海角大神

Iyleah Hernandez was slightly hesitant last year when a Muslim student leader asked her to speak at the next interfaith coffeehouse on campus.

A self-described agnostic at the time, Ms. Hernandez wasn鈥檛 sure what she鈥檇 have to say to interfaith discussion group attendees at Dominican University, a Catholic institution just outside Chicago. Many were devout Roman Catholics, observant Muslims, or others with sincerely held religious beliefs.

What鈥檚 more, her political points of view weren鈥檛 exactly popular among her peers. 鈥淚鈥檓 a Republican, and a Republican in very liberal schools? They don鈥檛 mix 鈥� oil and water,鈥� says Ms. Hernandez.聽

She鈥檚 had a firsthand view of aspects of what many are calling 鈥渃ancel culture,鈥� a phenomenon in which mostly left-leaning young people shun or socially isolate their right-leaning peers. Former President Barack Obama and others have decried this emerging trend, even as younger thinkers on the left have defended 鈥渃anceling鈥� those believed to have oppression-sustaining views.

But a growing number of students like Ms. Hernandez, members of a Generation Z who are coming of age within a burgeoning demographic diversity even greater than that of Millennials, have begun to forge a different sensibility when it comes to forming friendships with those with different points of view, scholars say. It鈥檚 the often-unseen flip side of cancel culture and the country鈥檚 seething polarizations.

鈥淚t appears that students come to college now having had a lot more exposure to inter-worldview friendships beforehand, so I think that鈥檚 a really hopeful sign,鈥� says Alyssa Rockenbach, professor of higher education at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, who studies the attitudes of incoming college students and charts how they change over time. 鈥淭hat suggests that they are primed to hopefully maintain some of those friendships and make more during the college years.鈥�

Make no mistake, the climate on many campuses is tense, as seen this week at Syracuse University in New York, where a series of racist incidents has roiled students and administrators and drawn intervention from the governor. But for scholars like Professor Rockenbach, this only adds urgency to their work to foster inter-worldview relationships she and others are now studying.

Making the effort

Even when she attended her high school for gifted STEM students, Ms. Hernandez says she experienced microaggressions and outright hostility from other students because of her conservative views. But she had a longing to talk about the conflicting political ideas, and attempted to form an 鈥渋nter-political discussion group,鈥� she says. She tried to form a similar group as a freshman at Dominican.

Now a double major in mathematics and computer science, Ms. Hernandez found herself becoming outspoken in religious classes like Love and Faith, where she began to defend the religious perspectives of students after a 鈥渕ilitant atheist鈥� in class reduced faith to violence-causing nonsense.

鈥淪o a lot of people would approach me after class saying, like, 鈥楬ey, why? Why are you defending us? You鈥檙e an agnostic, you鈥檙e an atheist. So, like, what鈥檚 up with that?鈥欌�� Ms. Hernandez says. 鈥淧eople saw me in a certain way, and I was, like, no, that鈥檚 not me. So let鈥檚 have conversations about this, because that鈥檚 not OK.鈥� So a few of her peers invited her to the interfaith coffeehouse.聽

One of the Catholic students challenged the purple rosary Ms. Hernandez wore every day. It was a gift from her grandfather, whom she adored, she says, and she wore it to honor him, not as something sacred used for prayer.聽聽

The exchange could have been tense. But 鈥渨e started having a really good conversation,鈥� she says. 鈥淭hat was when I first started thinking about, you know, how is the way in which I kind of express myself, how could that be harmful to somebody who is of a different faith?

One friend leads to another

Such interfaith dialogue is nothing new, and efforts to foster cross-cultural discussions have long been part of campus life. But Dr. Rockenbach and her colleague Matthew Mayhew, professor of educational administration at The Ohio State University in Columbus, decided to study and track the kinds of friendships students make during this formative time of their lives 鈥� and how these friendships shape them.聽

In October, they released some of the results of their long-range study called the Interfaith Diversity Experiences and Attitudes Longitudinal Survey (IDEALS), which surveyed some 7,000 students from an array of 122 U.S. colleges and universities, tracking how their experiences within inter-worldview relationships shaped their attitudes toward others.

Instead of a rampant cancel culture rooted in rancor, one of their reports, titled 鈥淔riendships Matter,鈥� found many students were beginning to cultivate inter-worldview friendships, not shun them. Even more important, many showed a willingness to work through some of their clashing differences and make an effort to maintain those friendships afterward.聽聽

鈥淎nd what鈥檚 really interesting to me is the fact that gaining a friend from a different worldview doesn鈥檛 just make you more appreciative ... toward people in your new friend鈥檚 group in general,鈥� Dr. Rockenbach says. 鈥淭here is kind of an exciting effect that extends beyond that friendship to other worldviews.鈥�

An openness to different beliefs

Kevin Singer never had the slightest inkling that he would embrace this kind of interfaith work. A theologically conservative evangelical 海角大神, he spent five years helping plant Southern Baptist churches in the suburbs of Chicago.聽

When he and his wife were expecting their first child, he asked a community college if he could teach a New Testament course, since he needed the extra income. 鈥淎nd they said, well, how about you teach world religions? You could teach that, right? I was like, yeah, sure,鈥� Mr. Singer says.聽聽

It changed his life. His experience teaching didn鈥檛 change his theological perspectives, but it did change his sensibilities, he says.

