Reflections by Participants in the Study of the United States Institute on Religious Pluralism

Abstract

Reflections by Participants in the Study of the United States Institute on Religious Pluralism Rebecca Kratz Mays In each of the summers of 2017 and 2018, the Dialogue Institute hosted international scholars from twenty countries around the globe who had won U.S. State Department scholarships to spend six weeks in the U.S. to study U.S. history, society, and institutions, with a special focus on religious pluralism and interfaith dialogue. The Dialogue Institute program was designed to introduce participants to the key structures, ideas, and laws that support democracy and religious freedom in America, drawing on the rich historical legacy of the city of Philadelphia. The program highlighted training in leadership skills, especially as related to the challenges of religious and cultural diversity in their own countries. Trips to New York City, Arizona, Minnesota, and Washington, DC, gave participants firsthand experience with key historical and governmental institutions. Covered topics included basics of American democracy and government; the roots of religious tolerance in Philadelphia; the significance of volunteerism in a pluralist society; the interrelationships of immigration, race, ethnicity, religious diversity, and civil religion; the significance of the environmental movement as a context for social activism; and the principles and practices of interreligious/intercultural dialogue. As part of their discussions of what it means to be a public intellectual with the ability to write in order to help citizens build a civil society with respect for religion, the J.E.S. staff invited scholars to submit their reflections to the journal. In response to the invitation, Yosra Elgendi from Egypt discusses the differences she saw between a country that claims religion and state are not separate and the U.S., which claims that separation in the First Amendment. She examines a bill that in her view violates that separation and encourages the U.S. to keep its constitutional separation evident in such legal considerations. Roman Mička contrasts the U.S. democracy to Finland, Portugal, and, in more detail, his own Czech Republic. Calling the U.S. a "beacon of freedom," he cites his observations from [End Page 599] the summer study of where the U.S. is facing significant struggles. Finally, Luis Siveres from Brazil explores the power of perception in the process of interreligious dialogue, calling for clarifying different perspectives on an issue of politics, theology, or diversity as the heart of the dialogic process, in order to help establish peace and understanding. Rebecca Kratz Mays Education Director, Dialogue Institute Temple University, Philadelphia, PA Copyright © 2018 Journal of Ecumenical Studies