David Smock 

Teaching about the 

Religious Other

Summary

• Prejudice and ignorance about the beliefs and practices of the religious “other” 

often exacerbate conflicts. Religious stereotypes contribute to misunderstanding and 

foment animosity.

• One antidote to hatred between religious communities is to teach communities about 

the beliefs and practices of the religious other.

• Some countries, such as Indonesia, recognize that the country’s future depends on a 

celebration of its religious pluralism.

• It is particularly important that teaching about the religious other be introduced in 

schools, universities, and seminaries in countries where religious conflict is a significant problem. 

• In instructing about the religious other, instructors need to act as though they are 

in the presence of the other and to teach the religion as seen from the perspective 

of the believer. 

• Beyond studying scriptures, religious history, and theology, it is essential that students be exposed to rituals, worship, and music of the other faith. This helps convey 

how believers of another faith actually live out their faith. 

• It is important to foster interreligious dialogue at the academic level, at the grassroots level, and at the level of lived spiritualities. 

• Fears that studying about the religious other will undermine the religious convictions 

of students have generally proven to be unfounded. 

• Students are often better at studying other religions than at studying their own, 

because they usually approach the other faith with fewer preconceptions. 

• Some programs, particularly those geared toward younger students of one faith, have 

found it particularly effective to combine learning about another religion with a 

shared service project that brings together adherents to both religions.

www.usip.org

1200 17th Street NW • Washington, DC 20036 • 202.457.1700 • fax 202.429.6063

SPECIAL REPORT 143 JULY 2005

ABOUT THE REPORT

The United States Institute of Peace held a twoday workshop titled “Teaching about the Religious 

‘Other’” on March 3–4, 2005. The sixteen workshop 

participants were professors experienced in teaching 

those of one Abrahamic faith about another 

Abrahamic faith either in U.S. classrooms or abroad. 

The purpose of the workshop was to enable these 

educators to share their experiences and curricular 

materials, to plan collaborative projects to improve 

the quality of such education, and to increase the 

number of such programs. In a world experiencing 

violent conflict among the three Abrahamic faith 

communities, it is vitally important that adherents 

of one faith learn about the other two faiths. Such 

educational exposure helps increase tolerance and 

advance peaceful coexistence.

This report summarizes the presentations of the 

participants, introduces some promising new programs 

for teaching about the religious other, and offers 

lessons drawn from the discussion. It was written by 

David Smock, director of the Institute’s Religion and 

Peacemaking Initiative. 

UNITED STATES INSTITUTE OF PEACE

SPECIAL REPORT

The views expressed in this report do not necessarily reflect 

those of the United States Institute of Peace, which does 

not advocate specific policy positions.

CONTENTS

Introduction 2

Teaching at Seminaries and Religious Universities 2

Teaching Internationally 4

Teaching in Liberal Arts Programs 6

Teaching High School Students 9

Teaching on the Web 9

Conclusion 10
2

Introduction

Religion is a factor in many of the world’s most intractable and violent conflicts. As Martin Marty points out in Religion, Ethnicity and Self-Identity, most of the time religion—as 

a way to find “communion, consolation, and integration into systems of meaning and 

belonging”—is not “an instrument for killing.” But it has revealed itself many times 

as a suitable weapon for disruption and killing. This is true in places such as Kashmir, 

Sudan, and Israel/Palestine. While religion is a factor in these conflicts, it is rarely the 

most potent factor. Conflict identified as religious usually does not stem from disagreements over theological issues. Its impact usually results from the association of religious 

identity with ethnic divisions and economic factors. Nevertheless, prejudice and ignorance about the beliefs and practices of the religious “other” often exacerbate conflicts. 

Religious stereotypes contribute to misunderstanding and foment animosity. 

One antidote to hatred among religious communities is to teach communities about 

the beliefs and practices of the religious other. Most of what Christians believe about 

Islam comes from popular stereotypes. Similarly, few Muslims have opportunities to 

learn about Christianity or Judaism from a knowledgeable and dispassionate instructor. 

There is a desperate need to expand such opportunities in zones of intense religious 

conflict. Fortunately, many members of the Abrahamic faiths recognize how inadequate 

their knowledge of the beliefs and practices of the other communities is; they want to 

learn more. While demand for this kind of instruction is increasing, secondary schools, 

universities, and theological schools have been slow to respond to this rise in interest. 

