PA Story Resources
Explore educator and student-facing resources, organized by topic. If you don’t see something you’re looking for, send us an email at info@dialogueinstitute.org.
Are you an educator willing to share your resources from this project? Submit resources or lesson plans here.
PA Story Topics
Dialogue
Learn about the dialogue principles, the importance of reflective listening, and staying curious.
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Professional Applications of Interfaith Skill Sets and Competencies
Student Experiences with Religious and Spiritual Diversity
Frameworks for Interfaith Conversations
Dialogue and Difference Project - Patricia Maulden’s program at George Mason University
Dialogue and Political Polarization: Braver Angels Approach - a workshop bringing together Republicans and Democrats for dialogue
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Culture
Explore resources describing how culture shows up in communities, schools, and Pennsylvania and how to talk about it in your classroom
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The Cambridge English Dictionary states that culture is "the way of life, especially the general customs and beliefs, of a particular group of people at a particular time."
Improving Intercultural Competency Handbook
History
Explore the history of Pennsylvania, how it connects culture and community, and how to contextualize these aspects in your classroom.
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Penn's Charter or Privileges - The Founding Document of the City of Philadelphia (1701)
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History
Civics
Civic engagement links Pennsylvania history, culture, democratic values, and communities.
Leadership
Includes tools, resources, and activities to develop leadership skills.
Community
Find places of interest within your own local community that bolster the PA Story in your area.
Religion
Explore the basics of religion and how to teach about it in the classroom from an academic standpoint.
Dialogue Basics
Interreligious and Intrareligious Dialogue
Between and among persons who identify themselves as members of a collective religious tradition, two important dialogues exist. Within the same tradition, there are waves of change through lineage and interpretation that oscillate around a core experience of beliefs, belongings, and behavior. These dialogues can keep the internal understandings fresh and shared among religious leaders and followers. That internal dialogue is both challenged and enhanced by then striving to create friendships and promote understandings across difficult differences without causing fear and strife.
The DI principles provide guidelines for how to think and to behave in order to grow and change in the inter- and intra-religious dialogues. You can read the Dialogue Institute’s Ten Principles of Dialogue HERE and also find links to translations in multiple languages.
These principles live within the context and content of a particular community. When approaching religious communities or civic groupings, dialogue practitioners will establish with the facilitators first, some common understandings about the context and content for each participating group as a foundation for seeing how the principles can work to help create the community trust and accompanying bonds. To learn more, you can read Len Swidler’s
Introduction to Critical Thinking
Critical thinking: Processing, analyzing, and evaluating information that is received and asking questions about it, with the goal of learning.
To begin a dialogue requires the development of critical thinking skills.
We’ve identified these principles for effective critical thinking:
Identify your own biases and assumptions
Divide complex issues into smaller, more manageable parts
Understand and define all terms
Question the methods by which the facts are derived
Consider alternative interpretations of research evidence
Critical thinking is a skill that allows you to make logical and informed decisions. It can be used to analyze situations, information, and ideas. Good critical thinkers can draw reasonable conclusions from a set of information, and discriminate between useful and less useful details to solve problems or make decisions.
An effective critical thinker:
Raises questions and problems clearly and precisely
Gathers, analyzes, and synthesizes relevant information, using it to draw conclusions
Provides well-reasoned conclusions and solutions that are consistent with relevant criteria, standards, or best practices
Thoughtfully assesses the implications of different systems of thought
Takes an active role in developing solutions to complex problems by communicating with others
While there’s no universal standard for what skills are included in the critical thinking process, we’ve identified three important steps to follow to promote critical thinking in any situation:
Observe and Gather Information
Analyze and Synthesize
Reflect and Decide
Observe and Gather Information
Observe and Gather:
Identify what’s being said
Distinguish relevant and credible information
Dialogue is just one way to gather information. Critical thinkers gather information from different sources, exploring issues from multiple perspectives. They vet all possible sources of information with an eye on inconsistencies, differences, divergences and contradictions.
When a statement or claim is made, critical thinkers do their best to clarify and identify what is being said. A frequent source of disagreement in dialogue is that although the dialogue partners are using the same central term or statement, they understand it differently. This is likely due to a difference in perception.
Perception is the process of taking information from the world around us and forming mental representations of that information, which we then use to guide our actions. It's how we see, understand, and interpret situations. Our perceptions are determined by many factors, including our family, religion and belief systems, culture and ethnicity, age, gender, education, and life experience.
