Quaker Principles & Practice September 2008
Posted by usnl in : Quaker Principles & Practice, September 2008 This summer, for the third time, we offered a course entitled Religious Pluralism in America; Exploring the Religious Landscape of the Philadelphia Area. It was once again an enriching experience as we read about, studied and visited a variety of religious traditions and communities in the Philadelphia area. However, this summer, as I looked into the recent wave of literature by academics and activists on the topic of religious pluralism, I noticed two things. One was a sense of affirmation that these topics and experiences are increasingly important for our next generation of citizens. The second was the realization that my resources are now getting dated!
We read “A New Religious America: How a “Christian Country” Has Become the World’s Most Religiously Diverse Nation” published in 1997 but with a newly discovered importance after 9-11. This book by Harvard scholar Diana Eck has become a bit of a classic on the topic of religious pluralism in America. She argues in this book that the religious make-up of the United States has become increasingly diverse after the immigration act of 1965. She began to notice this diversity in her own classroom as a professor of comparative religion. She claims that the traditions she discussed were no longer on the other side of the globe but where often the faith traditions of the students in front of her! To map and explore this diversity she began a research program entitled “The Pluralism Project” (www.pluralism.org) which still is a valuable resource for comparative studies in the United States today. While this remains a great work, I will share just two more recent texts that have also contributed to and furthered this discussion.
The second author and activist who is making significant 
contributions on the topic of religion in America (and visited Penn Charter to speak this past February) is Eboo Patel. He is co-director of The Inter-Faith Youth Core (www.ifyc.org) and author of “Acts of Faith: The Story of an American Muslim, the Struggle for the Soul of a Generation .” This book provides a first-person narrative of the struggle with religion, identity and being different in America. Patel argues, “…that the 21st century will be shaped by the question of the faith line.” Patel is well versed in the scholarship of comparative studies – he has a PhD in the sociology of religion from Oxford - but his argument is that, if religious identity and diversity is to have a future in America and abroad, we need to initiate different conversations about faith and difference, particularly among young people. He works with teens and travels widely advocating community service and engagement as well as discussions about the role of religion in our personal and public lives.
The final author and text that has received a fair amount of attention (and an appearance on the Daily Show!) is Stephen Prothero, author of “Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know and Doesn’t.” While picking up on the thrust of the previous authors, Prothero has also surveyed a number of Americans (both young and adult) about the basic tenets of world religions - and found that we are largely ignorant. While most Americans are rather accepting and tolerant, we are not always sure what we are tolerant about. Having the ability to learn some of the basic teachings, practices and world views of different faith traditions (including our own) is a necessary step to being aware and conversant in our global political climate.
The Religious Studies Department here at Penn Charter will begin a departmental self-review and self-evaluation this year. Having had a chance to talk with our students this summer, and aware of the claims and arguments in the texts and voices above, I look forward to an enriching and an important conversation in the months to come.
Tom Rickards
Chair, Religious Studies Department
Quaker Principles & Practice April 2008
Posted by usnl in : Quaker Principles & Practice, April 2008 Edition In the December Upper School newsletter, I was excited to be able to describe the process and energy that had been put into implementing Meeting for Worship for Business in the Upper School at Penn Charter. In the months since, we have had our first two Meetings, and I have been interested to see how this new opportunity for engaging the community in dialogue and empowering student voices has continued to evolve.
It can be nerve-wracking to open up an uncensored forum on a community issue to a group of 400 students. It is an act of faith, to be sure, not only in the good will and good sense of the students, but in the strength and vision of the student leaders who help to guide the conversation. Fortunately, our faith in the student leaders and the student body have proven well-founded, and we have done a good job of learning together what kinds of strengths, challenges and opportunities are offered in Meeting for Business.
