The Boniuk Institute has been very busy in the first few months of 2014 with programming in the areas of research, education, and community engagement. In January, we welcomed Alejandro Chaoul who spoke about his research on Chӧd, a meditation technique practiced within the Tibetan Buddhism tradition. Our other January event featuring Zahra Jamal was canceled due to icy conditions and the closure of Rice University. Stay tuned to our calendar as we work to reschedule her visit for the fall. In March, we welcomed John Mukum Mbaku to give a talk about religious tolerance and peaceful coexistence within Africa. And on April 1st, the winners of the Embracing Tolerance Essay Contest convened for an awards ceremony where they read excerpts from their submissions. In the educational realm, Rice University President David Leebron is co-teaching a semester-long course titled The Legal Framework Of Religious Tolerance (POLI/RELI 320). With 11 out of the 13 weeks under their belt, students have grappled with questions that are difficult to answer—even for our nation’s highest court. For those in the class who are aspiring to be lawyers, it is a privilege to engage directly with President Leebron. In other news, we are proud to unveil our new, cutting edge website. It features a wealth of information about Boniuk Institute and our various initiatives. We encourage you to check it out at: www.boniuk.rice.edu. Looking ahead, the Institute’s hallmark event on April 10th will host three elite scholars—Robert Wuthnow, Marie Griffith, and David Nirenberg—whose expertise across the fields of sociology, religious studies, and history will inform a discussion on the challenges that surround religious tolerance in America and globally. Finally, Alessandra Gonzalez will visit on April 22nd to speak about issues of gender and tolerance within the Islamic faith.

We look forward to seeing you at our upcoming events! Sincerely,

NEW WEBSITE LAUNCHED!

Elaine Howard EcklundDirector, Boniuk InstituteAutry Proessor of Sociology

Donald MorrisonDirector, Boniuk InsituteProfessor of Philosophy and Classical Studies

IN THIS ISSUEA Tibetan Way Towards Religious Understanding.......... 2Repairing the Hidden Injuries of War.............................. 4Practicing Tolerance: An Enter Faith Workshop Series....5Interfaith Leadership Insitute............................................6Inside the Classroom with President Leebron..................74th Annual Embracing Tolerance Essay Contest .............8

A Tibetan Way Towards Religious Understandingby Kristian Edsomwan, Rice University ‘14

Photography by Dante Zakhidov, Rice University ‘15

On January 16, 2014, Professor Alejandro Chaoul spoke at the Asia Society Texas Center to a crowd of one hundred community members about a Tibetan way of understanding that could be applied to inter-faith and intra-faith dialogue. Chaoul, who received his PhD in Tibetan religions at Rice University, is currently an Assistant Professor at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center’s Integrative Medicine Program. He has also studied Tibetan Bon, the native tradition of Tibet—and Buddhist practices in India, Nepal, and the United States. His presentation focused on his research and book on Chӧd, a meditation technique that these traditions practice, where practitioners visualize cutting their body, fashioning a bowl from a portion of their skull, and offering it as a feast to enlightened beings. Accompanied by melody and chanting, this meditative practice is used to confront fear and the attachment to one’s identity symbolized by the ‘cutting’ of one’s body. In other words, cutting through one’s ego and moving closer towards enlightenment.

At a glance, Chӧd presents a paradox: how can the Buddhist tradition, with its emphasis on nonviolence and peace, be negotiated with Chӧd, a practice that includes meditating on the violent dismemberment of one’s own body? Chaoul acknowledges that while Chӧd is indeed gruesome, it is not violent because it only involves visualizing these actions. In other words, this practice does not conflict with the central beliefs of Buddhism—love, compassion, sympathy, and patience. Not only is there no tension between this practice and the faith tradition in which it is embedded, Chӧd, which

literally means to ‘cut’, is actually a means by which to attain these ideals. Moreover, generosity is a central feature of Chӧd, as you offer what is most valuable to you (your identity), by cutting the attachment to its main holder/sustainer (your body).

Using the Chӧd meaning of cutting, Chaoul states that religious tolerance can be enhanced from an understanding that comes from breaking down boundaries—whether those boundaries are limits of one’s body and mind, or factions between and within religious groups. For example, looking at the relationship between Bon and Buddhism in Tibet, the practice of Chӧd can be used as a lens through which religious tolerance can be addressed more broadly. Among the purportedly tens of thousands of different meditative techniques within the Bon and Buddhist traditions, Chӧd conceptualizes a way to cut across the differences within these perspectives and focus instead on unity underlying them all, and it is said to be a ‘jet plane to enlightenment.’ In closing, and responding to a question from the audience, Chaoul made a point to state that all religions, not just Tibetan Buddhism and Bon, present themes of peace that can serve as a foundation for tolerance. Fostering tolerance between and within faith traditions requires that we break free of the limitations we impose as we relate to our enemies (external and internal) and ourselves. In the last slide of the presentation, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of all Tibetan Buddhists, including Bon, is quoted as saying “in the practice of tolerance, one’s enemy is the best teacher.”