To address this need, the Religion and Peacemaking Initiative of the United States 

Institute of Peace convened a two-day workshop. With sixteen specialists participating, 

the purpose of this workshop was to share experiences and curricular materials and 

to jointly plan projects to advance this field. While some of the participants had only 

worked in the United States, many had experience in such places as Israel/Palestine, 

Macedonia, Serbia, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Italy, the Netherlands, and Indonesia. All had 

experience teaching about at least one of the Abrahamic faiths to members of another 

faith. 

The purpose of this report is to summarize the presentations of the participants, 

introduce some promising new programs for teaching about the religious other, and offer 

key lessons from the discussion.

Teaching at Seminaries and Religious Universities

The Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome

At Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, Daniel Madigan, S.J., tries both to reduce the 

sense of distance among the three Abrahamic communities and to maintain a sense of 

otherness among them. When Catholic priests learn about Islam and Muslims, he says, 

they also learn more about themselves. After all, people are in part defined by who they 

are not. Formation of one’s identity comes not by isolated reinforcement but through 

conversation and interaction, particularly with the religious other. People cannot be 

secure in their own religious identity unless that identity is somehow dialogical and they 

are able to engage confidently with the religious other. 

Madigan considers teaching about the religious other to be a matter of trust. He recognizes that a long study of another tradition can put one in a position of power with 

respect to the believers of that tradition. As a consequence, he always tries to teach 

about the other as though he were in the presence of that other. If there are Muslim 

students or a Muslim instructor in one of his classes, so much the better. But he also 

knows the difficulties this creates and the sensitivities it engenders. He wants to ensure 

that the way he teaches about Islam makes the subject recognizable to a believer. At 

the same time, he hopes that Muslims in the class will be stretched by the experience, 

ABOUT THE INSTITUTE

The United States Institute of Peace is an 

independent, nonpartisan federal institution created by Congress to promote the prevention, management, and peaceful resolution of international 

conflicts. Established in 1984, the Institute meets 

its congressional mandate through an array of 

programs, including research grants, fellowships, 

professional training, education programs from 

high school through graduate school, conferences 

and workshops, library services, and publications. 

The Institute’s Board of Directors is appointed by 

the President of the United States and confirmed 

by the Senate.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

J. Robinson West (Chair), Chairman, PFC Energy, 

Washington, D.C. • María Otero (Vice Chair), President, 

ACCION International, Boston, Mass. • Betty F. 

Bumpers, Founder and former President, Peace Links, 

Washington, D.C. • Holly J. Burkhalter, Advocacy 

Director, Physicians for Human Rights, Washington, 

D.C. • Chester A. Crocker, James R. Schlesinger 

Professor of Strategic Studies, School of Foreign Service, 

Georgetown University • Laurie S. Fulton, Partner, 

Williams and Connolly, Washington, D.C. • Charles 

Horner, Senior Fellow, Hudson Institute, Washington, 

D.C. • Seymour Martin Lipset, Hazel Professor of Public 

Policy, George Mason University • Mora L. McLean,

President, Africa-America Institute, New York, N.Y. • 

Barbara W. Snelling, former State Senator and former 

Lieutenant Governor, Shelburne, Vt. 

MEMBERS EX OFFICIO

Arthur E. Dewey, Assistant Secretary of State for 

Population, Refugees, and Migration • Michael M. Dunn,

Lieutenant General, U.S. Air Force; President, National 

Defense University • Peter W. Rodman, Assistant 

Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs 

• Richard H. Solomon, President, United States 

Institute of Peace (nonvoting)
3

particularly by learning about plurality, both historical and actual, within the worldwide 

Muslim community. 

Madigan also believes that teaching about a religion cannot be confined to teaching 

scriptures. The instructor cannot simply equate Islam as it is presented in the religion’s 

high literary works with Islam as practiced every day by Muslims. Moreover, teaching 

about Islam cannot be reduced to simple formulae that do not reflect the variety of 

Islamic traditions. Teaching about Islam, as with teaching about any other religion, 

requires pluralizing otherness; Muslims are not an undifferentiated bloc. 

Teaching a class at a Catholic university in Rome composed mostly of priests creates 

a confessional context that makes for a special kind of learning experience, Madigan 

believes. The Muslim students who come to study Christianity appreciate the chance to 

study in such an atmosphere, because they get a sense of the faith as it is lived. Madigan has his students keep a journal to record the impact the interfaith dynamics and 

exchanges within the classroom and beyond have on them. 

