Spotlight on CLAL
Welcome to Spotlight on CLAL. Here you will find stories about what is happening at CLAL and about the work that CLAL is doing across North America. Sometimes we will focus on a program, or a special event, or upon a CLAL faculty member's work and interests. Bookmark this page if you want to get to know us better.
To access the Spotlight on CLAL Archives, click here.
Religious And Intellectual Leaders
Gather To Map Interfaith Education
By Judy Epstein, Director of Public Affairs
In March, the Second Consultation on Interfaith Education for a Global Society was held at the United Nations. CLAL, as one of the lead conveners, helped organize the event for the more than 125 participants exploring the field of interfaith education. The program looked at where and how interfaith education is taught, who is teaching, and the resources used in a range of settings from elementary schools to adult education programs, from secular contexts to church and synagogue based programs, and summer camps. The event brought together religious leaders, educators, and practitioners from over 70 organizations representing the many faith communities of the world.
“What do you teach young people about other religions when they don’t even have a handle on their own? What is the role of experiential learning when it comes to encountering people of other faiths?” asked Michael Gottsegen, Ph.D., editor and producer of CLAL’s online magazine, eCLAL: An Online Journal of Religion, Public Life and Culture, and a lead organizer and featured moderator at the Consultation.
Program panels focused on such themes as mapping the field of interfaith education, examining varying pedagogical approaches, grappling with barriers to interfaith education, cultivating networks for interfaith educational collaboration, and exploring the relationship between interfaith and other forms of education such as multicultural, religious, and peace education.
“We live in an interconnected and ever shrinking world,” said Dr. Gottsegen. “Religion is an essential component of culture. In a globalized society, we must understand the cultures of other people, and we can’t do that without understanding their religion.”
The Consultation is the second of five to be held by July 2004. The proceedings will be published and a web site will soon be created at www.globalinterfaithed.org.
“For CLAL, this is a natural outgrowth of our interdenominational work within the Jewish community,” stated Dr. Gottsegen. “Basic religious and spiritual literacy of the 21st century requires knowledge of other religions, as well as knowledge of one’s own.
“But more than that, Jews have a tremendous amount to contribute to this effort. Having shifted from a minority community living in fear to one that is flourishing in the openness of America, we have much to teach to those of different faiths about the possibility of thriving in, and being enriched by, a religiously pluralist world.”
To access the Spotlight on CLAL Archives, click here.
To receive the Spotlight on CLAL column by email on a regular basis, complete the box
below:
