Inclusive America Project Posts

Inclusive America Project staff and guests post reflections on religious pluralism and its component pieces, as well as the challenges and opportunities that true religious pluralism presents.

Around the Institute

Inclusive America Project Statement on Racism in America

The Inclusive America Project mourns with Americans everywhere as, amid the Covid-19 pandemic, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, Ahmaud Arbery, and so many other Black people have lost their lives to racism and police violence.

BY Inclusive America Project

Of Interest

06.10.2020
Free Speech and Religion

The Splendor in Waiting

Comparable to Ramadan and Lent, Jews find meaning in waiting through Sefirat Omer.

BY Lindsay Bressman

Blog Post

06.02.2020
Free Speech and Religion

Everyone Belongs in This New American Story

For too many children, the story of who can and can’t be American begins with fables about the men who made this country.

BY Samia Khan

Blog Post

05.28.2020
Society

Why Do We Gather Together?

Whatever the crisis, we need to keep in touch with each other as deeply and frequently as we can.

BY Carl J. Strikwerda

Blog Post

05.18.2020
Free Speech and Religion

The COVID Interfaith Call

Interfaith institutional relationships offer a mechanism for collective action. We lead collections of the exact people who are the joiners, donors, leaders and volunteers that make local communities function. This moment calls upon us to bring our flocks together virtually, to create solidarity online and to shape narratives of communal hope

BY Rabbi Michael G. Holzman

Blog Post

05.07.2020
Free Speech and Religion

Religion as Private and Public Good

This pandemic makes us think more about what faith communities offer to their congregants and their neighbors.

BY Allison K. Ralph

Blog Post

04.14.2020
Free Speech and Religion

How to Celebrate Holy Days While Socially Distant

While there is no denying that Passover, Easter, and Ramadan will look different this year, the power of dreaming and imagining offers hope for individuals and communities that we may meet again with renewed faith and reimagined rituals for a brighter future.

BY Abigale Haug

Blog Post

04.07.2020
Free Speech and Religion

Reimagining Rituals

APR

02

Thu Apr 2, 2020 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm EDT

April marks the observance of three important holidays: Easter, Ramadan, and Passover. The Inclusive America Project convened leaders designing new ways to follow their faith traditions during the outbreak.
Civic Action

Resources for Maintaining Community During the COVID-19 Pandemic

All of us at IAP are confident that faith communities across the United States (and the world) will respond to the growing COVID-19 pandemic in new, innovative, and important ways. We will share some of the ways here.

BY Inclusive America Project

Blog Post

04.27.2020
Higher Education Leaders Across the Country Selected as Senior Fellows for Religious Pluralism

The Aspen Institute and Interfaith Youth Core announce its 2020 Class of Senior Fellows for Religious Pluralism.
Society

Imagining Inclusion: Creating an Indivisible City

These leaders are already dealing with the challenges of hate and bigotry in the communities they serve and while many are models for inclusion and pluralism, there is much work ahead to ensure our cities, counties, and states are truly indivisible.

BY Usra Ghazi

Blog Post

03.03.2020
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Society

Radicalizing Respect

There is another way to be who we each are, to believe what we believe, to hold people to account and still cancel the cancel culture. Let’s start by radicalizing respect and turn it into a movement.

BY Joyce S. Dubensky

Blog Post

02.19.2020
Free Speech and Religion

Civil Society and Religious Pluralism in a Polarized Nation

Are those of us interested in promoting a thriving pluralism best served to lean into those centers of power, come what may of the backlash? OR, are we best served to do some kind of end run around the polarization by focusing on other connection points?

BY Allison K. Ralph

Blog Post

02.07.2020
Free Speech and Religion

These Colleges Want to Make Their Campuses Laboratories for Bridging Divides

Convened by Interfaith Youth Core and the Inclusive America Project, representatives from 14 campuses launched an 18-month program titled Courageous Pluralism, designed to leverage religious identity as a strength to combat polarization.

BY Mary Ellen Giess

Blog Post

02.07.2020
What U.S. Religious Liberty Means

Inclusive America Project Fellow, religious liberty lawyer, and author Asma Uddin speaks with NPR's Audie Cornish on All Things Considered about what U.S. religious liberty means - especially when it comes to Islam.
Religious freedom means standing up for another person's beliefs

Zeenat Rahman, Director of the Inclusive America Project, writes for The Hill on National Religious Freedom Day. She shares that “in order for our religious diversity to be a strength, we need a radical reimagining of how we perceive religious freedom and its connection to all faith communities.”
Free Speech and Religion

Reflection on Faith-Based Civic Engagement in Chicago

The Inclusive America Project gathered local Chicago faith leaders, organizers, philanthropic leaders, and public officials for a meeting at the Upswell Conference to highlight the civic engagement work they were each doing and to get a better sense of what they needed in order to do that work.

BY Allison K. Ralph

Blog Post

01.08.2020
Free Speech and Religion

Building a Collective Movement: Advancing the Field of Religious Pluralism

Last summer, concerned by the rise in hate crimes, religious bias, and broader social fragmentation, the Aspen Institute Inclusive America project gathered together a cross-sectoral group of leaders to discuss this critical anchoring question: what does the field of religious pluralism look like, and how can those invested in that priority work together toward the achievement of that national vision?

BY Mary Ellen Giess

Blog Post

11.26.2019