USU to Host Leader of National Interfaith Movement

The leader of a movement aimed at building understanding and cooperation among diverse religious groups will bring his message to Logan Thursday, Sept. 4.

Eboo Patel, founder of the Interfaith Youth Core, will speak beginning at 7 p.m. in the Kent Concert Hall, Daryl Chase Fine Art Center, located on the Utah State University Logan campus.

Patel’s convocation address will consider the process of “Building Bridges of Interfaith Cooperation.”

The event is free and open to the USU community and the public.

Patel 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.

Bonnie Glass-Coffin, USU anthropology professor and the organizer of the convocation, said awareness of other religions is the first step toward interfaith cooperation.

“The future of our world depends upon leaders who are not only literate about other religions, but who can bridge the faith divide,” said Glass-Coffin, who also mentioned a Patel quote about religious diversity: “Interfaith interactions can be a bomb of destruction, a barrier of division, a bubble of isolation, or a bridge of cooperation.”

In a UPR interview Aug. 27, Patel said his initiative works to bring together various religious groups in an effort aimed at “accentuating the positive” and “cooperating to serve others.”

The USU event featuring Patel is sponsored by a number of USU and community entities, including the Office of the President; Vice President for Student Services; Diversity Council; College of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHaSS) and the CHaSS Advising Center; Caine College of the Arts; Department of Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology; Religious Studies Program; Access and Diversity Center; Housing and Residence Life; Center for Civic Engagement & Service-Learning; Dining Services; LDS (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) Institute; LDS Church Public Affairs; Cache Community Connections; Cache Valley Unitarian Universalists; Logan Islamic Center; Prince of Peace Lutheran Church; Logan First Presbyterian Church; St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church; St. John’s Episcopal Church and multiple private donations.

For more information about the event, see the USU Religious Studies website or email interfaith@usu.edu.

Related links:

USU Religious Studies Program

USU College of Humanities and Social Sciences

Writer: Writer: Kristin Middaugh, CHaSS communications director, (435) 797-1195, kristin.middaugh@usu.edu

Contact: Bonnie Glass-Coffin, (435) 797-4065, bonnie.glasscoffin@usu.edu