鈥淚 loved interacting with students and seeing their minds open up to, you know, their neighbors of different beliefs,鈥� says Mr. Singer, who gave up his plan to study theology and is now a Ph.D. candidate in higher education at North Carolina State. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 the payoff for me, seeing these students say they鈥檝e never met a Muslim or a Hindu, or they鈥檝e never even heard of Zoroastrianism or Taoism, but now they鈥檙e really curious.鈥�

There certainly can be tensions while maintaining an exclusive religious point of view. 鈥淵ou know, seeing that a lot of my evangelical brethren weren鈥檛 necessarily super excited about engaging with their neighbors of other faiths, I realized, I can really make an impact on how my faith, my own faith community, is perceived,鈥� he says.

He sees his interfaith work as part of the evangelical commitment to 鈥渢he Great Commission,鈥� Jesus鈥� command to spread the gospel throughout the world.

鈥淚 always tell people I鈥檓 a pragmatist,鈥� Mr. Singer says. 鈥淚f I want to obey Jesus鈥� commands to make disciples of all nations to the most efficient degree, it鈥檚 going to be through being someone who radiates the love of Christ in such a way that it draws people鈥檚 curiosity.鈥�

鈥淐ommon good鈥�

It鈥檚 essential that members of traditional theological perspectives feel both heard and included in these discussions, says Mary Ellen Giess, senior director of strategic partnerships for Interfaith Youth Core, the national nonprofit that works with the IDEALS project.

One of her organization鈥檚 鈥渂edrock premises鈥�, she says, is to foster 鈥渢he common good鈥� by guiding students to develop the skills necessary to create a functioning pluralistic society and training them to be leaders who help bridge differences and find common values.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 not easy, but I think that it鈥檚 actually a beautiful thing to be able to affirm the distinctiveness of what individuals and individual communities bring to society,鈥� Ms. Giess says. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 the foundation of our country. You should be able to say, this is who we are, so we can bring our fullest selves, our genuine understandings of our traditions, our commitments and our beliefs, and then create this common space together.鈥�

In U.S., religious liberties

When Musbah Shaheen came to the United States from Syria in 2013, he expected to find some relief from what he felt were the stifling confines of his Muslim upbringing. A gay man in a traditional religious culture, he was eager to experience a new kind of freedom at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee.

鈥淏ut mostly I found the opposite,鈥� says Mr. Shaheen, now a graduate associate at The Ohio State University. 鈥淚 encountered religion or signs of faith every place I went to, starting from the campus and beyond. And, you know, I just started meeting people.鈥�

There were some 海角大神s in his hometown in Syria, but he had never met a Jewish person 鈥� or anyone else from a different faith. During his freshman year at Vanderbilt, he just happened to stop to have ice cream at an interfaith social.聽

One of the members was a Hindu and another was a Sikh 鈥� two religions he knew nothing about. But he found himself drawn to their discussion group, in part because he was seeking fellowship with people of color during a lonely time in his life.聽

鈥淚t sounds clich茅, but I learned to appreciate the diversity of the perspectives that exist within this crazy diversity of religions that are in the States,鈥� Mr. Shaheen says. 鈥淎nd I began to challenge some of the things that I had internalized about people from other religions, especially those that I had never encountered. I thought, wow, there鈥檚 so much that I can learn from the lived experiences of these people.鈥�

Finding religious diversity, in fact, helped him rediscover his own identity, and drew him back to Islam.

鈥淚 never thought I would miss the Friday routine, the Friday prayers, jumah,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 experienced the dissonance between my rejection [of my religion] and things that meant a lot to me. I had to ask myself, who is it that I am?鈥�

As a gay Muslim man in the South, he鈥檚 experienced his share of microaggressions and outright hostility, too. 鈥淚t鈥檚 OK for folks to experience anger sometimes, or to experience pain or experience misunderstanding,鈥� he continues. 鈥淭hese are all things that I went through, but I found people with other views to help process all of this, to work through these things, to challenge and be challenged and talk through my worldviews.鈥�

To a new depth of faith

Ms. Hernandez had a similar experience after she shared her experiences and agnostic views at that first coffeehouse, she saw herself begin to change profoundly.

鈥淚 never felt the deepness to which people that I encountered here felt for their faith,鈥� says Ms. Hernandez, who is now a leader in Dominican鈥檚 interfaith group. 鈥淪eeing their passion made me realize that I鈥檓 not really passionate about being an agnostic,鈥� she says.

Her new friendships, as well as deep conversations with the Dominican sisters who help administer her university, led her to embrace Catholicism 鈥� a hope her grandfather had always had for her. She鈥檚 now in the process to be baptized next spring.

鈥淚t鈥檚 been a little bit of a bumpy road because I don鈥檛 want to convert anybody, but at the same time, I don鈥檛 want it to feel like I am hiding what I believe in now, and who I am, you know?鈥� she says. 鈥淟ike, you鈥檙e not a stereotype. You鈥檙e your own unique person, created from your own unique experiences, and who has this long complicated background in your life.鈥