In dialogue, the best way to clarify a term or statement is to repeat back to your partner in dialogue what you believe they are saying, and ask them to either confirm or amend your understanding. By doing so, we explore our dialogue partner’s perception of a situation and can better understand their viewpoint.
Analyze and Synthesize:
Understand the significance or meaning of the information
Synthesize the information collected with what you already know
Analysis is the process of re-examining data, searching for significance or meaning, and identifying structural discrepancies. To understand the significance of a statement, a critical thinker must be able to isolate the main claim made and trace it back to the supporting reasons for that claim. Critical thinkers are then able to analyze the data they encounter further by identifying its flaws or inconsistencies and making informed decisions regarding their own beliefs.
When analyzing data, it can be helpful to divide larger arguments or ideas into smaller parts. Almost nothing is truly simple; practically everything is made up of parts, including our thoughts and experiences. Consequently, if we are to understand something, whether an object or an idea, we will need to know what the parts are that make it up and how they are related to each other. When we take time to pause our thinking and challenge the information we observed to get us to this conclusion and what assumptions or experiences have helped us develop this opinion, we are thinking analytically about the situation.
When analyzing source material it's important to research the author of the pieces you're reading. Ask yourself:
Who is their research/ writing sponsored by?
Who is their target audience?
What is their goal of publishing this piece?
Looking at the dates resources are published are also an important indicator of the piece. While older data is not immediately irrelevant, it may be a clue that there is more updated information that is worth taking a look at.
Asking questions is an essential part of the critical thinking process!
Synthesis is a process that combines multiple sources to form theories, patterns, and develop a fuller understanding of a topic. It's a mindful approach that asks you to look for and identify links between sources. Synthesizing data starts by evaluating your initial analysis and reinterpreting it based on what you already know. Using synthesis, one develops a more complete understanding of the topic or argument.
Reflect and Decide:
Reconsider your interpretation in view of new analyses, facts, or errors discovered
Make inferences based on data and information presented
Reflection is the process of re-assessing analytical and argumentative logic in search for possible influences, biases, and prejudices that might have impacted your reasoning.
After gathering information, analyzing it, and reflecting on it, the critical thinker is now in a position to identify problematic areas and isolate inconsistencies. The key is to narrow the broad scope of a statement and deconstruct its structure in such a way that it becomes easier to understand one piece at a time.
We always want to consider alternative interpretations outside of our initial scope of thinking.
We can ask questions such as:
Who is being represented in this instance and who is not? Where is this information coming from and who may benefit from such statements?
The purpose of critical thinking skills are to assist us in making informed decisions based on solid facts and arguments. All of the elements of the critical thinking process work together to help one decide what course of action to take, which arguments to advance, what kind of behavior to change or adopt, and so on.
Stereotypes and Bias
Prejudicial beliefs about certain identities and identity groups can lead to discrimination. Discrimination is harmful and can cause many negative outcomes, including violence and division within communities. Examples of different types of discrimination include racial and ethnic discrimination, xenophobia, discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI+) people, gender discrimination and discrimination based on disability.
When meeting new people we often form an initial idea about them based on our first interaction. We need to remember to let others define themselves rather than us defining them based on our understanding of them. It's also essential to remember that one person does not speak for, nor represent, an entire community. Each person is an individual and dialogue encourages us to see them as such.
Stereotypes
Stereotype: A widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing.
Examples: Common Religious Stereotypes
People who practice X religion are intolerant.
People who practice X religion are wise.
People who practice X religion are naive.
People who practice X religion are peaceful.
People who follow the X belief system are foolish.
Challenging stereotypes can be done by being aware of how your own attitudes, beliefs and assumptions might impact others and how you treat them. Meeting new people who are different from you is another great way to have your stereotypes challenged.
Bias
Bias: Prejudice in favor of or against one thing, person, or group compared with another, usually in a way considered to be unfair.
Biases are subconscious, mental shortcuts that our minds use to make decisions, judgments, and inferences about others. They often have negative connotations, but can sometimes be positive and helpful. Additionally, biases can be conscious or unconscious. Both forms of bias can have harmful consequences. Simple awareness is a critical step toward addressing how your biases might be influencing your dialogue with others.
Prejudice
Prejudice: Noun; An irrational attitude of hostility directed against an individual, a group, a race, or their supposed characteristics. A preconceived opinion that is not based on just grounds or insufficient knowledge.
