What is the “Good” (Inter)faith Leader?

• In Event: Interfaith Dialogue in Times of Conflict (Co-sponsored by Sociology of Religion Section)

Abstract

Navigating religious diversity is increasingly important in the U.S., and faith leaders play a critical role in interpreting this religious diversity and modeling inter-religious engagement. In this study, we draw on interviews and focus groups with 75 faith leaders from multiple religious traditions in Houston, Texas to understand how faith leaders understand what it means to be a “good” faith leader, and what role bridging religious differences plays in their understandings. We find that faith leaders justify inter-religious engagement in three registers: it enhances their own faith and leadership, it helps their congregants develop better inter-religious relationships, and it contributes to peacemaking and the goodwill of the city. We also find that faith leaders identify four distinct approaches to religious diversity as constituting a “good” faith leader, which we describe as 1) warm agonism, 2) civil dialogue, 3) religious resourcement for pluralism, 4), liberal separatism. Whereas warm agonism denotes the approach of leaders who seek to be both “welcoming and challenging” in the public sphere on issues of moral and religious concern, civil dialogue refers conceives of public engagement as civil and civic. In the religious resourcement approach, a good faith leader is one who mines their own tradition for resources to support democratic pluralism, and others argue that a good faith leader approaches religious diversity through the lens of liberal separatism, drawing on classical liberal conceptions of a separation between religion and politics and emphasizing religious freedom. This study illuminates the ideals which shape leaders’ inter-religious engagement with significant consequences for their congregations and society.

Authors

• Kerby Goff, Rice University

• Josiah Taru, Rice University

• Elaine Howard Ecklund, Rice University