Sacred Ground: Pluralism, Prejudice, and the Promise of America [Hardcover]

Eboo Patel (Author)

Book Description

Release date: August 14, 2012

There is no better time to stand up for your values than when they are under attack.
 
In the decade following the attacks of 9/11, suspicion and animosity toward American Muslims has increased rather than subsided. Alarmist, hateful rhetoric once relegated to the fringes of political discourse has now become frighteningly mainstream, with pundits and politicians routinely invoking the specter of Islam as a menacing, deeply anti-American force.
 
In Sacred Ground, author and renowned interfaith leader Eboo Patel says this prejudice is not just a problem for Muslims but a challenge to the very idea of America. Patel shows us that Americans from George Washington to Martin Luther King Jr. have been “interfaith leaders,” illustrating how the forces of pluralism in America have time and again defeated the forces of prejudice. And now a new generation needs to rise up and confront the anti-Muslim prejudice of our era. To this end, Patel offers a primer in the art and science of interfaith work, bringing to life the growing body of research on how faith can be a bridge of cooperation rather than a barrier of division and sharing stories from the frontlines of interfaith activism.
 
Patel asks us to share in his vision of a better America—a robustly pluralistic country in which our commonalities are more important than our differences, and in which difference enriches, rather than threatens, our religious traditions. Pluralism, Patel boldly argues, is at the heart of the American project, and this visionary book will inspire Americans of all faiths to make this country a place where diverse traditions can thrive side by side.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Eboo Patel is a remarkable young man with the wisdom to seek truth and the courage to speak it. One of America’s foremost advocates and practitioners of interfaith understanding, he has written a book that combines timely social commentary with compelling history and a wealth of personal anecdotes. Sacred Ground is a refreshing, thought-provoking, myth-smashing, and deeply patriotic exploration of American identity and ideals.”
—Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright

“Sacred Ground is simultaneously a chronicle of religious tensions in post-9/11 America and an account of how to create, through trial and error and critical self-reflection, the most successful interfaith movement in the country.  Patel probes like a professor, inspires like a preacher, and writes like a poet.  I really loved this book; it is a tale that is truly hard to put down.”
—Robert D. Putnam, author of American Grace
 
“Interfaith cooperation is one of America’s founding ideals. It still sets us apart from much of the world. Eboo Patel has lived that value and, in this book, spreads that good word. Uplifting and invaluable, Sacred Ground is essential reading for our polarized era.” 
—Walter Isaacson, author of Steve Jobs and Benjamin Franklin
 
“Eboo Patel has been a transformative force in our young and tumultuous century. And he has an utterly original experience of what robust religious identity can mean in modern lives. With this book, he opens the idea of ‘inter-faith’ into a vision of America that is practically informative, refreshingly challenging, and full of hope.”
—Krista Tippett, host of public radio’s On Being

“At a time when ignorance and suspicion are holding us back from building true community with our neighbors, Eboo Patel offers a light in the darkness. He challenges the bigotry and intolerance that is seeping into our political rhetoric, reminding us that America is a country built on the pillars of pluralism and tolerance. In both Sacred Ground and his wonderful interfaith work, Eboo offers an opportunity for us to move to higher ground in our relationships with our Muslim brothers and sisters, and to play our part in building a ‘beloved community for all people,’ both in the United States, and around the world.”
—Rev. Jim Wallis, author of God’s Politics
 
“Patel, founder of the Interfaith Youth Core, lets his love for his work and his country shine through in this brief but charming introduction to the importance of interfaith work in America… [H]is expertise and blend of compelling personal anecdotes with researched argumentation makes this work an accessible and inspiring introduction to the meaning and practice of pluralism.”
—Publishers Weekly

About the Author

Eboo Patel is the founder and president of Interfaith Youth Core and the author of Acts of Faith. He was a member of President Obama’s inaugural faith council, is a regular contributor to the Washington Post, Huffington Post, CNN, and public radio, and speaks frequently about interfaith cooperation on college campuses. He lives in Chicago with his wife and two boys.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Beacon Press (August 14, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0807077488
• ISBN-13: 978-0807077481
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 1.2 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #84,317 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Named by US News & World Report as one of America's Best Leaders of 2009, Eboo Patel is the Founder and President of Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC), a Chicago-based organization building the interfaith movement on college campuses. Author of the book "Sacred Ground: Pluralism, Prejudice, and the Promise of America," and "Acts of Faith: The Story of an American Muslim, the Struggle for the Soul of a Generation," which won the Louisville Grawemeyer Award in Religion,Eboo is also a regular contributor to the Washington Post, USA Today, Huffington Post, NPR, and CNN. He served on President Obama's inaugural Advisory Council of the White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships and holds a doctorate in the sociology of religion from Oxford University, where he studied on a Rhodes scholarship. He was an Ashoka Fellow, part of a select group of social entrepreneurs whose ideas are changing the world, and was recently awarded the Guru Nanak Interfaith Prize, an award given to an individual to enhance awareness of the crucial role of religious dialogue in the pursuit of peace. Today, Eboo lives in Chicago with his wife, Shehnaz Mansuri, and their two sons.

