“Religious Worlds of New York City: Teaching the Everyday Life of American Religious Diversity” is a three-week school teacher institute for thirty participants on American religious diversity as manifested in community life in New York City. The institute is a collaboration between the Interfaith Center of New York and Union Theological Seminary. It focuses on American religious diversity through the lens of “lived religion”—religion as it evolves in everyday community life—instead of the traditional “world religions” model—which treats religions as historical faiths, defined by fixed texts, doctrines, and practices. Following an introduction to religious liberty in the United States and attendant constitutional issues, scholars introduce six major religious traditions: Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Afro-Caribbean religions. The participants then meet with local religious leaders chosen to illustrate diversity within traditions, followed by site visits to houses of worship. The second segment addresses the concept of lived religion through scholarly writings, literary works, and film; the teachers work on curriculum projects. In the third segment, the participants undertake group mapping projects on religious diversity in a New York City neighborhood. Participants learn to distinguish between academic and devotional approaches to the study of religion. The large cast of visiting scholars includes Randall Balmer (religion, Columbia University), John Stratton Hawley (religion, Barnard College), Robert Orsi (religious studies, Northwestern University), Charles Haynes (Freedom Forum First Amendment Center), Rabbi Michael Paley, Ali Asani (Indo-Muslim cultures, Harvard University), and Annabella Pitkin (Asian and Middle Eastern cultures, Columbia University).
