2: The Civic Perspective: Citizens, Nations, and the Challenges of Religious Pluralism
Professor Diana Eck's second lecture in her Gifford Lecture Series was entitled 'The Civic Perspective'.
Multireligious societies have long been a historical reality in some parts of the world.
Today, however, there are many recently-multireligious societies, especially in the west, where people of different faiths live in close proximity and struggle with religious difference as citizens of a common society.
What are the challenges to the common "we" in the context of religious difference?
What does religious pluralism mean for nations with large majorities and insecure minorities?
What do "nations" mean in a world in which the movement of people and ideas is constant, with migrations that are not one-way, but back-and-forth, as people participate in the life and aspirations of more than one society?