We live in a time when seemingly difficult conversations – including around race, gender, and sexual orientation – have become an important part of the public discourse. However, one arena, central to many people’s lives, affecting our world every day, usually remains out-of-bounds: interreligious dialogue and the literacy it offers.
Religion is a critical aspect of most people’s identity. It shapes how millions of our fellow citizens (and perhaps you as well) understand their place in the world. It provides a framework of values that orient their actions. And yet, as a society, we are largely illiterate about religion – and especially about minority religions – a reality that incites misunderstanding, problematic assumptions and prejudices, and, in the worst cases, violence. In societies that are becoming more diverse every day, it is imperative that we to start addressing the question of religious literacy.
