Pluralism Project Analysis

The United States is a melting pot of different cultures and religions. As an effect of globalization, different religions have been forced to interact with each other. In order for all of these different religions to successfully cooperate, they must understand each other. With that, the way we study religion needs to adapt to better accommodate this need. For the past twenty-five years, Harvard’s Pluralism Project has tried to reach this goal by having students immerse themselves into predominately Eastern religious to study each religion in depth. According to Diana Eck, founder of The Pluralism Project, the mission of this project is “Engaging, Educating, and Strengthening the Next Generation of Religious and Civic Leaders in the United
The goal of this project would be beneficial, in general, to society. Taking into account current events, we are in need of leaders that are civil and understanding of the different religions that make up America. The Pluralism Project strives to help students reach this. It is common knowledge that a person learns best from experience. For example, the best way to learn a language is by going to the country of origin and living as a speaker of the language. From personal experience, when I was in the process of learning french, I was not able to actually speak French until I spent a month in Quebec. Reading about religions through books and articles only covers the surface of the religion. Fully immersing yourself into a religion will truly help students appreciate the religion and its followers. Humans struggle with accepting what they do not understand. Simply reading about something will limit us from fully
Engaging in interfaith dialogue helps break the stereotypes of religions that are put into these two, polarizing categories. Tomoko Masuzawa critiques the concepts taught in the world religions area of academic study. With the Pluralism Project, the study of world religions will go beyond simply observing the followers of these religions. The Pluralism Project has students take part in a religions rituals and understand how the faith of those followers must adhere to the ever-changing culture of the United States. Promoting the teachings of the Pluralism Project helps make the rigid definition of the word “religion” more flexible, being able to include all the characteristics of all religions without demoralizing any religion. With the help of dialogue amongst religions, this project gives the study of a vague, controversial topic more meaning and prevents