Chapter 17

Cultivating Champions of Interfaith Action—United States

Eboo Patel is pioneering a market for interfaith action by cultivating leaders among religiously diverse students on college campuses. His goal is a global movement of understanding, cooperation, and action with college and university campuses at the center. He is the founder and president of Interfaith Youth Core.

Who did you feed in Ramallah by not talking to Hillel? Who did you keep safe in the south of Israel by not talking to the Muslim Students' Association?

—Eboo Patel

RELIGION IS A POWERFUL FORCE IN THE WORLD. IT CAN DIVIDE US, causing painful and long-lasting conflicts, or it can help unite us. No surprise here. Too often, we hear the noise made by religious extremists and not the voices of the people who are united against them. Prejudice, ignorance, and violence among people of different religions feel widespread. Eboo Patel believes the solution is building sustainable understanding and cooperation between diverse religious populations.