I have always had a complicated relationship with faith. My family is Hindu, yet my parents rarely talked about our religion and we saw our guru—arguably our greatest spiritual connection—about once a year. This tenuous connection was strained even more by the fact that I lived in primarily Christian and Jewish communities over the course of my childhood. In a single year, I went to more Vacation Bible School sessions and Bar Mitzvah services than poojas at a temple. While I learned how to work well with people of other religious beliefs, I realized that not everyone wanted to respect my own. I once had a girl ask me, for example, how it was that I could believe in a “talking elephant god.” In the years following 9/11, I watched as fear of terrorism bred new forms of hate and persecution against Muslims. Even now, I hear harrowing reports of women in burkinis being harassed and Muslim school boys being accused of building bombs. As I watched people of all nations turn against their neighbors and friends on the basis of faith, I wondered: how could religion possibly bring people together when it has caused so many divisions?
Eboo Patel, founder and president of Interfaith Youth Core, answered that question when he came to speak at Rosse Hall on September 7. With confident ease and a subversive sense of humor, Mr. Patel delivered an incredible speech advocating for interfaith cooperation among all people. Instead of rehashing clichéd arguments about treating others the way you want to be treated, Patel took a nuanced look at empathy.
He began by arguing that the best way to teach someone about a new perspective is through storytelling. Patel continued this theme throughout the talk, jumping from personal anecdotes to tales about well-known historical figures. One story he told that really stuck with me was about a Kurdish man he met who supported America’s involvement in the Iraq War, a stance Patel opposed. Patel admitted that since he had generally discussed the topic of the Iraq War with socially conscious, white, liberal intellectuals, he had not considered that the deposition of Saddam Hussein by outside forces was seen as something beneficial rather than destructive. Hussein had killed thousands of Kurds in truly horrific ways, and this man was thankful for the toppling of such an oppressive government. Patel said that although he still believed the Iraq War was a mistake, he was now able to reconsider his worldview.
Patel went on to say that when assessing how accurate your world view is, you have to consider the differences you don’t like in a person as much as the differences you do like. You also need to look for cases that disprove your outlook rather than support it. In my case, that meant looking at religious believers in a new way. I don’t agree that women and men should live separately, or that women should cover their faces. I don’t believe in the idea of a heaven or hell. However, that shouldn’t stop me from being able to cooperate with people who do. I no longer look at people with strong religious convictions as unenlightened or naïve; I understand that all views come from valid personal experiences, and people of all identities have the ability to work towards a common goal. In a diverse democracy like the United States, we are all working for a shared truth that is not owned by any particular group, despite claims made by certain politicians.
The truth is a pursuit for all of us to undertake together and the only thing barring us from it is the belief that we must own it alone. Martin Luther King Jr. knew this when he asked all races to come together and end the oppression of African Americans. Malala Yousafzai knew this when she raised her voice, not in the pursuit of violence or division, but education and understanding. Eboo Patel knows this, and after listening to his talk about using stories to empathize with one another and respecting the range of identities within our world, I hope everyone will live by it too.
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