Out of Many Faiths: Religious Diversity and the American Promise

by Eboo Patel

A timely defense of religious diversity and its centrality to American identity

America is the most religiously diverse nation on the planet. In today’s volatile climate of religious conflict and distrust, how do we affirm that the American promise is deeply intertwined with how each of us engages with people of different beliefs? Eboo Patel, former faith adviser to Barack Obama, provides answers to this timely question. In this thought-provoking book, Patel draws on his personal experience as a Muslim in America to examine the importance of religious diversity in the nation’s cultural, political, and economic life. He explores how religious language has given the United States some of its most enduring symbols and inspired its most vital civic institutions―and demonstrates how the genius of the American experiment lies in its empowerment of all people.

Genres: Religion, Nonfiction, Theology, Faith, Social Justice

248 pages, Paperback

First published September 11, 2018

About the author

Named by US News & World Report as one of America’s Best Leaders of 2009, Eboo Patel is the Founder and President of Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC), a Chicago-based organization building the global interfaith youth movement. Author of the award-winning book Acts of Faith, Eboo is also a regular contributor to the Washington Post, USA Today and CNN. He served on President Obama’s inaugural Advisory Council of the White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships and holds a doctorate in the sociology of religion from Oxford University, where he studied on a Rhodes scholarship.

Reviews

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

"America's promise is to guarantee equal rights for all identities. This framework of rights facilitates the contributions of these many communities to this single country. That is America's genius. The idea is simple: people whose nation gives them dignity will build up that society."

This is one of the themes behind Eboo Patel's OUT OF MANY FAITHS.

It is a powerful premise. It is also extremely complicated.

Patel continues on from the quote above: "When we say we are an immigrant nation, we mean more than just that various religious and ethnic groups settled here in America, bringing with them their Hebrew prayers and Hindu chants. We are recognizing the fact that the institutions they built benefited not just their own communities but also the common good of this country. The space between Jewish and American or Christian and American is not a barrier; it's a bridge."

Patel explores the development of the phrase "Judeo-Christian," and the roots of religious diversity in America - starting with Benjamin Franklin and George Washington's actively reaching out to include all faiths.

Overall Patel's book is thoughtful and deep.

As an added bonus three authors offer their own takes on Patel's work.

One (written by Robert Jones) includes a wonderful example of the challenge of pluralism in today's increasingly diverse America. "In my family's dining room is an antique table from the 1940s with six chairs. But one of the chairs is constructed differently from the rest. It is broader than the other chairs, and it is the only one with armrests. Sometimes called the 'captain's chair,' it was designed for the head of the table. Historically, that chair was meant to architecturally reinforce hierarchical family relationships, with the father occupying that throne-like seat, from which he could control the flow of the meal and the topics of conversation.

"If we imagine America gathered around a dining room table, until very recently, white Christians, and particularly white Protestants, felt like they owned the table and were entitled to the patriarch's position. Others might be invited to pull up a chair, either as subordinate family members or as guests, but the power relationships and expectations were understood by all. If we are going to make progress toward fulfilling our nation's promise of religious liberty for all, we have to be clear about the problem. The chief impediment for pluralism today is not that we have run out of chairs. Rather, it is that many white Christians have been reluctant to relinquish the privileged seat of power."

The wonderful thing about Eboo Patel's book is that there is a strong thread of hope for the future that runs through it. Especially when the waves of civil discourse seem to be increasingly choppy, we need such hope!

[Thurm · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25.

This was a great book that provides a good deal of exposition on just why America ought to be the perfect utopia for religious diversity - and why it has not become so. It uses the context of Islam to provide examples, and illustrates specific cases where religions have both worked together to overcome bigotry and intolerance, as well as times when America decided it was going to hate on a specific religion, dating back to Catholics in the country's early days. It illustrates quite clearly, as so many works do, just when America started deciding it was going to take notice of Muslims and how powerful individuals turn us against our fellow citizens.

[Bryan Burke · Rating 5 out of 5]

As someone who is deeply interested in interfaith cooperation, I greatly enjoyed this book. I appreciated the opportunity to read not only Eboo Patel's perspective but to read the thoughtful critiques presented by Robert P. Jones, John Inazu, and Laurie Patton.

The portion of the book that I personally found very illuminating was when Patel wrote about the need for all religious traditions in the United States to work to harmonize themselves with the nation's ideals of pluralism and democracy. As a white mainline Protestant Christian, I realize the challenge for my own tradition--which has held the reins of power for this country's entire history--in opening ourselves to pluralism and shedding our assumptions of privilege and power. I hope that other mainline Protestants in particular find this book helpful in meeting that challenge. However I think that you will find this book to be helpful in your journey to grapple with what it means to be a participant in a plural religious society regardless of your religious/spiritual tradition or lack thereof.

Note: In my opinion, I found Laurie's essay to be the weakest. I found it difficult to follow her lines of reasoning at certain points in her essay.

[Taylor Emmaus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great insight into the reality of Islamaphobia, Xenophobia in the US post-9/11 and Trump presidency. Reads more like a summary of those events and Patel's own experiences and reflections on them, more than a topical resource. But, I think people unfamiliar or educating themselves on interfaith/interreligious encounters in the US should read this!

[Lindie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sometimes it is hard to see ourselves as bigoted and I think in this case Eboo Patel the author needs self-reflection. It was an eye-opener on such thinking and a playbook for the left in this country. Mr Patel seeks common ground but rails against anyone, not in his belief system.

[Rhiannon Grant · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entirely about the USA context, but with some helpful illustrations and alternative perspectives which may illuminate other situations.

[Timothy White · Rating 4 out of 5]

Slow read at first, but well worth it at the end. A great scholarly work that digests pluralism from an interfaith lense in our modern world.

[Sbwisni · Rating 2 out of 5]

Had a hard time finishing. Some good arguments, but topic was presented in a more academic manner than I could handle right now.

[Sally]

https://www.chronicle.com/article/Fai...