The Catholic Theological Union in Chicago

At the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, the course titled “Abraham’s Children: Jews, 

Christians and Muslims” is taught by Scott Alexander, a Christian professor, along with a 

Jewish professor and a Muslim professor. The course has two main goals. The first goal is 

to give students an opportunity to develop basic comparative literacy in each tradition 

so that students can talk about the basic contours of each tradition with an awareness of 

how these contours compare and contrast with one another. The second goal is to give 

students an opportunity to reflect on and think critically about the future of Abrahamic 

dialogue, particularly within the context of the students’ own individual ministries. That 

is, the course seeks to encourage awareness that to be an effective and compassionate 

religious leader, one must be prepared to intentionally cross cultural boundaries out of 

respect and love for the religious other; the course also seeks to cultivate a genuine openness among students toward the personal transformation and growth they may experience 

from boundary-crossing experiences. Thus, the emphasis is on learning about the other 

from the other.

In the structure of the course, the teaching styles of the instructors, and the quality 

and mode of their interaction, Alexander and his two colleagues attempt to create an 

environment for dialogue in which radical mutuality is always the ideal context—though 

this is seldom the reality, especially in a predominantly Christian school. This allows for 

mutual personal transformations through encounters with the other. In Alexander’s words, 

a student is successful if she or he reaches the point where she or he can honestly say to 

the other, “I am not you, but I am incomplete without you. My dignity as a human being 

and as a person of faith is never fully realized unless I can assert your dignity as a human 

being and person of faith.” 

The course places a major emphasis on rigorous comparative analysis, not only by 

identifying similarities and differences among the three religions in relation to particular 

themes, but also by moving beyond superficial comparisons and highlighting the differences in the similarities and the similarities in the differences. A second emphasis is to 

identify obstacles to, and avenues for, dialogue among the three faiths, while remaining 

sensitive to topics or activities that are best avoided in dialogue. The professors also 

encourage e-mail discussion groups among the students outside of class to share insights 

and the personal impact of interfaith encounters. They also arrange field visits to expose 

students to the religious events and rites of the other traditions.

Among the resources that Alexander uses in his teaching of the Abrahamic traditions 

is a film he produced in which he interviews people of the three faiths in a local community. The video is structured around six themes: “Worship” deals with the meaning and 

relevance of worship practices for those interviewed; “Memories” focuses on times in the 

lives of the interviewees during which their various religious identities took on memorable 

Religious stereotypes contribute 

to misunderstanding and foment 

animosity.

When Catholic priests learn 

about Islam and Muslims, they 

also learn more about themselves.

A student is successful if she or 

he reaches the point where she or 

he can honestly say to the other, 

“I am not you, but I am incomplete without you.” 
4

importance; “Sacred Seasons” explores the interviewees’ understanding and experience of 

the special calendrical observances of their traditions; “Role Models” features interviewees talking about the people in their lives who have been most influential in shaping 

their religious identities; “Religion and Society” takes up the question of the role the 

interviewees’ religious communities play in the context of the larger society in which they 

live; and “What It Means to Be a Jew, Christian, or Muslim” examines issues of religious 

identity in the words of the interviewees. 

The course utilizes three methodological approaches to interreligious learning and 

dialogue, employing history of religions as a means of developing a sound analytical 

and context-based understanding of all religious phenomena; ethnography as a means of 

emphasizing the central importance and distinctiveness of personal story and experience 

in any attempt to understand the religious other; and practical theology as a means of 

determining what role interreligious dialogue plays, fails to play, and/or must play in 

one’s own ministerial vocation. This last approach, in particular, requires reflection on 

one’s own tradition, culture, and experience, especially with respect to interreligious 

dialogue.

Hartford Seminary

Every January and June, the Hartford Seminary offers an eight-day intensive program 

titled “Building Abrahamic Partnerships,” headed by Yehezkel Landau, in which Christian, 

Muslim, and Jewish attendees are instructed by Christian, Muslim, and Jewish instructors. 

The program is meant to prepare the participants for interfaith ministry and is based on 

the premise that American society needs a new kind of religious leadership, one that 

is grounded in a particular tradition but is also able to interact effectively with other 

faith communities. This is especially important because of the prevailing fear and mutual 

suspicion among the communities that have been exacerbated by acts of violence by religious extremists. Landau says, “We need to develop educational strategies to overcome 

the ignorance that leads to prejudice, which in turn leads to dehumanizing contempt, 

which in turn breeds violence.” 

The goals of the course are fourfold: 

• Educating participants about the beliefs and practices of the three Abrahamic traditions

• Creating a supportive learning community in which clergy, lay ministers, religious 

educators, and chaplains can forge mutually beneficial relationships across communal 

boundaries

• Helping participants acquire pastoral skills useful in interfaith ministry

• Developing leadership strategies for promoting interfaith relations in a pluralistic 

society

Part of each day’s program is devoted to prayers and music from each of the three 

traditions. Participants also attend worship events of the three faith traditions, followed 

by discussions to reflect on their experiences. In the comparative study of religious texts, 

some of the texts focus on violence, which requires serious exegetical struggle, while 

other texts are selected for their inspiring and uplifting nature. 

In February 2005, Professor Landau and Imam Yahya Hendi from the teaching staff 

co-facilitated a similar course for twenty-three Canadian military chaplains in Edmonton, 

Alberta. 

Teaching Internationally

Educating about the Religious Other in Serbia and Bosnia

What separate an Orthodox Serb from a Catholic Croat from a Muslim Bosnian are cultures 

that have evolved from religious differences. Professor Milica Bakic-Hayden of the Univer-

“We need to develop educational 

strategies to overcome the ignorance that leads to prejudice, 

which in turn leads to dehumanizing contempt, which in turn 

breeds violence.”
5

sity of Pittsburgh points out that understanding these differences and finding constructive ways to negotiate them through education are of vital importance for the Balkans’ 

future generations. The promotion and dissemination of knowledge and a better understanding of the region’s religious traditions have an important role to play in the overall 

process of reconciliation. The assumption guiding this proposition is that linking religion 

with education and divorcing it from recent politicization will foster an environment in 

which these faiths can be approached in academic settings and in a spirit of understanding and acceptance of religious differences. While knowledge about the religious other 

may not immediately bridge the rift caused by the recent Balkan wars, it may mitigate at 

least some antagonisms created by it. 

 Education in this context has to begin with recognizing the students’ sense of vulnerability and even victimization. Effort must also be made to “rehumanize” the other, 

the group seen as the cause of one’s suffering. A 2002 summer program in Palic, Serbia, 

demonstrated the benefit of recognizing and empathizing with the grief of the other, 

overcoming the sense of uniqueness of one’s own suffering, and sharing the pain of 

the other. This program created a learning environment in which an open nonsectarian 

framework for appreciating the legacies of the region’s religions engendered a change 

in perspective of not only the other’s religion but also one’s own. At the same time, 

the myth based on the fear that being exposed to the religious ideas of another faith 

will cause one to lose one’s own religious identity was successfully deconstructed and 

exposed as being unfounded. 

Bakic-Hayden is currently organizing a USIP-supported project that will promote 

programs in religious studies at major universities in the region. She is introducing the 

project in Serbia-Montenegro and Bosnia-Herzegovina. It is based on her conviction 

that the attitudes of Orthodox and Catholic Christians toward Muslims and of Muslims 

toward Christians must change for life to be rebuilt in the former Yugoslavia. Since the 

postcommunist trend toward religious liberalization has resulted in a great revival of 

formerly suppressed religious education, there is an inherent danger that each faith will 

be studied within its narrowly defined ethno-confessional boundaries. The purpose of 

this project is to encourage education about Christianity and Islam without preaching 

the religions and to teach why the beliefs of each confessional community make sense 

to those who hold them. Only by knowing and understanding the religious and cultural 

ways of other peoples will students be able to both enrich their own identity and extend 

their humanity. 

Teaching Muslims and Christians about the Religious Other in Indonesia

Indonesians increasingly recognize the need for improving religious education in the 

country’s schools and universities, including the Islamic universities. John Raines of 

Temple University points out the key role played by the five-year-old Center for Religious 

and Cultural Studies at Gadjah Mada University in developing improved relations among 

the country’s sectarian communities. Sixty students each year receive master’s degrees 

in a program that requires study of the religious other. Most of the students are Muslims, 

but there are also significant numbers of Christians, Hindus, and Buddhists. Many of 

those who graduate from the program become teachers of religion in Islamic universities 

that are engaged in major curricular reform aimed at promoting religious tolerance. 

