Interfaith Relations in the United States: Toward a Multilevel Community Psychology Approach

Abstract

Interest in religion within the field of community psychology has steadily emerged within the last three decades. This interest has focused almost exclusively on the social benefits of religion, glossing over the often‐contentious nature of religious life and the ways in which religious individuals and institutions can disrupt healthy human and community development. Considering the recent surge of interfaith conflicts and discriminatory practices targeting religious minorities in communities across the United States, it is imperative that community psychologists begin to examine relevant trends in interfaith relations and potential directions for action research and intervention. This paper serves as the beginning point of just such an examination, proposing a multilevel model for addressing the microsystemic, mesosystemic, and macrosystemic levels of interfaith phenomena. More specifically, I present interfaith contact, congregation‐based community partnerships, and theological belief systems as particularly relevant to interfaith community research and intervention. Finally, I detail an interfaith organization that embodies these dimensions of interfaith relations and provides a concrete example of how a multilevel action research model may be effectively employed. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Understanding Community Issues of Interfaith Groups

“…Also, some groups focus on one issue, whereas other groups concurrently work on multiple issues (e.g., McCormack, ; Todd, ). Although informative, case‐study research makes comparisons across groups difficult and may miss broader patterns of the types of local issues interfaith groups pursue.…”

Interfaith Groups as Mediating Structures for Political Action: A Multilevel Analysis

“…In this study, we examine a different type of religious setting, interfaith groups, to better understand how interfaith groups may mediate individual political action (e.g., voting, contacting representatives, attending marches) as a result of participating in the interfaith group. We consider interfaith groups as comprised of people from different religious congregations or different religious traditions (e.g., Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism) who meet together on a regular basis around shared goals (e.g., McCormack, ; Todd, ). Often these goals are religious in nature (e.g., interfaith dialogue, Agrawal & Barratt, ; Neufeldt, ), but research shows diversity among interfaith groups in their purpose, activities, and ways of mediating community engagement (Eck, ; Pluralism Project: http://www.pluralism.org).…”

“…Although groups may focus on interreligious understanding, groups also may engage in community mobilization (Speer et al., ; Todd, ) or other forms of activism (e.g., sponsoring or participating in protests; Todd, ; Yukich & Braunstein, ) focused on particular issues. Indeed, case‐study research shows that beyond promoting religious understanding, many groups also focus on issues such as the environment (Feldman & Moseley, ), labor issues (Bobo, ), health disparities (Kaplan et al., ), elder abuse (Proehl, ), education (Quezada, ), HIV prevention (Senturias, ), and/or work on multiple local issues simultaneously (McCormack, ; Todd, Houston‐Kolnik, & Suffrin, in press). In the language of mediating structures, these case‐studies show how interfaith groups help connect members to larger efforts for local community change.…”

Applying affiliation social network analysis to understand interfaith groups

“…Whether through community organizing (Christens & Speer, religious leaders in strategies for community organizing with the goal of returning these leaders to their local community to create networks of congregations to organize for influence and power (Wood & Warren, 2002). Other case study research focuses on grass-roots religious partnerships that form to address specific issues such as the environment (Feldman & Moseley, 2003), labor issues (Bobo, 2003), health disparities (Kaplan et al, 2009), education (Quezada, 2003;Todd, 2012), or multiple issues at the same time (McCormack, 2013). Many of these groups are interfaith in nature with representation across religious traditions and with the goals of promoting religious understanding while also working for community change (Fulton & Wood, 2012;Patel, 2007).…”