So far this year, we have met twice, opening up two very different topics. In November, we gathered to discuss how we experience and embrace difference at Penn Charter. Students met the week before in advising groups to discuss this topic, and then brought these thoughts to the larger group meeting. This is a big topic, and a charged one, and students who rose to spoke talked about their experiences, and the ways that the community does offer opportunities to connect with others from different backgrounds and with different perspectives. Although this Meeting seemed to stick to what is good about our community life, conversations that grew out of the Meeting also noted that there are challenges and tensions that are equally important, and plans have begun to structure more conversations on this topic, this year and next.
More recently, we gathered to reflect on a topic that is somewhat more mundane, but that also affects all of our lives at the school. A committee has been formed to investigate the advisory program at the school, and as a part of laying the groundwork for this discussion, we posed the question to students: “What should the role of an advisor be at Penn Charter?” Currently, the 9th grade mentor program is distinct from the 10th – 12th grade advising program, so we met separately in these two groups. In the larger group, a lively and thoughtful exchange of ideas helped to get at a number of the key issues, including timing, course planning, grade advisors, course planning, relationships and logistics. Being in a smaller group seemed to allow ninth grade students a good opportunity to make their voices heard and, after some initial shyness, a variety of thoughtful reflections were shared, touching on similar topics, with a particular focus on time usage in advising and relationship-building.
These Meetings for Business have been important in their own right for opening up space where we can hear a variety of voices together and move toward a more connected and unified community. They are also exciting to me as part of a process that has allowed all of us to engage in a Quaker practice that will continue to develop and bear fruit for our community in the years to come.
Ben Dziedzic
Clerk, Religious Life & Values committee
Quaker Principles & Practice December 2007
Posted by usnl in : November 2007 Edition, Quaker Principles & Practice Throughout last year, Penn Charter undertook a Quaker Self-Study in order to examine the ways that our community lets its values speak through our daily actions, and to think about ways that we can even better embody Quaker values and testimonies that lie at the heart of our mission and community. As a part of the process, the Self-Study committee sought to gather ideas from all of the constituencies of the school, including students, alumni, Overseers, faculty, staff and parents. When we sat down with a group of students to discuss how best to engage the whole student body in a reflection on Quakerism, the students generated the idea to bring the question to a “Meeting for Business” session that would be held during the regular Meeting for Worship time. The reflections that came out of that Meeting last year were fruitful in helping to refine the report of the committee, and also helped to spark an interest in bringing “Meeting for Business” into the Upper School more often.
Recently a group of teachers, Overseers, administrators and students from both the Upper School Religious Life & Values Committee (RLC) and the student council gathered in the evening to discuss how we could envision a space for gathering the community in a spirit of worship in order to grapple with important issues. The discussion was thoughtful and wide-ranging, with students often taking the lead in asking questions and proposing ideas. Among other topics, we talked a lot about what it should be called, noting the differences between Quaker practices such as Meeting for Business and Threshing Sessions. What became clear, even if the right name was not, was that we were excited about the opportunity this would provide for the community to engage with pressing issues that affect all of us, and could lead to decisions and changes that could affect the life of the school. In addition, a clear consensus was established to work to have a Meeting for Business three times a year in the Upper School, and to continue the partnership between the student council and the RLC in steering this practice.
I am particularly excited about the opportunity for meaningful and respectful conversations that this initiative will provide to our community. The opportunity to engage in a thoughtful and open dialogue about issues that affect our daily lives seems of particular value in a community grounded in the belief that there is that of God in each of us.
In addition, the energy around this new practice seems to me to be a testament to the way that our community is committed to engaging with (and in) Quaker values and practices. Throughout, I have been humbled and impressed by the way that meaningful conversation between individuals of all ages and roles has shaped the decisions; the deep respect that has allowed student voices and ideas to help guide the conversation has been remarkable and powerful. One of the real privileges and opportunities for me as a teacher in a Quaker school is the challenge it provides to put real responsibility in the hands of students. So, it is with this in mind that I look forward to Meeting for Business in the Upper School, knowing that the process that it took to get here has already modeled much of what is important about our commitment to community, integrity and equality.
Ben Dziedzic
Clerk, Upper School Religious Life & Values Committee