Chicago’s interfaith future: President Obama, Eboo Patel and beyond

Chicago has become the center of the interfaith movement.  It’s a not-so-micro microcosm of religious diversity.  It’s a place where Catholics, Jews, Jains, Muslims, Atheists, Evangelicals and others live alongside each other in “a city of neighborhoods,” as we like to say.  

These religious groups find common ground through organizations like the Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC), founded more than a decade ago by Chicagoan Eboo Patel. 

The 33-year-old Indian-American is ready to turn religious pluralism into a new norm, a societal standard. Like multiculturalism.  Like environmentalism.  Like equal rights.

The voices of hate and religious discrimination have gotten too loud in Chicago and all over the world, Patel says.  We can’t let it continue any longer.  We have speak out and make change.

The “we” Patel refers to is a pretty powerful “we.”  On Sunday, he addressed 500 teens, young adults, clergy members and interfaith advisers rallying together at the Interfaith Youth Core’s annual conference, held at Northwestern University in Evanston.  Over the course of the three-day event, more than 1,000 people from 90 schools, scattered all over the world, were said to participate.

Patel, in some ways, is like their superstar.  He’s become the guy for all things interfaith, serving as an adviser on faith issues to President Barack Obama and gaining recognition this week from the U.S. News and World Report as one of the Best Leaders in America.

The crowd at the conference applauds wildly when Patel takes the stage, snapping photos with digital cameras and iPhones.  As Patel speaks, his eyes sweep the room and never once look down at the small black notebook in front of him.  He talks about a vision for an interfaith future, and I’ll admit: I got goosebumps.

But what will the future of Chicago’s religious communities be?  How will the interfaith movement play out here?

Patel and IFYC have formed a million-dollar partnership with the Chicago Community Trust to address interfaith issues.

“The issue of the 21st century is religious diversity and pluralism,” said Terry Mazany, the president and CEO of the trust.  “This (partnership) has emerged to address that top-level need, not only preventing a horrendous action, but in fact tapping into the wellspring of goodwill and creativity” among the city’s religious groups, who are its largest recipients of philanthropic giving.

On local college campuses, the interfaith movement may seem to be well on its way:

-        Loyola University regularly sponsors conferences and academic discussions, includingGlobalization and the Common Good—An Interfaith Perspective held last spring.

-        DePaul University has two designated interfaith pastors and a group, Interfaith@DePaul, that sponsors 3-4 events each month.

-        Northwestern has an interfaith dorm, a “living and learning community,” where students can choose to intentionally interact with people of other religious traditions on a day-to-day basis.

Still, these efforts represent a small proportion of the student population, maybe 50 to 80 students each, Patel estimates.  “We want it to be the status quo on college campuses,” he says.

“And for those who don’t participate to feel guilty about it,” added Mazany.

IFYC, even with its intern program alone, has begun to shape young leaders, people who won’t accept religiously discriminatory language, close-mindedness or exaggerated stereotypes. These 20-somethings will be the civic leaders of the next generation.  At least that’s the hope.

And speaking of hope…

“The guy in the Oval Office was an interfaith leader in Chicago 30 years ago,” Patel tells the conference crowd, giving one example of the city’s long interfaith history, highlighted with revolutionary leaders like Jane Addams, the founder of the Hull House.

“Back then the common good for him was Altgeld Gardens,” he continues.  “Now the common good for him is planet earth.”

Faith communities, from non-believers to Muslims, have applauded Obama’s attention to religion and religious diversity in his inaugural address (my see previous blog entry here) as well as his speech from Cairo to Muslim countries (blogged about here).  But perhaps our president, with his roots in interfaith community-building, could be doing more and saying more to address religious plurality in America.

“I’d love for him to say more,” says Patel, who is a Muslim.  “It has to be the spirit of our time.”

Kate Shellnutt
I’m a freelance religion reporter and blogger for the Little Things. I majored in religion and journalism as an undergrad, and I'm now completing my master's in journalism at Medill. More