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RICE 2014 INTERFAITH WEEK March17-March 22, 2014

Prayer Flag Making Fortune Cookies

A sneak peek at our 2nd annual Interfaith Week

Shi’ism PanelChristianity Panel

Dialogue Lunch

Hillel ShabbatUnity BanquetYoga With A Guru

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Council

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Repairing the Hidden Injuries of War By Kristian Edosomwan, Rice University ‘14 Photography by Niki Desai, Rice University ‘13

On October 24, Rev. Dr. Rita Nakashima Brock visited Rice University to discuss the role of religious communities in healing the moral injuries of returning Veterans. It is difficult for a person who is used to a civilian code of morality to adapt to a military morality and this transition creates an inner conflict. The United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) uses the term moral injury to refer to the negative psychological repercussions of that inner conflict between two competing moral guidelines. Brock shared certain facts about post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in Veterans and the difficulty of moral injury. For instance, the suicide rate of Veterans is three times the rate of civilians, and Veterans who have killed during war have nine times the suicide rate of the civilian population. Many factors contribute to moral injury: survivor’s guilt, anger at the government, the ‘soul-killing’ work of sorting through dead bodies.

Brock believes civilians have the duty to help Veterans “come all the way home” because soldiers get little help with the transition to civilian life. According to Brock, healing from moral injury is a lifelong process that requires profound friendships. Brock contends that only religious communities commit to people from birth to death, and she briefs these communities on PTSD and how to be more helpful and less hurtful—such as asking insensitive questions like “Did you kill anybody?” Professor Matthias Henze challenged both the assumption that faith communities commit from

the cradle to the grave and that those communities should be expected to take on such heavy responsibilities, but Brock argues that faith communities should at least get training to help fulfill the debt to returning soldiers.

Vasilis Mavratsas, a Rice student, asked if soldiers’ moral identities are destroyed in training. Brock responded that moral identities are not destroyed but replaced with new ones that emphasize honor, integrity, respecting authority, protecting civilians, their unit, and the Geneva conventions.

War reinforces this training with terror. Healing, on the other hand, involves reprogramming, which religious organizations can help with through the use of rituals to rebuild a moral identity. When asked how to help heal moral injury in religious contexts besides Christianity, Brock mentioned that healing from moral injury only needs a method of penance and does not necessarily have to be linked to religion. Each religious system should figure out how their religious system and traditions allow for a feeling of penance.

After the lecture, Mavratsas said he had never heard of moral injury before this talk and it gave him a better understanding of the issue. He thought that the religious aspect of the process was “sort of unnecessary because they’re not using the ideas [but instead the] community as a tool to help.” Brock demonstrates that various religious communities can provide the tools for civilians to do soul repair and help Veterans with moral injury in a way that cuts across religious ideologies.

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Practicing Tolerance: An Enter Faith Workshop Series

The swift, enthusiastic response to our latest Bridge-Builder program offering attests to the intense interest in our surrounding community with engaging more deeply in the work of the Boniuk Institute. Within the first week that the Enter Faith Workshop Series was announced, it was well on its way to filling up to capacity in terms of the number of participants it could accommodate.

Inspired by Professor Scott Appleby’s compelling invitation during his visit to Rice and the Boniuk Institute last fall, we are offering a Bridge Builder program this spring that takes up the “hard tolerance” gauntlet that Professor Appleby tossed down in his November remarks. Entitled “Practicing Hard Tolerance: An Enter Faith Workshop Series,” it offers a series of six ongoing sessions to a dedicated group of up to fifteen registered participants over the course of seven weeks.

Offered as part of the Boniuk Institute’s Community Engagement programming, the series is facilitated primarily by Cristal C. Truscott, Ph.D., Enter Faith’s Founder, Assistant Professor and Interim Department Head of Music and Theatre at Prairie View A&M University, and supported by Associate Director for Community Engagement, Mike Pardee. Membership in the workshop series is capped at 15 in order to maximize its continuity, diversity, intimacy, and effectiveness. Sessions occur weekly on campus at Rice, for about two hours each time. They use story circle methodology, dialogue and arts-inspired techniques as tools for deepening interfaith conversations.

As Professor Truscott explains her approach to this series of 6 workshops with the same cohort of participants each time: “The goal of Enter Faith is to create a space for people to experiment, celebrate and explore common bonds; and, to dialogue about their differences and explore the tensions and challenges of multi-faith exchange. Through opening up a space where faith can enter as the common ground across religious practice, Enter Faith aims to uncover new ground.”

We are looking forward to the adventures to come with these first 10-15 pioneering participants.

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RELI 214: IntraReligious Tolerance and Beyond

The Boniuk Institute announces a new course for Fall 2014 that will explore religious tolerance

within various religious traditions. Taught by Claire Villarreal, a religious studies doctoral student,

IntraReligious Tolerance and Beyond (RELI 214) will explore different historical religions and the models of

inclusivity and pluralism that these religions have promoted. The course will explore the dialogue of religious tolerance and the need

to move to religious pluralism in a global community.