"With "Sacred Ground: Pluralism, Prejudice, and the Promise of America," Eboo Patel establishes himself as the preeminent voice of the interfaith movement." -Paul Chaffee, The Interfaith Observer

To hear more from Eboo, follow him on Twitter @EbooPatel and "Like" him on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/EbooPatel.

Visit Interfaith Youth Core's website at www.ifyc.org. "Like" them on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Interfaith-Youth-Core/29924369552 and follow them on Twitter @ifyc.

Photo credit: Chris Popio, 2012.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Sacred Ground: The Interfaith Triangle September 23, 2012

By Joshua M. Z. Stanton

Format:Hardcover

One of my greatest joys in working with Eboo Patel is watching him think. He is the sharpest wit in most of the rooms he enters, and if you manage to catch him with a surprising or unusual question after a public talk or small-group gathering, you can see his mind whirring as he finds not only a meaningful answer, but also a more compelling framework for your question.

In Sacred Ground: Pluralism, Prejudice, and the Promise of America, Eboo gives us all the gift of seeing him think. It seems apparent that he is in the process of re-framing not merely a question, but the premises of the entire interfaith movement, of which he has long been a key part.

The core of his new thinking comes out in his chapter, "The Science of Interfaith Cooperation." Reflecting humbly on a moment when he found himself unable to respond adequately to a funder's request for measurable outcomes, he poses a set of questions that the Interfaith Youth Core has already begun answering, and to which all members of the interfaith movement must attend: "How do we measure effectiveness in interfaith work? How do we track progress? What outcomes are we after, and how do we know we are reaching them?"

In response to this question, Eboo looks to quantitative, rather than qualitative evidence -- a major shift not in his own personal research and reading, but in his description of the interfaith movement and why it counts. Therein lies a gem, which may in time spawn a transformation within the interfaith movement and how it understands itself: the interfaith triangle. Says Patel,

"The more I studied this area, the more I started to see attitudes, knowledge, and relationships as three sides of a triangle. If you know some (accurate and positive) things about a religion, and you know some people from that religion, you are far more likely to have positive attitudes toward that tradition and that community. The more favorable your attitude, the more open you will be to new relationships and additional appreciative knowledge. A couple of cycles around this triangle, and people from different faiths are starting to smile at each other on the streets instead of looking away or crossing to the other side."

The question truly, in my mind, at the heart of the book is how to encourage people en masse to go around the interfaith triangle in the right direction. The absence of movement could lead to indifference or even mutual suspicion. Going the wrong way (and learning inaccurate and negative things about a given tradition) could lead to the singling out of religious communities, as we saw of the Muslim community over the otherwise uncontroversial issue of a community center at 51 Park Place.

The genius of Sacred Ground is not merely this central idea or very important chapter on quantifying outcomes for interfaith cooperation. It is in showing how this new "science" meshes with the powerful narratives that Eboo has long used to inspire leaders and shape the interfaith movement. What counts is not merely how many people we get to go around the interfaith triangle, but what that experience is like for them -- and whether they will tell others to join them on the trek.

Sacred Ground clarifies our path as a movement with robust data. But it also shows that what creates a movement goes far beyond the data itself. Our stories are at the center of the interfaith triangle.

This review was published also on the Huffington Post:[...]

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful articulation of the potential of America's religious diversity August 14, 2012

By Sal Hansen

Format:Hardcover

Eboo Patel is a visionary for our time. He sees potential and beauty of America's religious diversity and argues eloquently that interfaith cooperation is part of America's backbone. He offers contemporary articulation of the threats to and possibilities of interfaith bridgebuilding in America today, and an inspiring prescription for action for colleges and university, students and parents.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Connections October 26, 2012

By Stephen T. Hopkins VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

Eboo Patel's reflections on what kind of country we are and what we aspire to be are thoughtful and lucid in his book, Sacred Ground: Pluralism, Prejudice, and the Promise of America. Using examples of his work as founder and president of Interfaith Youth Core, Patel presents the ways in which tolerance and understanding can lead to building a stronger America, reinforced by the strength of our connections with those in our community who are different from ourselves in one form or another. The increase in divisive rhetoric that expresses prejudice calls for a response. Pluralism has been an important element of the United States from our beginning, and Patel writes a compelling story of how by coming together we can reinforce that value and become a better nation.

Rating: Three-star (Recommended)