At Gadjah Mada, each faith tradition is taught by an adherent of that faith. The 

professors use a critical-historical approach in their instruction. This helps the students 

become comfortable with critical analysis of their own religion and open to hearing 

alternative interpretations of religious texts. It also helps them discover how much they 

can learn from other faiths without abandoning their own faith convictions. This program reflects a widely shared conviction in Indonesia that the country’s future depends 

on a celebration of its religious pluralism.

It also helps them discover how 

much they can learn from other 

faiths without abandoning their 

own faith convictions.

Effort must also be made to 

“rehumanize” the other.
6

Promoting Religious Tolerance in Bulgaria’s Schools

During the 1990s, Bulgaria experienced an awakening of religious identity and a resurgence of religious activity, among both Christians and Muslims. This religious revival 

has been accompanied by an upsurge of intercommunal mistrust, stemming largely 

from Christian suspicion and fear of Muslims, who constitute 12 percent of Bulgaria’s 

population. Prejudice and the isolation of Bulgaria’s Islamic schools from mainstream 

society also contribute to suspicions that Muslim leaders are being trained as agents 

of neighboring or more distant Muslim countries. There are also fears that Bulgarian 

Muslim students in countries such as Saudi Arabia and Jordan will return as militant 

fundamentalists. 

To address these fears, Simeon Evstatiev, reader in Islamic history at the St. Kliment 

Ohridski University of Sophia, and his colleagues at the Center for Intercultural Studies 

and Partnership (CISP) propose greater collaboration between Islamic training institutions and Bulgaria’s secular universities. 

CISP has also developed a project, supported by USIP, titled “Religion and Education: Enhancing Christian-Muslim Understanding in Bulgaria.” Given the strong correlation between having regular interreligious dialogue and maintaining peaceful relations 

among religions, it is extremely important that knowledge about different religions in 

Bulgaria be conveyed in ways that maximize mutual understanding and minimize stereotyping. This project is meant to address the need for sound interreligious relations in 

Bulgaria and offer a new model for religious education in the country’s schools. Religious 

education, which was reintroduced into Bulgarian schools in 1997, is generally conservative, ethnocentric, and dogmatic. Rather than being a tool for building bridges between 

communities and creating tolerance, religious instruction there tends to perpetuate and 

even exacerbate divisions between Christians and Muslims. 

To contribute to religious understanding in Bulgaria, project members are developing a teachers’ handbook for primary-school religion teachers that promotes religious 

tolerance. Project personnel are also working with the Ministry of Education and Science 

to prepare standards, curricula, and syllabi to guide the teaching of religion in public 

schools. The purpose is both to cultivate attitudes of mutual respect among religions 

and to provide basic knowledge about the three Abrahamic faiths.

Teaching in Liberal Arts Programs

University of Southern California and Hebrew Union College

A course titled “Reading Scripture as Skeptic and Believer: The Hebrew Bible, the New 

Testament, and the Qur’an,” taught by Reuven Firestone, is offered for freshmen at the 

University of Southern California and at Hebrew Union College. The course explores the 

ways that Jewish, Christian, and Islamic scriptures establish paradigms of interpretation. 

Students read sections of each scriptural tradition from the “inside,” that is, as if the 

students were believers of the religion that the scripture represents, and also from the 

“outside,” as if the students were critical nonbelieving observers. The class focuses on 

two principal topics: the Garden of Eden and Abraham. Questions the students explore 

include: How does the interpretation of the Garden of Eden differ in the three traditions 

and how is it similar? Is the Abraham of Islamic scripture the same person as the Abraham of Christian scripture or of Jewish scripture? How is the person of Abraham used to 

support the authenticity of one tradition in opposition to another? It becomes clear to 

the students that Abraham is not the same person in the three traditions and that he is 

portrayed in a particular manner to make various religious points. 

Invariably students project their own narratives onto the scriptures. The instructor and 

other students in turn point out when a particular interpretation is not supported by the 

text. Toward the end of the semester the class attends religious services of each of the 

The isolation of Bulgaria’s 

Islamic schools from mainstream 

society also contributes to 

suspicions that Muslim leaders are being trained as agents 

of neighboring or more distant 

Muslim countries.

It becomes clear to the students 

that Abraham is not the same 

person in the three traditions. 
7

three traditions. By doing so, they learn how each worshiping community reads scripture 

as an act of religious piety. 