What roles do we take in instances of prejudice?
Target: Refers to the individual whom the hostility is directed toward and who is a member of the group(s) stereotyped in question
Aggressor: The person who says or does something that the target interprets as prejudiced
Bystander: A person who witnesses the situation but is not the direct target or the aggressor
Upstander: An ally, A person of one social identity group who stands up in support of members of another group; typically a member of a dominant group standing beside member(s) of a group being discriminated against or treated unjustly regardless of our identity, benefit when any of us take steps toward eliminating prejudice and discrimination in our society
So, how do we begin to address discrimination within our own communities and beyond?
One example of a concrete way to work on ending discrimination is to introduce laws and policies that promote inclusion and diversity. Inclusive laws, policies and practices ensure that everyone has access to necessary resources, opportunities and benefits.
In the workplace, this can mean hiring a diverse staff and creating a culture where employees are empowered to speak up and work together to create an environment that supports and benefits all members.
On a personal level, we can evaluate how our biases and beliefs about certain stereotypes affect how we interact with others. Using this awareness, we can avoid engaging in acts of prejudice.
Identity
Psychology Today - “Identity encompasses the memories, experiences, relationships, and values that create one’s sense of self. This amalgamation creates a steady sense of who one is over time, even as new facets are developed and incorporated into one's identity.”
Identity Includes…
Family
Race
Ethnicity
Religion
Education
Relationships
Social status
Memory
Morals
Opinions
Politics
Values
Citizenship
Geography
Time
Language
Our identities are influenced by those around us including our families and friends, school peers, community member, etc.
Identity is formed through:
Discovering and developing a person’s potential
Choosing a purpose in life
Finding opportunities to utilize that potential and purpose
Identity is a person’s sense of self, established by their unique characteristics, affiliations, and social roles.
Comprehension Questions:
What happens when identity is defined for you?
What happens when identity is disrupted?
U.S. History
The U.S. Founders
Who were the founders of the United States?
What were their personal religious views?
What did they view as the role of religion in society?
First of all, who counts as "the founders" of the United States?
The 56 individuals who signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776. A full list and links to bios are available HERE.
A total of 55 delegates attended the Constitutional Convention in 1787, and 39 signed it. Notable founders absent from the convention were Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and Patrick Henry.
Founders were deeply influenced by natural rights theory - influences of philosophers such as Hobbes, Hume, Locke, Rousseau. Many were very influenced by Deism. This is a religious philosophy that claims there is a God, but he's not involved in human affairs. The founders believed that God endowed humanity with certain “inalienable rights,” ideas that were influenced by social contract and natural rights theorists: “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” as well as freedom of speech, religion, and the press, as ensconced in The Bill of Rights.
Bios on Select Founders
George Washington: (Virginia) Throughout his life, he was a fairly regular attender of Anglican/Episcopal services. However, he was never confirmed, he avoided the sacrament of Holy Communion, and his writings used Deistic rather than orthodox language to describe God. Although several pious biographies published after Washington's death have claimed that Washington was a pious Evangelical, these claims do not hold up to critical scrutiny, including the famous image of Washington is him kneeling in prayer in the woods near the army encampment at Valley Forge.
Benjamin Franklin: (Pennsylvania) although he grew up in Puritan Boston, he later identified as a Deist. His religion was to do good in the community.
Thomas Jefferson: (Virginia) Jefferson was a Deist. He compiled his own version of the Bible that removed references to miracles and the divinity of Jesus and emphasized the ethics and teachings of Jesus. Read Jefferson's Bible HERE
James Madison: (Virginia) Raised Presbyterian, but was an avowed Deist. Yet, he defended religious liberty.
John Hancock: (Massachusetts) Hancock’s father and grandfather were both Harvard-trained Congregationalist ministers, and he was a lifelong member of the Brattle Street Congregationalist Church in Boston – a deeply religious man.
John Adams: (Massachusetts) Raised a Congregationalist, Adams was a believer in miracles and in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior; he became a Unitarian later in life, a lifelong Christian who criticized Thomas Paine’s Deism and lauded Christianity as “the religion of wisdom, virtue, equity, and humanity.”
Alexander Hamilton: raised Presbyterian, but held Deist views.
Robert Morris: (Pennsylvania) - Episcopalian. Not only was Morris a devout Episcopalian, he was married to the daughter of Bishop William White. Both he and White are entombed at Philadelphia's Christ Church, at 2nd and Market, though Morris also worshiped at St. Peter’s at 3rd and Pine.
Richard Stockton: (New Jersey) devout Presbyterian.
Button Gwinnett: (Georgia) English-born merchant, Episcopalian who later converted to Congregationalism.
Joseph Hewes: (North Carolina) Raised as a strict Quaker. A native of New Jersey. Left the faith in favor of his patriotism, becoming an Episcopalian.
George Clymer: (Pennsylvania) he was raised a Quaker, not clear if he practiced as an adult.
Charles Carroll: (Maryland) the only Catholic signer, son of Irish immigrants.
Independence Day
Independence Day is a federal holiday on July 4th commemorating the Declaration of Independence, which asserted freedom from the British monarchy in 1776. The document was drafted, debated, and approved in what is now known as Independence Hall in Philadelphia. The day is often celebrated with backyard barbecues, patriotic concerts, and fireworks displays throughout the country.
Commemorating the Nation’s Birth
The signing of the declaration set in motion the American Revolution. The full-text document can be read HERE.
However, it is clear that this Declaration of Independence primarily served the interests of white males. The document does not bring an end to the institution of slavery. African American leaders like Frederick Douglass wrote about this exclusion in his 1852 speech “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July” (1852). A full text of his speech can be read HERE. Another problem in the nation’s founding document is the disparaging portrayal of North America’s first residents:
“He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes, and conditions.
The nation’s founding document has inspired ongoing dialogue and debate about the meaning of the American project. Even those who have sought radical social change have had to reckon with the centrality of this document in the American consciousness. Civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. argued in the 1960s that the U.S. had still not lived up to the basic ideals of equality articulated in this document.
This app allows users to read read the constitution in full, view various draft versions of the constitution, read essays from multiple perspectives, analyze specific amendments in detail,
A weekly show of constitutional debate hosted by National Constitution Center President and CEO Jeffrey Rosen where listeners can hear the best arguments on all sides of the constitutional issues at the center of American life.
Religion and the U.S. Department of Justice
A History of the DOJ's Civil Rights Division:
The Civil Rights Division was established in 1957 in the midst of the growing civil rights movement. After the Civil War, segregation became law. Following the World Wars, there grew to be a growing racial consciousness. African American troops served in combat, FDR required that that military contractors did not discriminate. Troops coming home. Topeka v. Brown Board of Education SC view that segregation violated equal protection.
Civil Rights Acts of the 1960s: Barred discrimination by governments, individuals, businesses, labor unions, housing, public education. Applied to religion.
For the first 20 years, the Civil Rights Division focused on racial discrimination. Starting in 1980s, 1990s, and particularly after 9/11, the division's work has expanded to religion.
2000: Congress passed law to protect right to build houses of worship. You can’t discriminate against particular groups. If other assembly groups can meet in a zone, than a place of worship can be allowed. Employers must make a reasonable accommodation to employees’ religious needs.
Treene: U.S. law prohibits the establishment of religion. However, we do not take a laïcité approach as does France. The U.S. approach is pluralism i.e. public school students can gather before school for prayer, student-initiated. It’s a balance between free exercise and disestablishment.
Not having government funding has helped religion in the U.S. It has forced them to be creative and innovated. Treene mentioned a study of Philadelphia congregations demonstrating that churches with big endowments tend to go into decline because leadership becomes complacent.
A question was raised about how the U.S. govt defines a religion. Treene said that the government will not judge what is religious or not. The criteria is evaluated on "sincerity of belief." How do you establish sincerity? Religion must include a comprehensive belief system. For example, you can't gain conscientious objections status for opposing one war, you must have an overarching position against participation in war.
Governing Documents in Comparison
The Constitute Project Link
Take a look at constitutions from around the world to compare and contrast with your own. This website allows you to search other constitutions, look at common themes, and search for key concepts. You can even compare any constitution here!
Below are links to the full text of the key government documents of the United States.
Declaration of Independence Link
The Declaration of Independence was written to explain the colonists’ rights to revolution. This document was intended to unite the colonies in their formal succession from Great Britain. This link will allow you to explore the full document as well as learn about how it was constructed.
U.S. Constitution Link
The National Constitution Center offers you an interactive way to read through the U.S. Constitution, similar to the way you were able to explore constitutional themes when you visited the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia.
