Interfaith leader urges religious cooperation

Founder and President of Interfaith Youth Core Eboo Patel spoke at Langford Auditorium Tuesday night, urging Vanderbilt students and the Nashville community as a whole to rethink their approach to religious differences.

Patel is an American-born Muslim who, in addition to running the Chicago-based organization, also served on President Barack Obama’s inaugural Advisory Council on Faith-Based Neighborhood Partnerships and is a regular contributor to the Washington Post, National Public Radio and CNN.

Patel’s organization attempts to bridge the gap between different religions through service projects that emphasize shared values. In his speech, he addressed the need for a different religious dialogue that focuses on the positive history of interfaith cooperation and the values shared by all faiths.

He began the talk with a negative example, telling of an encounter he had with a man who summarized relationships between religions.

“He said, ‘They’ve always killed each other, they will always kill each other, end of story,’” recounted Patel.

Patel then gave several historical examples to counter this claim, from the Civil Rights movement and the Holocaust to the founding of Islam, but he acknowledged the persistence of this worldview.

“Unless there’s a different discourse about what religion can mean in our society, that view will always win out,” said Patel.

He went on to articulate his vision of how religious dialogue can focus on mutual appreciation and cooperation, focusing on the need for increased knowledge of other religions and on identifying shared values. He argued that just as there was a “Race Line” separating segregationists and advocates of equality in the 1960s in America, in the 21st century there is a “Faith Line.”

“The faith line separates people who believe in pluralism and people who believe in totalitarianism,” he said.

Towards the end of the talk, Patel addressed recent issues in the Vanderbilt and Middle Tennessee communities. He praised Middle Tennessee’s Muslim community for the dignified way it has handled controversies over the planned Murfreesboro mosque and the defacing of the mosque in Nashville.

As for the current debates about Vanderbilt’s policies towards religious organizations, he avoided specific discussion of the issue, but praised the student body and the university for their openness in discussing the issue. He acknowledged, however, that these discussions would not always be easy.

“The first set of conversations are going to be really, really hard,” he said.

Students reacted positively to the talk, and those who had met personally with Patel praised him.

“Eboo is an inspiring figurehead for the Interfaith movement in America,” said Presbyterian Student Fellowship Council Moderator Jessie Light.

Patel was brought to Vanderbilt as a part of Project Dialogue, which is run every other school year out of the Office of Religious Life. Project Dialogue’s theme for this year is “Can We Handle the Truth,” and in addition to Patel’s talk, the program has featured talks from Andrew Foxwell and Lawrenc