Beyond Tolerance

On September 11, we cannot help but think about the power of religion to shape our world. In the past few years, religion has had a revival in America. It has been catapulted to the front pages of our newspapers, splashed on our television screens and most recently, at the forefront of the presidential campaigns. Religion’s rise to the surface does not need to be a negative, divisive matter. Historically, the U.S. has always had a degree of pluralism, a quality that has helped Americans, as a whole, work through their religious differences. Former New York Times religion reporter Gustav Niebuhr’s new book, Beyond Tolerance, is a testament to everyday efforts put forth by those often left out of headlines.

Beyond Tolerance is a hopeful, timely and important portrait of religious cooperation in America. Niebuhr discovers the inheritors of this tradition and explores heartening examples of cooperation between religious communities that go beyond tolerance. From Hindus and Quakers in Queens, New York to Catholics and Jews in Baltimore, Maryland, to black Baptists and Catholics in Louisville, Kentucky to Catholics and Buddhists in Los Angeles, he focuses on the different approaches.

Join the New America Foundation’s Religious Center Initiative for a discussion of interfaith work in America.

Participants
Featured Speaker

• Gustav Niebuhr
  Former New York Times Religion Reporter
  NPR Commentator

Respondent

• Diana Butler Bass
  Award Winning Scholar
  Author, Christianity for the Rest of Us

Moderator

• David Gray
  Director, Workforce and Family Program
  New America Foundation