Bill of Rights Link
The Bill of Rights contains the first ten amendments of the US Constitution. These ten amendments define the rights of US citizens in relation to their government. Discover more about the document and the freedoms it protects by visiting the National Archives.
Amendments are changes that are made to the Constitution. To prevent arbitrary changes to the Constitution, the amendment process is strenuous, and only 27 such amendments have been approved since 1787.
The process to add an amendment to the Constitution requires the amendment to be brought to Congress and receive a two-thirds majority vote in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, or by a constitutional convention called for by two-thirds of the State legislatures. Amendments 11- 27 can be read here. You can read more about the amendment process by visiting here.
Civic Engagement
Civic engagement involves “working to make a difference in the civic life of one’s community and developing the combination of knowledge, skills, values and motivation to make that difference. It means promoting the quality of life in a community, through both political and non-political processes.” It includes both paid and unpaid forms of political activism, environmentalism, and community and national service. Volunteering, national service, and service-learning are all forms of civic engagement.
Civic engagement is participation in activities that improve one’s community or address wider social issues.
Civic engagement can involve political and non-political activities.
Typical forms of civic engagement include participating in the electoral process, volunteering, and advocacy or activism.
Values associated with fostering civic engagement are:
Trusting and respecting how a community wants to take action for itself;
Creating agency and power in people, particularly those most affected by an issue;
Nurturing or fostering healthier, stronger, happier places to live;
Engaging community members in a processes that affect them and their communities;
Promoting transparency and participation
Types of Civic Engagement
Activism and Advocacy: Taking part in peaceful protest demonstrations, writing to or meeting with elected officials, Contacting print, broadcast, and online media, helping to gather signatures for petitions
Volunteerism: Collecting and donating food to food banks, Helping groups like Habitat for Humanity build houses, Joining a neighborhood watch group, Helping to grow food at community gardens, Helping with recycling and cleanup efforts
Electoral Participation: Helping with voter registration drives and other activities intended to increase voter turnout, showing support for candidates or causes by displaying buttons, signs, and stickers, and serving as poll workers
Demographics of Religion in the U.S.
The U.S. Census does not record religious affiliation. However, the are several organizations that conduct research on religious life in the U.S. Here are some of the best:
Public Religion Research Institute - PRRI’s research explores and illuminates America’s changing cultural, religious, and political landscape. Click HERE to view a 48-page document called "America's Changing Religious Identity."
American Religious Identification Survey 2008: http://commons.trincoll.edu/aris/
Pew Forum U.S. Religious Landscape Survey: http://religions.pewforum.org/
Reflexive Scholarship: Positionality and Bias in the Study of Religion: featuring a 2019 Panel with Christopher Driscoll, Lia Howard, and Harold Dean Trulear.
Diana Eck makes a distinction between "diversity" and "pluralism." Diversity is simply the demographic reality of variety or difference. Pluralism requires engagement with other religious groups. Historically, Americans have responded to diversity in three ways: exclusion (religious difference is perceived as a threat and something to oppose), assimilation (imagines the U.S. as a melting pot, newer groups expected to give up things that distinguish themselves from dominant U.S. religion i.e. white Protestantism), and pluralism (keep your own traditions but agree to common civic demands of American citizenship). See "From Diversity to Pluralism"
Demographics of Religion in the U.S.
The U.S. Census does not collect data on religious affiliation. However, there are several organizations that conduct research on religious life in the U.S. Here are some of the best:
Public Religion Research Institute - PRRI’s research explores and illuminates America’s changing cultural, religious, and political landscape. Click HERE to view a 48-page document called "America's Changing Religious Identity."
American Religious Identification Survey 2008: http://commons.trincoll.edu/aris/
Pew Forum U.S. Religious Landscape Survey: http://religions.pewforum.org/
CIA World Fact Book on Religion: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2122.html
National Congregations Study: http://www.soc.duke.edu/natcong/explore.html
For political and other polling data, visit FiveThirtyEight
Books and Articles
Albanese, Catherine. America: Religions and Religion, 5th Edition. Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2013.
Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life, Religious Pluralism in the United States, 2007.
Eck, Diana. “From Diversity to Pluralism,” in On Common Ground: World Religions in America, 2006.
