Interfaith leader to speak in West Michigan

One of the world's foremost interfaith leaders will visit West Michigan to discuss the relevance of interfaith leadership in current societies and on college campuses with Grand Valley students and community members.

Eboo Patel, Interfaith Youth Core executive director, will facilitate a student workshop, "Interfaith Dialogue and Service: The Time is Now," January 11, from 5-7 p.m., that is open to students from all academic institutions in West Michigan. The workshop, co-sponsored by Grand Valley's Kaufman Interfaith Institute, will explore the challenges and opportunities of interfaith service on college campuses across the U.S. This event will take place in the Commons Annex Lecture Hall at Calvin College in Grand Rapids.

Patel will also present "Interfaith Leadership: Engaging Religious and Philosophical Diversity in the 21st Century" at 12:30 p.m., in the Covenant Fine Arts Center Auditorium at Calvin College. This event is free and open to the public.

"The U.S. is one of the most diverse, pluralistic countries in the world, and unfortunately, this diversity sometimes leads to great division and misunderstanding," said Katie Gordon, Kaufman Interfaith Institute program manager. "The challenge for us is to try to positively engage this diversity in our communities, schools and workplaces. Eboo discusses how interfaith leadership can help teach those skills and values which embraces our religious and non-religious diversity while encouraging groups to come together for the common good."

Registration is required for the student workshop. For more information and to register, visit the Kaufman Interfaith Institute website or call (616) 331-5702.