Out of Many: Religious Pluralism in America: An NEH Bridging Cultures at Community Colleges Program
From the ratification of the First Amendment to the conflict over an Islamic community center near Ground Zero, America has been marked by a profound religious diversity. The variety of religious communities in America, and the tensions that often erupt among them, have shaped the nation’s social, cultural, political, and economic development. “Out of Many,” as the United State’s seal proclaims, there has emerged a shared, if contested, legacy of religious pluralism.
The Newberry Library invites applications from teams of faculty members with sponsoring administrators from community colleges to participate in “Out of Many: Religious Pluralism in America,” an NEH Bridging Cultures at Community Colleges program that focuses on collaborative research for curriculum development. The tension inherent in religious pluralism between ideal and practice—between the ideal of a nation of many people of many faiths, and the real conflicts that religious diversity often generates—animates this Bridging Cultures program. From Spring 2012 through Fall 2013, participating faculty will conduct research in the Newberry’s collections and partake in discussions with prominent scholars to gain a better understating of key moments in America’s past when the nation’s ideal of religious freedom was challenged.
The deadline for applications is March 23, 2012. More information about the program and application details is available at this link.