We Need to Build an Interfaith America

Interfaith America President, Eboo Patel, outlines a vision for the Interfaith America we need to build. An America in which all religions and people join together to build a diverse democracy where all are welcome.

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We have before us a momentous opportunity
To create the world’s first truly interfaith nation
We need to build
American Medina
A city on a hill
Made holy
By the wideness of its welcome
The strength of its bonds

Look at it shining
The Catholic university where Muslim immigrants learn
The Jewish hospital where Hindu babies are born
They eyes of the world are upon you

We need to build
A sangha whose chants of lovingkindness
Change the climate
Bridge divides and bind hearts

We need to build
The beloved community where we see each other
The Baptist and Mormons who farm fields and fight fires together
The witnesses who watch over the whole block

We need to build
The New Jerusalem
Tents for angles to dwell
Tabernacles for the tribes
Twelve, twelve thousand, twelve million
They will not cease to be diverse
They come from across the Earth
Seeking the sacredness of knowing one another
Every refugee a pilgrim
Every stranger a friend
Until we are a nation

This Interfaith America
Pluralist rashtra
Diverse democracy
Achieving our country

Where our hopes are prophecies
Where we offer langar to our friends and our enemies
Where we do not wait for sickness to pray for one another’s health
Where we defeat the things we do not love by building the things we do

We need to build

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Learn more about us: www.interfaithamerica.org
Check out We Need to Build: Field Notes for Diverse Democracy by Eboo Patel https://bit.ly/3MWpZnX