Manseau, Peter. A New Nation, Under Gods: A New American History, 2015
Public Broadcasting Service’s God in America series https://www.pbs.org/godinamerica/view/
Intro to World Religions
Christianity
Catholicism in the United States
Judaism
God, Torah, and Israel - Harvard University’s Pluralism Project
“How to Say the Shabbat Blessings” - Reform Judaism
Interfaith Cooperation in Judaism - Interfaith Youth Core Podcast
Islam
Buddhism
The Path of Awakening - Harvard University Pluralism Project
“Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism” by Khan Academy
Hinduism
Baha’i
Read What's the Right Response to a Hate Crime?One Baha'i perspective on how to respond if a hate crime happens in your community.
American Indigenous Religions
Wounded Knee, the site of a historic massacre
Why Native Hawaiians Protesting Giant Telescope on Mauna Kea Aren't Going Anywhere (10:24)
Watch: Mark Wallace on the History of the Lenni Lenape and the Crum Woods
Audio: A Seat At The Table For Native And Indigenous People
The Pluralism Project: First Encounters: Native Americans and Christians, Harvard University.
The Pluralism Project: Native American Church, Harvard University.
Religious Literacy
The context of religion in the U.S.
The Public Religion Research Institute - America's Changing Religious Identity (2016) - for the first time, white Christians are less than 50% of the population. White mainline, Catholic, and Evangelicals are in decline. Non-Christian religions are growing. Also, a large rise in religiously-unaffiliated, but most unaffiliated still believe in God.
What it means to be religious in the U.S. has changed. There is been a massive shift in attitudes towards same-sex marriage.
Why is it important to promote religious literacy?
There is still a rise in hate crimes against religious minorities. Hate crimes tend to rise during election years because politicians tend to target groups to mobilize their base.
What impact does religious literacy have on students?ODIHR.
What is the law about education in the U.S.?
What is religious literacy? How to teach about religion?
Don't just focus on facts about other religions. Teach people to understand how people talk about their religion and understand themselves as participants in a tradition. Many people are more motivated by practices and community rather than doctrines. If we only emphasize doctrines and beliefs when we talk about a religious tradition, we will vastly misunderstand.
Evaluation (making normative statements about religion) vs. Analysis (religious studies)
Religious Identity: 3 B Framework
Belief
Behavior
Belonging
Religious Literacy in American Education - Benjamin Marcus
Religious Studies Companion Document for the C3 Framework - Approved by the American Academy of Religion
A Teacher’s Guide to Religion in the Public Schools - published by the First Amendment Center
“What does religious literacy look like in your context?” A Religious Studies Project podcast episode featuring scholars at 2019 American Academy of Religion conference.
From Diversity to Pluralism - Diana Eck (2020 Version)
Summary: Pluralism is a response to diversity that consists of learning about meaningful differences between different cultures and identities; engaging with different cultures and identities in sites where open dialogue is possible; preserving distinct religious commitments, and looking to the First Amendment as the foundation of American pluralism. For Christians as members of the dominant American religion, pluralism requires intentional effort to look beyond their own experiences; for all citizens, pluralism is possible in schools, courts, hospitals, and neighborhoods.
All of America’s diversity, old and new, does not add up to pluralism. “Pluralism” and “diversity” are sometimes used as if they were synonymous, but diversity—splendid, colorful, and perhaps threatening—is not pluralism. Pluralism is the engagement that creates a common society from all that diversity. For example, on the same street in Silver Spring, Maryland are a Vietnamese Catholic church, a Cambodian Buddhist temple, a Ukrainian Orthodox church, a Muslim Community Center, a Hispanic First Church of God, and a Hindu temple. This is certainly diversity, but without any engagement or relationship among the different groups it may not be an instance of pluralism.
Pluralism is only one of the possible responses to this new diversity. Some people may feel threatened by diversity, or even hostile to it. Others may look forward to the day when all differences fade into the landscape of a predominantly Christian culture. For those who welcome the new diversity, creating a workable pluralism will mean engaging people of different faiths and cultures in the creation of a common society. Pluralism is not a foregone conclusion, but an achievement.
Introduction to Religious Traditions and Pluralism
More Resources
Local Resources
What does it mean to be a Leader?
The leadership traits that one identifies are meant to help a person in behaving with certain clear values: self-respect, respect of others, patience, understanding, honesty, humility, listening, and cooperative compassion.
