Tool
Elections and Interfaith Leadership Skills
Recognizing and respecting the values of differing worldviews is essential for any religiously diverse democracy like the United States.
National, state, and local elections bring forward pressing issues concerning interfaith cooperation. Religious discrimination, immigration, refugee policy, and the role of religion in government are some of the issues raised in campaigns related to religious diversity. Many individuals and voters, especially those supportive of interfaith cooperation, have been discouraged by the negative and damaging rhetoric and policy fostered by this debate. Attention is brought to these issues in a divisive and purely oppositional way, ignoring areas of commonality and common sense. Issues are raised, but values—like service to others, respect for identity, and commitment to a greater good—are ignored.
Yet, of all time periods, elections particularly demand interfaith engagement. At its core, interfaith cooperation is a civic enterprise. Recognizing and respecting the values of differing worldviews is essential for any religiously diverse democracy like the United States. Indeed, to create a healthy civic life we must foster spirited and meaningful democratic engagement with one another. As in other areas of civic life such as education, healthcare, and business, the skills of interfaith cooperation can have a significant impact on our electoral process.
What role then can interfaith leadership play in an election characterized by vitriolic disagreement? As an interfaith advocate in higher education or your community, how can you engage in a critical aspect of civic life—elections—in a productive manner? The following set of suggestions, informed by the work of interfaith leaders across the country, can offer a starting point for developing your own capacities.
Develop a ‘Radar Screen’
Before you can act on challenges, you have to be able to identify them. As election issues develop in your community, think deeply about their impact on religious diversity and/or interfaith initiatives. If your local school board is considering a switch to a year-round school calendar, how will that affect the ability of religious minorities to celebrate their holidays? If a local university is debating funding programs for international students, what are the interfaith implications of that decision? Religious communities are affected by policies on immigration, zoning, transit, social supports, and many others. Connect the expertise in your field to an awareness of larger local and national issues that impact religious diversity. Also, recognize where you can build expertise. Before the election, convene a religiously diverse group of stakeholders to identify what issues concern them and how to address those issues through interfaith engagement. After the election, reconvene the group to discuss how to follow-through on those recommendations and identify what assets your community offers to affect those outcomes.
Proactively Engage
According to recent reporting from the Interfaith Diversity Experiences & Attitudes Longitudinal Survey (IDEALS), a nationwide survey of incoming college students, 85% of first-year students believe Americans can overcome major global problems if multiple religious/nonreligious groups work together. Yet only 50% of those students have participated in any interfaith service. Filling this gap between solution and action is critical for students, staff, and faculty in higher education.
Despite our division, democracy is still a cherished ideal in the US. In a poll from the Greater Good Science Center of approximately 12,000 American citizens, hopefulness that their political system can recover was by far the most common feeling reported.
One possible way to proactively engage is through acts of service. Are there any volunteering opportunities in your community that support interfaith work or engagement with democracy through politics and voting? If you are a leader, are you able to give your students, employees, or faith groups a specific opportunity to participate in democracy? That could look like an intentional break from your typical programming to give people the ability to vote or attend local government meetings. How could you make that opportunity accessible and useful for everyone involved? Another way to engage can be with education. Ask yourself how you can help your community stay informed and understand the ways they can be heard. Could you bring in a community organizer, hold a voter registration event, or ask a local official to speak?
If possible in your role, proactively engage topics of religious diversity related to civic and electoral life. At Wake Forest University in North Carolina, Wake the Vote was established as an intensive civic learning and democratic engagement experience for undergraduate students. The program randomly placed students in presidential primary/caucus campaigns in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and North Carolina. Students documented their experiences working for the campaigns and observing the positions they advocated for—positions often at odds with each student’s individual opinions. Students were asked to identify the values motivating those positions and reflect back on their own values. The program continues in the fall with a series of panels and other educational content meant to highlight engagement across difference. You may not be able to organize something so robust at this stage in the election season, but perhaps you have time to organize a program using this resource from Living Room Conversations.
Connect Community Groups
Research has indicated that social capital—or bonds between people, often expressed through networks of friendship, service groups, civic organizations, schools, etc.—is easier to produce in homogenous groups. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to bridge social capital between differing groups; instead, it suggests that intentionality is needed. Community groups related to religious or ethical worldviews can be disconnected from each other or unaware of the work happening in other groups, even when that work is on issues of common concern. Leaders of these groups, or interfaith groups, should reach out before Election Day and connect with their peer groups around shared issues related to religious diversity. Community leaders can also serve as conduits to bring groups together through their various roles such as advisors or administrators. Establishing a standard ‘check-in’ meeting, co-hosting events, or simply attending an activity of another group can establish relationships that matter when larger civic issues affect your community.
Provide Educational Outlets and Reflective Environments
According to the IDEALS report, 65% of incoming students report that it is important that schools provide educational programs that will help them learn about different religions. According to a 2023 study from the Pew Research Center, U.S. adults who know someone from a religious group are more likely to report favorable views of that group. In politically-charged times, like an election season, educational opportunities matter more than ever. Providing a range of educational activities for communities about religious and interfaith literacy can help productively shape conversations. Holding educational activities has the potential to make a huge impact since “more than half of Americans say they either feel neutral about, or do not know enough to rate, mainline Protestants (59%), Muslims (59%), Mormons (59%), Jews (58%) and atheists (55)”. From casual activities like Speedfaithing, to more formal and academic forums like the Center for Religious Diversity and Public Life at the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs, educational offerings provide a common basis for conversation and action. Speedfaithing (and other quick tools like Talk Better Together) can be done before Election Day and then used as a springboard for further discussion.
Offer Reflective Environments
It is important to recognize that many groups can feel targeted or under stress during election cycles. In response communities can design events that people to rest and reflect on what values they rely on in difficult times. Activities based in a particular tradition but designed for interfaith engagement, like an interfaith challah bake or iftar meal, are good opportunities to encourage these reflections. Community leaders can think about how they can use their positions to create environments for personal reflection and support. Often, by being aware or shaping preexisting spaces to reflect interfaith engagement, community leaders can offer people the tools they need for reflection and growth.
Identify Spaces and Programming to Accommodate Religious Needs
Although obviously focused on political issues, events like elections can motivate people to assess internal policies and procedures. In terms of interfaith engagement, communities can utilize this time to examine their own accommodations in regards to religious and nonreligious needs. Through surveys of community members and reviewal of guidelines, community leaders can think about if they are best supporting their community’s needs in regards to prayer/meditation spaces, food accommodations that meet kosher, halal, or other religious requirements, and even holiday or absence policies that reflect a religious diversity.