The College of William and Mary

At the College of William and Mary, Tamara Sonn teaches Islam to a diverse group of 

students, the majority from Christian backgrounds. Most of her students come to the 

classroom with little direct experience with Islam. However, they have been affected by 

negative stereotypes gleaned from sensationalist media and Hollywood representations of 

Islam. Sonn considers it important, therefore, to prepare the students for what is to come 

in the course. She warns them that much of what they will learn will conflict with their 

preconceived ideas about Islam. Recognizing the great sensitivity that surrounds religious 

belief and practice, she also makes it known that Islamic scripture contains criticisms of 

some Jewish and Christian interpretations of the Abrahamic tradition. 

Sonn stresses the need for emotional distance and intellectual discipline. She explains 

to her students that mistrust, anger, and fear are common reactions to cognitive dissonance and to negative reflections on one’s own tradition, but that such reactions are 

impediments to learning and can be avoided by emotionally distancing oneself from the 

subject matter. Further, she has discovered that it is helpful if students understand the 

difference between learning religion in one’s home or place of worship and studying it in 

a college classroom.

Sonn also emphasizes the range of ideas and practices in societies identified as Islamic. Her courses present an overview of the varieties of Islamic practice and the diverse 

beliefs in Islam regarding such controversial issues as pluralism, politics, and the status 

of women. Sonn identifies her pedagogical methodology as historic and comparative. 

She places Islamic beliefs and practices within their historical contexts, examining the 

conditions surrounding their development. By comparing elements of Islamic belief and 

practice to their counterparts in other religions, students are able to build on what is 

familiar to them and gain insights into the nature of religion. 

Sonn indicates that her overall goal is to have the students understand Islam in a way 

that would be recognizable to Muslims. She does not expect students to accept what they 

are learning about Islam as true belief or correct practice, but she does want them to 

understand and appreciate it from the perspective of those who do. With her encouragement, many of her students take up internships in organizations that work on religious 

freedom, human rights, and conflict resolution. Recognizing that these are issues that 

transcend ideological boundaries, she hopes that the combination of classroom learning 

and practical experience will help reduce interreligious fears and prejudices, and break 

down interfaith barriers. 

George Washington University

In teaching Jewish studies to both Jewish and non-Jewish students at George Washington University, Robert Eisen conveys both the beliefs and noncognitive aspects of the 

Jewish faith. He wants students to appreciate what draws adherents to the faith. Prayer, 

ritual, and chanting are all explored. He finds the classroom an ideal place for interfaith 

dialogue: students are sufficiently mature and curious, and the classroom generally offers 

a safe environment. Eisen hopes that what they learn in the classroom will nourish their 

own spiritual lives, whatever their faith. 

Interestingly, Eisen finds that his best students are generally non-Jewish. It is easier 

to teach non-Jewish students, he believes, because some Jewish students carry with them 

the somewhat simplistic teaching of Judaism they absorbed in Hebrew school. The papers 

written by Jewish students often read more like sermons than academic term papers, he 

says, as it is not easy to apply critical analysis and a historical perspective to the study 

of one’s own religion. While the non-Jewish students have no such preconceived notions 

It is easier to teach non-Jewish 

students, he believes, because 

some Jewish students carry with 

them the somewhat simplistic 

teaching of Judaism they absorbed 

in Hebrew school.
8

about Judaism, he does note that their own religious beliefs sometimes do interfere with 

their absorption of Judaism.

Seton Hall University

Charles Carter sees some of the same problems in teaching Catholic students at Seton Hall 

University. Students, contrary to their own assumptions, are generally not very sophisticated in their understanding of their own faith, he says. The challenge is to enable 

students to think intellectually about their own religion. He maintains that many students 

prefer a confessional rather than an academic approach, partly out of fear that an intellectual approach will challenge their religious beliefs and practice. 

 In teaching his course titled “People of the Book: Jews, Christians and Muslims in 

Conversation,” Carter starts with this introduction:

Ours is a world in which the three Abrahamic faiths, Judaism, Christianity, 

and Islam, often mistrust and misunderstand one another. The fundamentalist 

and radical elements of each tradition are the more strident voices and their 

hateful, often violent actions are highlighted in both the media and the public 

consciousness. The need for a more comprehensive understanding among the 

“children of Abraham” is even more necessary in the wake of the tragic events 

of 9/11, the U.S. occupation of Iraq, and the daily cycle of violence in Israel 

and Palestine. This course will focus on moving the cultural and religious 

conversation among the faithful of each of the Abrahamic traditions to a more 

inclusive and positive trajectory. It will seek to promote a genuine “trialogue” 

that may in turn use the emphases in the Jewish, Christian, and Islamic Holy 

Books that focus on justice and peacemaking.

