The Need to Evaluate Multifaith Approaches

The need to consider the effectiveness of interfaith approaches, or in the terminology and methodology I use, multifaith engagement or religious diplomacy, only occurred to me a few years ago as I connected dots. First, I pursued a grant that brought social psychology into conversation with evangelical theologies of religion. This helped me appreciate a multidisciplinary approach, and the need for scientific analysis so as to understand the psychology underlying different theologies. The next step was the Why We Hate series that aired on Discovery.com, and which is now available via Amazon Prime. In Episode 6, "Hope," the neuroscientist Emile Bruneau addresses the need to test the effectiveness of strategies aimed at dealing with intergroup conflict, an argument he repeated in some short videos he made for the University of Pennsylvania shortly before his passing. The third piece of the puzzle was finding a few analyses of interfaith approaches, such as Beyond Dialogue?: Interfaith Engagement in Delhi, Doha & London, a report that offered important critique of the effectiveness and shortcomings of certain interfaith endeavors. I can now add two additional articles I came across recently.. Both are by Richard McCallum, and the first is titled “Towards a Framework and Methodology for the Evaluation of Inter-faith Initiatives,” and the second is “Evaluating Inter-faith Initiatives: A Cambridge Case Study.”

It seems to me that there is great benefit in seeking grant funding that can be used to specifically examine what methods are effective, and why, rather than continuing to throw large amounts of money and time at approaches that make participants feel good, but really only preach to the choir, or have no effect at all.