Complex religious identity in the context of interfaith dialogue

Abstract

Complex religious identity in the context of interfaith dialogue Karla Suomala The beginning of dialogue… In the Life of Pi by Yann Martel, Pi, the main character, tells the story of his extraordinary, if surreal, adventures on a lifeboat with a crew of animals. Prior to that epic journey, Pi describes his early and enduring interest in religion. By age 16, he claims Christian, Muslim, and Hindu religious identities. “The sense of community that a common faith brings to people spelled trouble for me,” says Pi as he recalls an encounter between his parents, his priest, his imam, and his pandit. “‘What is your son doing going to temple?’ asked the priest. ‘Your son was seen in church crossing himself,’ said the imam. ‘Your son has gone Muslim,’ said the pandit.” Each claiming him, the Hindu, Christian, and Muslim leaders begin to fight with each other over Pi's affiliation and then over the superiority of their respective traditions. “That was my introduction to interfaith dialogue,” says Pi. The end of dialogue… In the “real” world, Pi's declaration of his Hindu‐Christian‐Muslim identity would also signal the end to his participation in interfaith dialogue. While people from different religious traditions engage with each other in a variety of ways, the term interfaith dialogue (or inter‐religious dialogue) generally suggests a very specific type of engagement. As a twentieth century development primarily in the West, interfaith dialogue involves more structured and formal conversations between representatives (usually religious scholars, clergy, and institutional officials) from at least two clearly defined religious traditions with the primary objective of mutual understanding rather than conversion. Within this model, Pi—who identifies himself with more than one religious tradition—would not likely be invited to the table. This wouldn't be such an issue if Pi's religious identity remained a fictional construct, with no correspondence to real people and living communities, but that is simply not the case. A quick glance at the population in the United States demonstrates that having a complex religious identity—an identity in which one adheres to, practices, believes in, or belongs to more than one religious tradition through inheritance and/or choice—is on the rise. In the last century, for example, “the number of interfaith marriages rose in every decade, reaching highs in the 30 to 33 percent range as the twentieth century closed.” Diana Butler Bass points out that the children from these marriages “do not choose to belong to multiple religious communities; they simply do so by virtue of their birth.” The rate of intermarriage for American Jews is even higher. Already in 2001, a striking 52 percent of Jews between the ages of 18–24 came from intermarried families. And many children of intermarriage say they “simply cannot turn their backs on the non‐Jewish half of their identity. Their rabbis may say they are Jewish, but in their hearts they are also whatever grandma and grandpa are,” reports Leah Blankenship in The Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle. Rabbi Alan Flam, former director of Brown's Hillel, thinks that this is a radically new question for the Jewish community. He notes that: Students are talking less about theology and more about culture. They are saying, “Wait, I have a dual identity,” similar to students who may have one parent who is Asian and one who is black. They are saying, “I want to figure out a way to affirm both identities in my life.” On a broader scale, the number of Americans who have adopted practices associated with Hinduism or Buddhism, such as yoga and meditation, has skyrocketed. In a recent New York Times article, William Broad points out that “the number of Americans doing yoga has risen from about 4 million in 2001 to what some estimate to be as many as 20 million in 2011.” Similarly, a 2007 National Institute of Health study indicated that over 20 million people in the United States had meditated in the previous 12 months. While most of these individuals would not necessarily identify themselves as Buddhists or Hindus, they have integrated practices originating in these traditions that make their religious identities more complex or nuanced. In the face...