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Interfaith Leadership Institute By Aamir Ghesani, Rice University ‘15

This past August, Aamir Ghesani attended the Interfaith Youth Core’s (IFYC) Interfaith Leadership Institute (ILI) at New York University with several other students from Rice University. This was one of several ILI’s organized by the Interfaith Youth Core every year to bring together students and faculty from the nation’s universities. Each ILI allows the members to engage in insightful dialogue and learn how to create a positive interfaith environment, with the hopes that they will return to their respective campuses to start up an interfaith movement. The three-day conference was a productive experience, attended by a diverse group representing a variety of faiths and non-faiths from universities and colleges both small and large. The trained mentors and coaches—led by IFYC founder Eboo Patel, who delivered the keynote address—laid the groundwork for creating student organizations and planning campus events. They also facilitated sessions for networking and interpersonal exchange. ‘Speed-faithing’ was one such event where members were able

to share their interfaith experiences in a round-robin, speed-dating format. The speed-faithing sparked great conversations, between an evangelical Christian from the southeast and a baptized Sikh from the Midwest, for instance, as they shared their experiences that led them to the ILI. Crash courses on the world’s faiths and non-faiths were offered as well, with short sessions led by mentors and coaches sharing about their respective affiliations. Rice student Hira Baig served as a coach at the ILI, and led a session on Islam. The conference capped off with an event design challenge where students competed to create the ideal interfaith campus event. The project implemented everything learned at the conference and required intricate details including marketing strategies, campus partner affiliations, and impact outside of the campus. Following the conference, the Rice students returned to campus, grateful to have attended the ILI and gain new perspectives on pluralism. They plan to put their experience to good use by enhancing the interfaith community at Rice.

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Inside the Classroom with President Leebron

By Laura Johnson

This semester, approximately thirty students have the unprecedented opportunity to take a course co-taught by Rice University President David Leebron and Visiting Scholar Lawrence Sager, the Alice J. Drysdale Sheffield Regents Chair at the University of Texas School of Law. The Legal Framework of Religious Tolerance is a course sponsored by the Boniuk Institute that explores the intersection of religion and law. Leebron and Sager are well-equipped to teach this course, having both served in leadership roles at top-tier law schools. Notably, Leebron is a former dean of Columbia Law School and Sager is a former dean of the University of Texas School of Law and has also coauthored a book titled “Religious Freedom and the Constitution,” which serves as the text for the class. Their professional relationship dates back over thirty years which makes for a vibrant classroom dynamic.

The content of the course is driven by a clause within First Amendment to the US Constitution which states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”

With this short, simple statement as a starting point, Sager’s book and numerous court cases provide plenty of fodder for thoughtful discussion. After outlining the details of a case and the court’s decision, Leebron polls the class and finds that fifteen students agree with the decision, ten disagree, and the remaining five are too ambivalent to commit one way or the other. The discussion continues and Leebron and Sager pose hypothetical scenarios and counterfactual questions that explore the underlying arguments to their logical end. The class is polled a second time but now many students are wavering in their previous certainty. Leebron and Sager assure the students that it’s perfectly

normal to be confused because these issues are complex and difficult to disentangle. Even the nation’s highest court rarely produces a unanimous decision. As class comes to a close, Leebron reminds the students, “If this isn’t making perfect sense…then you’re doing fine. If all this is absolutely clear, then maybe you should see us after class.” And with a roar of laughter, class is dismissed.

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4th Annual Embracing Tolerance Essay Contest Yields More Strong Results

By Mike Pardee

The Boniuk Institute’s 4th annual Embracing Tolerance Essay Contest attracted more than 175 students’ entries, representing some 20 different high schools throughout greater Houston. As usual, the quality was consistently high, as writers wrestled in their essays to address the question of what practicing religious tolerance truly means and really looks like. Their writing prompt this year invited them to imagine an almost utopian scenario: “How would the world be—or be different—if the Boniuk Institute’s mission to ‘nurture tolerance among people of all or no faiths’ were finally achieved? And how will we know once this threshold has been reached?”

Our Embracing Tolerance selection committee carefully read all the submissions. They identified the top three entries (including some ties) in two different divisions: 9th – 10th graders and 11th – 12th graders. These winning essayists were then honored at an Award Ceremony at 7:00PM on Tuesday, April 1st, held at Farnsworth Pavilion in the Ley Student Memorial Center at Rice. Ten different winners shared excerpts from their essays, and booklets were distributed featuring the best entries submitted.

Within a couple months, the new essay topic for 2014 – 2015 will be announced. So please stay tuned for more updates on our fifth annual Embracing Tolerance Essay Contest.

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The Boniuk Institute

6100 Main Street MS 350Houston, Texas 77005-1827

phone: 713-348-4536 email:tolerance@rice.eduboniuk.rice.edu