The Youth Professional Serving Within a Pluralistic Society

Religious Pluralism

Since the Second Vatican Council (1965), under the auspices of Pope Paul VI and his successor Pope John Paul II, ecumenicalism and interfaith dialogue have shaped the American religious landscape significantly. Documents were written, foundations were developed, and committees were formed (i.e., The Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, The Commission for Religious Relations with Muslims and Jews, and the Nostra Aetate Foundation) in order to pave the way for interfaith dialogue from the perspective that the Catholic Church, among Protestants and other religious groups, lived in an environment of religious pluralism (Fitzgerald & Borelli, 2006). Such a whirlwind of interfaith dialogue was much in part a product of the lessons learned from the Jewish Holocaust—sentiments like the following ushered in the importance for tolerance and understanding of diverse religious traditions:

This monumental atrocity hovers over interfaith discussions like a brooding presence, warning that such a monstrous outrage must never happen again…We Christians will have to read the messianic prophecies with a new perspective and explain to Jewish friends why, for us, Jesus, in his death and in our experiences of his Resurrection, makes the break-through that anticipates the reign of God, and we have to listen to what our Jewish partners in dialogue have to say about the coming of God’s reign. (Sheerin, 1978, pp. 309-310, 312).

Within the cast shadow of the Holocaust, another necessity to understand one another emerged because of the demographic shifts within the American neighborhoods of a bourgeoning white majority, middle class. The need to understand one another became paramount when these shifts began to represent ethnic and cultural proximity.

In American society today, a culture shaped by a post 9/11 temperament, proximity is again an opportunity for religious awareness or interfaith dialogue to take place. Unfortunately, the reality that terrorism has landed on American soil has pushed the country’s religious conscience to point and demonize Middle Easterners, specifically those who are Muslim—often referred to as harbingers of terrorism.

Martin Marty, professor and author of numerous works on the subject of religious pluralism, suggests when faiths collide with one another that “the first address to these situations should not be the conventional plea for tolerance among them, but it is rather a call that at least one party begin to effect change by risking hospitality toward the other…Conversation and interplay follow the acts of reception; both are full of risk” (Marty, 2005, p. 1). In other words, practicing an interfaith dialogue among different groups of people, requires a proactive touch that must be genuine and authentic.

But within a world filled with militaristic agendas and entitlement notions of worth, a reactive scramble seems to be the normative response. Youth professionals should be aware that working within a context of religious pluralism is not always cut and dry. It takes a great deal of time to research and dialogue with youth and families of different faiths. And there is always the potential of an impasse. It is within those moments that the youth professional strives to do the best she can with the situation she is in. Thus, the goal is to educate and train youth in practices of hospitality.

Eduardo Ramirez, Assistant Professor of Youth Ministry at Eastern University, builds upon Marty’s notion of hospitality through his understanding of otherness:

The awareness of otherness is not a search for equality or uniformity that blurs or eliminates all differences. It is the acknowledgment of difference with the desire to relate to another individual. Yet because of otherness we attempt to go beyond differences in order to recognize the potential that others have for reciprocal relationships (Ramirez, 2005, p. 68).

Although his research is not focused on interfaith relations exclusively, he does make the case that “identity is fundamentally a relational concept; there is no identity without difference” (Ramirez, p. 70). It is differences that mirror and shape adolescent identity formation in order to perceive the inherent worth of the individual—the other.

If youth, who are of many different faiths and backgrounds, can see the value in one another’s differences, then there is the possibility for authentic religious pluralism to occur. It is the author’s viewpoint that discussing differences with one another, forces an individual to reflect and examine the inconsistencies and in congruencies as well as the inherent truths and mystery that foreshadow one’s values and belief systems. This is for the good because cognitive and effectual processes are working together—while honoring another’s feelings about his/her deeply rooted beliefs, one must examine uncomfortable areas of religious uncertainty that recently have been exposed. Thus, a place-sharing of humility and faith identity emerge for all parties involved in such an interfaith exchange.