I remember like it was yesterday; cracking open an old Baptist hymnal to the first hymn, “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” (Robinson and Wyeth, 1759). “Come thou fount of every blessing, tune my heart to sing thy grace” the first verse begins. The final refrain ends in resounding fashion: “Take my heart Lord, take a seal it, seal it for thy courts above.”
Stepping Stones on My Interfaith Journey
by Megan Weiss
My first step into the interfaith world was an experience I had during a global issues class in high school. My teacher projected an image of a man wearing a turban holding a gun, violence ensuing in the background, and then asked a question: “Is this a terrorist or a man protecting his family?”
Obama's Final Interfaith and Community Service Campus Challenge
by Ruth Broyde Sharone
Eboo Patel’s question rang out in Elstad Auditorium on the final day of the Sixth Annual President’s Interfaith Community Service Campus Challenge, held this year in September at Gallaudet University in Washington DC. Founder and executive director of the Interfaith Youth Core, and one of the principal architects of the Campus Challenge, Patel posed that key question to some 600 participants: students, professors, university presidents and interfaith activists
In Promoting Campus Diversity, Don’t Dismiss Religion
A few weeks back, I was on a campus visit to the University of California at Los Angeles, where I first heard the story of Rachel Beyda. A pre-law sophomore, she applied for a seat on UCLA’s student Judicial Board and found her various identities an area of focus in the interview process.
Shedding Religious Exclusivism in the College Classroom
Dakota grew up in a Baptist church in Lawn, Texas. Her first trip to India with McMurry University precipitated a crisis of faith. Though friendly, accepting, and open to others, Dakota’s religious upbringing taught her that non-Christians “go to hell.” She never questioned this teaching until she went to India. There she met, served alongside and was served by Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, and Christians. The dissonance between the faith of her childhood and the new people she met kept her awake at night talking to peers, other leaders on the trip, and me.
Obama’s Interfaith Challenge to 3 Million Collegiate Students
The administration of President Barack Obama has generously fostered interfaith cooperation, especially through the inclusionary language of public speeches and gestures and the day-to-day work of the White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships and the 14 agencies with faith-based offices.
Exploring Religion, Peace & World Affairs at Georgetown University
The attacks on September 11, 2001. Religious conflict in Northern Ireland. Protests over cartoons of the prophet Muhammad.
“This Is No Place for a Zero Sum Game”
For more than 100 years Hartford Seminary has been a pioneer in establishing interfaith engagement between Christians and Muslims, developing Abrahamic curricula and a Muslim chaplaincy program. Most recently the school has begun to include the study of Dharmic faith traditions. This interfaith commitment is a sign of the times, no doubt, but also reflects the worldview of the woman who has served as Hartford’s president for the past 15 years, Professor of Social Ethics Heidi Hadsell.
The Top Five Reasons to Study Religion
It’s not easy being chair of a religion department. August is an especially cruel month as we close out one academic year and start up a new one, and begin again to struggle with an increasingly vital challenge: recruiting and keeping more majors. I’ve been teaching at Emory University for over 20 years, and every August I begin to obsess about a question (mostly as I’m frantically trying to get my syllabus together for the new term) that’s at the center of my intellectual passion and personal livelihood: how do you convince people to study religion?
Hindu Studies Comes to the GTU
In January, the GTU welcomed renowned professor Dr. Rita Sherma as Director of Hindu Studies, as part of the launch of its highly anticipated Hindu Studies Initiative. The GTU now offers a Master of Arts degree with a concentration in Hindu Studies as well as a Certificate in Hindu Studies. These new Hindu Studies programs can be taken independently or in combination with any degree program at the GTU. The application deadline for all MA programs has been extended to July 1, 2015.
Laurie Zoloth Calls American Academy of Religion to Account
In an impassioned, eloquent plea in San Diego last month, Laurie Zoloth, newly appointed 2014 president of the Academy of American Religion (AAR), called for a conscious “interruption” in our lives to take into account the dire climate crisis and to make substantial changes in our daily behavior.
World Religions in America: The Second Generation
She looked the part of a fine arts major, with the gold spangle in her nostril, the streak of purple in her jet-black hair, and her bespoke clothing. Her diminutive form and high voice gave no hint of the feisty energy that would pour forth whenever she spoke up in the weekly meetings of the Student Interfaith Council at the University of Southern California. Born to Pakistani immigrant parents, she didn’t fit anybody’s stereotype of a Muslim woman.
Leading Interfaith Activists Explore the Interfaith Movement
Celebrate World Interfaith Harmony Week with RFPUSA Webinars
Singapore’s Students Get Proactive about Interfaith Peace
Interfaith in Fargo, North Dakota? Better Believe It!
The Case for Atheist Chaplains
Because words like ‘chaplain’ and ‘chaplaincy’ have religious connotations, some atheists and non-believers prefer not to use the terms. Nonetheless, a need for atheist chaplains exists, and a growing number of people are stepping into the role. Atheists, a significant portion of the public, have needs like anyone else, seek out mentors and counselors who can advise them, and care for them. But the issue is bigger than being acknowledged and represented in the healing community, important as those matters are.