A leader whether on a global or local level will likely be most successful when practicing the following four behaviors:
A capacity/skill to interpret a given situation with compassion and understanding of persons and differing perspectives
Nondefensive learning involving emotional intelligence and critical thinking
Nonviolence - an ability to know the practical alternatives to psychological, emotional, structural, or physical violence
An awareness of what leadership traits are most natural to one’s own personality and a willingness to create a team to provide balanced leadership
Transforming Conflicts in Diverse Societies
To address the local, national, and global challenges we face today, it is important to build bridges of cooperation between people of different worldviews. The way we interact with each other is the foundation for how we build trust and connect. When people take the time to consider each other's perspectives and treat each other with respect and kindness, it creates a safe space where people feel comfortable opening up and working together.
The diverse communities that make up our world have a lot to offer each other, from wisdom and experience to inspiration and support.
There are many causes of conflict in a diverse community including differences in group identity, a history of hostile interaction and discrimination, or misinformed stereotypes and perceptions caused by prejudiced attitudes. For conflicts to be transformed, it takes time, patience, humility, and commitment from everyone involved.
In this section, we’re going to explore some strategies for successful dialogue when participants have conflicting norms, values, or ethics.
We recommend using these four steps to guide your dialogue when addressing conflict, or adapting them to best meet your group’s personal needs and goals:
Recognition
All individuals involved in a dialogue surrounding conflict should be able to recognize that there is a problem and commit to working together to deal with the conflict.
Reflection
All individuals involved in a dialogue surrounding conflict should be able to reflect on the issue and its root causes.
Reconciliation
The conflict should be reconciled collectively, including all of the individuals involved. Reconciliation involves transforming relationships impacted by conflict. This is a collaborative process that requires compromise and creativity to synthesize a solution.
Raising and Reinforcing
Further comments and concerns should be continually raised to the conscious level through sustained dialogue. Sustained dialogue within a community can reinforce community goals, address new needs or conflicts, and build trust.
Recognition is the first step towards transforming conflict. It is a collaborative process that involves acknowledging that there is a problem, either between groups or individuals, that needs to be addressed.
Recognition helps us:
Acknowledge that injustice exists
Reveal the ways that everyone is affected by a particular issue in different ways and how reaching community goals requires us to work together
Reflection is a way to clarify the nature of the disagreement and understand the points of view involved in the process to generate a suitable solution.
To truly understand each other during the reflection stage, dialogue partners should try their best to engage in active listening. This means listening to what the other person is saying—not just waiting for your turn to talk again! Repeat what your counterpart has said back to them so that they know you've heard them correctly and can accurately represent what they said without adding any extra information or opinions of your own.
Reflection helps us:
Create space for dialogue by clarifying the root causes of a conflict
See each other as individuals, not just representatives of a collective group
Reconciliation is a process of transforming relationships based on mutual trust and respect between conflicting groups or individuals. During the conflict transformation process, it is important to think ahead and consider the future. Dialogue partners should look for ways to transform the conflict in a way that results in an infrastructure to promote harmony and support equity in the community. This is a collaborative process that requires compromise and creativity to synthesize a solution.
A helpful reminder when navigating reconciliation is to separate the person from the problem. When you are in conflict with someone, it's easy to get caught up in the emotion of the situation. We get personally invested in the issues, and we identify with our own personal norms, values, and ethics. It’s difficult not to take any perceived threat to those interests as a personal attack. Finding common ground requires a step back from your emotions and an objective look at what's going on. Within this mindset, one can recognize there are often many ways of understanding an issue.
Reconciliation helps us:
Make a personal commitment to social change and encourage others to do the same
Develop community commitments to justice, equity, and support for all
Envision a better future by working together, while respecting people's rights to maintain their cultural traditions and values
Raising and Reinforcing further comments and concerns to the conscious level can be done through sustained dialogue. By engaging in continuous, meaningful dialogue within our communities, we ensure that transformed conflicts can be sustained.
Some questions you may ask include:
Where are we now?
Where are we going?
Where do we want to be?
How do we get there?
What can we do individually and collectively?
Raising and Reinforcing can help us:
Revisit our community's vision and identify any necessary adjustments
Develop dynamic strategies to address inequality, injustices, and conflicts and engage all individuals within the community in the process
Collaboration makes everyone feel more invested in the process and valued and gives your project a wider scope and likelihood of success.
Justice
Justice is the act of making sure that people are treated fairly and equitably. When you live in a place where justice is respected and upheld, you know that the people around you are playing by the same rules. Justice creates a sense of unity and trust between members of a community, which improves the overall morale and stability of that community.
A greater sense of justice can also lead to higher levels of civic engagement, which is ultimately beneficial for the community as a whole.