BY FRANKIE RATH | PHOTO FROM GOSHEN COLLEGE
In the early part of the 20th century, Catholics in America were persecuted by the majority of Protestant people in power and the higher society of American social class, according to Dr. Eboo Patel.
Patel’s father was one of the first Muslim-Americans to attend the University of Notre Dame in hopes of achieving the “American Dream.”
At that time, Notre Dame was the first Catholic institution to implement an interfaith agenda that would allow students of color and different religious backgrounds to freely practice those religions at an institution that would protect their civil rights, he said.
Following this idea, Patel has been an advocate for youth interfaith programs at Catholic colleges across America, working as a sociologist and on former President Obama’s religious committee.
“We are a Catholic mission, history, and identity, and we are open to all people,” said Patel, who said his father was able to attend Notre Dame and become a successful businessman because of this idea.
Patel told an Edgewood College audience that they have the power to come together. The students should be advocates for each other and start interfaith programs and agendas at Edgewood to make this place, as in the case for Notre Dame, for everyone.
“Your Dominican faith at Edgewood College is an asset,” Patel also said, because it is the very thing that gives students and faculty members alike the ability to have strength in interfaith programs and be able to be a part of a community that promotes constructive and positive dialogue for generations to come.
In addition, Patel said Muslims in America are still fighting against a wave of Islamophobia and social and institutional discrimination in the aftermath of terrorist attacks on 9/11.
Muslims need to do a better job of explaining their contributions in the United States and how they are assets to the American idea and way of life. “When we think of Muslim, we see Osama Bin Laden,” Patel said.
Patel is the author of Acts of Faith, the 2017-’18 Common Reading selection for Edgewood. He spoke on Wednesday (Mar. 7) in Anderson Auditorium.
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