In contrast to some of the approaches described above, Carter makes no pretense of 

disinterested objectivity. While attempting to present fairly the various sides of complex 

issues, he says, he brings his own convictions and critiques to his teaching. He believes 

that both students and professor need to be engaged with the issues, and he speaks out 

about his own passions. He wants to enable the students to comprehend the religious 

other and to help them define themselves, in part, through their new knowledge of the 

other. He also wants to validate the other but refuses to give any of the three Abrahamic 

faiths exclusive hold on the truth. Students are urged to give each tradition its right to 

make claims about the truth. He also makes clear that differences among the three faiths 

do not overwhelm their common commitment to peace and justice. He believes that all 

three faith communities need to own their dark sides, but that all three should also aspire 

to a shared ethic of interreligious peacemaking. At the beginning of the term he gives 

an ungraded exam to assess the students’ level of knowledge about the three faiths and 

then repeats the exam at the end of the semester to see how much the students have 

learned.

Radboud University Nijmegen

From his experiences teaching Dutch students about the religious other at Radboud University Nijmegen, Pim Valkenberg has drawn the following conclusions: 

• Preparing and presenting materials about religious others cannot be done without the 

religious other being present in some way or another.

• For those who want to approach Abrahamic religions from a theological point of view, 

it is important to foster interreligious dialogue at the academic level, at the grassroots 

level, and at the level of lived spiritualities. 

• The best way to counter increasing fears of religious others is to empower those who 

want to establish good relations among the Abrahamic religions. 

The challenge is to enable

 students to think intellectually 

about their own religion.

The best way to counter increasing fears of religious others is 

to empower those who want to 

establish good relations among 

the Abrahamic religions.
9

Teaching High School Students 

The Council on Islamic Education

The Council on Islamic Education (CIE) is a California-based research institute founded 

and directed by Shabbir Mansuri. CIE works nationally in the U.S. education field to 

improve teaching about the world and world religions. CIE was established in 1989 as a 

response to perceived inadequacies in the adoption process of history and social science 

textbooks in California. It has successfully worked to encourage education policymakers, 

K-12 textbook publishers, and educators to reflect on how this country’s constitutional 

framework requires us to continually revisit and refine how Americans view and represent 

the world. The institute’s initiatives have led to the preparation of a nonpartisan report 

on national and state history–social science standards; improved textbook coverage of 

Islam and other religions (including Christianity and Judaism), Muslim history, and world 

history; increased teacher training nationwide on guidelines for teaching about religion; 

and the development of high-quality teaching resources on world religions. CIE also shares 

this newly emerging model for teaching about religion with educational institutions and 

agencies in other countries as part of its international education development efforts. 

(See www.cie.org for further information.)

The Interfaith Youth Core 

The Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC), based in Chicago, promotes engagement among people 

aged thirteen to thirty of diverse religious backgrounds. Its program is based on the premise that ignorance stimulates conflict. According to IFYC’s Eboo Patel and Garth Kartner, 

religious extremists build their youth programs but religious pluralists have not been 

as energetic in organizing programs to promote positive relations among youth. Patel 

and Kartner have concluded that teaching about the religious other is most effectively 

combined with involvement in a shared service project. Their objective is to help young 

religious people strengthen their own faith commitments and learn about the other by 

cooperating with one another to serve the community and/or those in need. By taking 

part in the program, participants recognize that they are both members of their own faith 

community and citizens of a religiously plural society. 

The service project may involve cleaning a park or helping to build a house. Following 

participation in the service project, the young people are asked to reflect on what they 

have done in faith terms. The facilitators help the participants identify shared values 

among the religions, and then they select illustrative texts from scripture, noting both 

similarities and differences among the texts used by the different faiths. The facilitators 

work hard to avoid homogenizing the religions and papering over differences. This interaction helps improve the participants’ ability to articulate their own faith. Participants also 

develop practical skills for interfaith interaction and a new understanding of how to be a 

religious person in a changing and diverse world. In recruiting participants, IFYC reaches 

out beyond committed pluralists and religious progressives and actively recruits conservative members of all faith traditions. While the IFYC program has thus far been confined to 

the United States, IFYC intends to begin training facilitators internationally. 

