Religious+Pluralism+Reflection

The Religious Pluralism group traveled to the office of the InterFaith Youth Core (IFYC).The mssion of IFYC is to build mutual respect and pluralism among young people from different religious traditions by empowering them to work together and to serve others. 

On their web site the IFYC states: //"There are millions of religious young people in the world interacting with greater frequency. That interaction tends either toward conflict or cooperation. Where so many of these interactions tend towards conflict, the Interfaith Youth Core aims to introduce a new relationship, one that is about mutual respect and religious pluralism. Instead of focusing a dialogue on political or theological differences, we build relationships on the values that we share, such as hospitality and caring for the Earth, and how we can live out those values together to contribute to the betterment of our community. The Interfaith Youth Core is creating these relationships across the world by inspiring, networking, and resourcing young people, who are the leaders of this movement. We provide young people and the institutions that support them with leadership training, project resources and a connection to a broader movement."//

We started the mornig off with a few warm up exericses that revealed our religious and cultural backgrounds. There was a safe feeling in the room as students revealed if they felt religious on not. Some grew up Jewish, yet were not religious or practicing. Nearly a quarter of the students mentioned being agnostic or atheist. We then viewed two short videos. The first was a promotional piece by **CNN** titled, //God's **Warriors.**// **CNN** chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour was the commentator and the tone of the piece was aggressive and provacative. The second video was a IFYC documentary on interfaith dialgues between Jordanians, Israelies and Americans. This piece had ordinary people sharing commonalities, but also addressing differences in a calm and respectful way. We then compared and contrasted the two pieces and spoke as to how the media might sell one approach over the other.

After this exercise we began to tell stories from our own lives about our religious traditons. We moved on to defining pluralsm.

Initially, students reported that they felt that Parker was a very tolerant and open environment for different students. However, as the morning progressed a variety of hot topics arose. What do non-Jewish students feel on Jewish holidays when a sizeable portion of the student body is absent? What do students feel when those that take off are not religious? One person insinuated that being religious at Parker was like being a Republican. Don't ask don't tell. This person, who sees himself as religious, felt silenced or in the closet. Some students felt that Parker was more of a "jJewish" school with some estimates of over 50% of the student population being Jewish. Some felt that even political talk, e.g. Palistinian rights, was a hot topic that could not be talked about in an even handed and level headed manner.

We turned briefly to the thought of action. What should we do this year? Some recommended starting off with a survey of different religious groups. We are planning to connect wth the Islamic Foundation School and doing a workshop together and possibly a service learning activity. I reminded the students that another goal of the project was to face some of the stereotypes and prejudices that Moslems face in our society.

We began our meeting following up on Monday's workshop and talking about the difference between Community Action and Community Service. Many of the students reported that they wanted to DO SOMETHING. They admitted that they needed to learn things about pluralism, but they wanted to actually make something or serve someone. The difference between community service and service learning still wasn't clear so the students wanted to invite Shanti Elliot to our meeting. This also later led to conversations about planning activities. I reminded them that we were going to work with the Islamic Foundation School, but other activities also resurfaced: survey, speaker, Morning Ex.
 * //__Wednesday, September 23rd meeting.__//**

The students reported finding Monday extremely useful, especially the portion devoted to religious pluralism. The student turned to Monday's holiday of Yom Kippur. Again the Christian students reported feeling resentment and that felt discriminated against and disrespected. We spoke at length about how students easily felt defensive and how some of the Jewish students felt attacked. They admitted to taking things too personally. The students mentioned a rumor that teachers receive a memo reminding them of certain Jewish holidays and to not give tests or assign presentations. The Christian students just wanted a similar memo to go to teachers around Christian and Moslem holidays.

They also asked if they could speak to an administrators to address this perceived discrimination and to have the school act in a different manner.

The students also wanted to follow up on the survey. Part of the purpose was just to gather data regarding what number of students see themselves as being religious. Do religious students feel accepted to be themselves or do they need to hide or do they feel silenced by the secular trends of the school. Another desire was to combat the image that Parker is a "Jewish School."