Sacred Ground: Pluralism, Prejudice, and the Promise of America

Description

In the summer of 2010, furor over the so-called "Ground Zero Mosque" stoked anti-Islamic sentiment that has been growing, rather than waning, in the U.S. since 9/11. Muslim worshippers were stabbed and shot, and mosques were targetted by arsonists. Pastors, politicians, and pundits of the Right seemed to rally around the idea that Muslims were somehow different and even anti-American. With an election year coming in 2012, Islamophobic hysteria is certain to flare up - perhaps, sadly, even more strongly than last summer. Eboo Patel, a Muslim and a leading figure of the growing interfaith movement, has a different message: those who believe in a robustly pluralistic America aren't anti-American - they're the true patriots.

Eboo Patel is the founder and president of Interfaith Youth Core and the author of Acts of Faith. He was a member of President Obama's inaugural faith council, is a regular contributor to the Washington Post, Huffington Post, CNN, and public radio, and speaks frequently about interfaith cooperation on college campuses. He lives in Chicago with his wife and two boys.

"Eboo Patel is a remarkable young man with the wisdom to seek truth and the courage to speak it. One of America's foremost advocates and practitioners of interfaith understanding, he has written a book that combines timely social commentary with compelling history and a wealth of personal anecdotes. Sacred Ground is a refreshing, thought-provoking, myth-smashing, and deeply patriotic exploration of American identity and ideals." -Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright "Sacred Ground is simultaneously a chronicle of religious tensions in post-9/11 America and an account of how to create, through trial and error and critical self-reflection, the most successful interfaith movement in the country. Patel probes like a professor, inspires like a preacher, and writes like a poet. I really loved this book; it is a tale that is truly hard to put down." -Robert D. Putnam, author of American Grace "Interfaith cooperation is one of America's founding ideals. It still sets us apart from much of the world. Eboo Patel has lived that value and, in this book, spreads that good word. Uplifting and invaluable, Sacred Ground is essential reading for our polarized era." -Walter Isaacson, author of Steve Jobs and Benjamin Franklin "Eboo Patel has been a transformative force in our young and tumultuous century. And he has an utterly original experience of what robust religious identity can mean in modern lives. With this book, he opens the idea of 'inter-faith' into a vision of America that is practically informative, refreshingly challenging, and full of hope." -Krista Tippett, host of public radio's On Being "At a time when ignorance and suspicion are holding us back from building true community with our neighbors, Eboo Patel offers a light in the darkness. He challenges the bigotry and intolerance that is seeping into our political rhetoric, reminding us that America is a country built on the pillars of pluralism and tolerance. In both Sacred Ground and his wonderful interfaith work, Eboo offers an opportunity for us to move to higher ground in our relationships with our Muslim brothers and sisters, and to play our part in building a 'beloved community for all people,' both in the United States, and around the world." -Rev. Jim Wallis, author of God's Politics "Patel, founder of the Interfaith Youth Core, lets his love for his work and his country shine through in this brief but charming introduction to the importance of interfaith work in America... [H]is expertise and blend of compelling personal anecdotes with researched argumentation makes this work an accessible and inspiring introduction to the meaning and practice of pluralism." -Publishers Weekly