Teaching on the Web

Youth in Peace Education

Led by Patrice Brodeur of the University of Montreal, Youth in Peace Education (YPE) 

is an international, interfaith, and intergenerational project that aims to assist peace 

educators worldwide by providing online resources for interfaith curriculum development. 

Through its website, YPE will also offer material that will allow students to learn about the 

By taking part in the program, 

participants recognize that they 

are both members of their own 

faith community and citizens of 

a religiously plural society. 
religious other, interfaith dialogue, and peacebuilding, and to acquire the religious 

literacy and dialogue skills so central to peaceful coexistence. YPE will also develop an 

e-learning global certificate program that will teach about the religious other, geared 

particularly toward young people living in conflict areas. YPE also hopes to develop a 

network of individuals and organizations that will both share and utilize this portal as a 

means of promoting peacebuilding worldwide. 

Conclusion

While opportunities to learn about the religious other need to be much more widely 

available, especially in countries experiencing religious conflict, considerable progress has 

been made in recent years. Particularly promising are the new programs being developed 

in Bulgaria, Bosnia, Serbia, and Indonesia. But to build on the progress already made, 

mechanisms must be developed to enable professors in this field to share their materials 

and approaches with others. The introduction of Internet-based resources may be one 

such solution.

There are several reasons why teaching about the religious other is so important. In 

Bosnia and Serbia, for example, learning about the religious traditions of the other has 

contributed to the process of reconciliation. Understanding the religion of the other can 

also help “rehumanize” the other, which is particularly significant when the other is 

seen as the source of one’s own suffering. In Bulgaria, meanwhile, teaching about the 

Abrahamic faiths has helped cultivate mutual respect between the country’s Christians 

and Muslims. In the Netherlands, too, such instruction helps empower those who want to 

establish good relations among the country’s religious communities. Finally, even those 

studying at seminaries benefit by learning about the religious other by becoming more 

secure in their own religious identities. 

Though the sixteen expert participants in the workshop did not always agree on the 

best approach for teaching about the religious other and offered a variety of methodologies, several universal insights were made: 

• In teaching about the religious other, the instructor needs to teach in a fashion that 

would make what is taught about the faith recognizable to a believer.

• Teaching about the religious other should ideally be done in the presence of the 

other.

• In teaching about the religious other, instructors must “pluralize” otherness by 

emphasizing the diversity within the other faith community.

• In addition to teaching about the beliefs of the other faith, instructors should expose 

students to the prayers, music, rituals, celebrations, and religious services of the 

other faith.

• To make a long-term contribution to interfaith communication, instructors must offer 

guidance on how dialogue with the other community should be conducted.

• Teaching about the religious other can be effectively combined with a joint service 

project in which members of the various faith communities participate together. 

While opportunities to learn 

about the religious other need to 

be much more widely available, 

especially in countries experiencing religious conflict, considerable progress has been made in 

recent years.

10

Of Related Interest

A number of other publications from the United States Institute of Peace examine 

issues related to interreligious dialogue.

Recent Institute reports include

• What Works? Evaluating Interfaith Dialogue Programs (Special Report, July 2004)

• Healing the Holy Land: Interreligious Peacebuilding in Israel/Palestine, by Yehezkel 

Landau (Peaceworks, August 2003)

• The Chaplain’s Evolving Role in Peace and Humanitarian Relief Operations, by Paul 

McLaughlin (Peaceworks, July 2002)

To obtain an Institute report (available free of charge), write United States Institute 

of Peace, 1200 17th Street NW, Suite 200, Washington, DC 20036-3011; call (202) 

429-3832; fax (202) 429-6063; or e-mail: usip_requests@usip.org.

Recent books from USIP Press include

• Interfaith Dialogue and Peacebuilding, by David R. Smock (2002)

• Religious Perspectives on War: Christian, Muslim, and Jewish Attitudes toward Force 

(Revised Edition), by David R. Smock (2002)

• Perspective on Pacifism: Christian, Jewish, and Muslim Views, by David R. Smock 

(1995)

For book sales and order information, call (800) 868-8064 (U.S. toll-free only) or 

(703) 661-1590, or fax (703) 661-1501.

United States 

Institute of Peace

1200 17th Street NW

Washington, DC 20036

www.usip.org

An online edition of this report can be 

found at our website (www.usip.org), 

together with additional information 

on the subject.