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ABSTRACT. Given the reality of diversity, particularly religious diversity, in the contemporary world, Marion Larson and Sara Shady explore how educators can help students (and ourselves) consider the following question: How do I balance my own belief commitments with my responsibility to be genuinely open to and challenged by the other's perspective? Larson and Shady describe and evaluate three possible models: (1) tolerance, a neutral openness to the other's position; (2) empathy, a complete absorption of the other's position; and (3) inclusion, genuine dialogue about one's own position and the other's. Using the writings of Martin Buber as a basis, Larson and Shady advocate inclusion and apply this model to classroom teaching, arguing that this model of education promotes a shared reality where all partners in the dialogue come to understand each other's position, even if they do not entirely agree with it.
It is possible to be a believer and a listener at the same time, to be both fervent and searching, to nurture a vital identity and to wonder at the identities of others.1
Religious pluralism is an undeniable fact of life in contemporary America. Mirroring W.E.B. Du Bois's famous statement that "the problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color fine," Eboo Patel, founder and director of the Interfaith Youth Core, suggests that "the twenty-first century will be shaped by the question of the faith line."2 President Barack Obama also referred to this reality in his inaugural address. When suggesting that in the face of many challenges to America and around the globe, "our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness," Obama used religious diversity as his first example of this patchwork, claiming "we are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus - and non-believers."3
This issue of religious diversity creates new challenges and questions for educators. How should we handle the presence of different religious views in the classroom? How can we best prepare students to constructively engage a world of competing religious truths? Should tolerance be our final goal, or is a deeper sense of mutual understanding possible?
In recent decades, several scholars have suggested that education should be thought of as an act of hospitality, and this line of research provides...