Acts Of Faith

The novel “Acts of Faith” by Eboo Patel contained three main themes.

The organization of Patel’s writing made it lucid to convey ideas clearly to the reader. Pluralism, the idea to coexist with differing racial, ethnic, and religious groups, was a prominent idea in the novel that I enjoyed analyzing. It made me consider my personal faith and how I view other diverse groups of people. Before the novel, being a Christian meant discovering ideas with other Christians. Patel presented a radical idea with the Interfaith Youth Core that practiced the idea of understanding other religions. He firmly believed it did not weaken one’s ability to practice their religion, instead, it strengthens what they believed. Not only did I appreciate Patel’s deeper

He struggles with his identity and profiling all throughout his adolescence and into adulthood. In the novel Patel recalls his first college memory of the gym where he is conflicted with his feelings. He described high school basketball as a “big bucket of skin whitener” (37) and he thought if he was talented at basketball the rest of the school would disregard his dark skin. He was enlightened that people of different skin colors did not have the desire to be white in college. This is when Patel realized that people retreat back to their heritage and culture in college. They feel accepted and one girl he knew in high school reverted back to her original, Korean name and would not answer Patel when he called to her. (38) Patel realizes how his identity affected the way he saw himself and his journey. In his work it is evident that identity is something Patel wishes to establish in his program. He wants his students active in his program to accept others and in return except

Planting community gardens, tutoring, and constructing homes are all methods to work as a team to complete a project. Patel stresses the importance of interfaith cooperation. He emphasizes that people of diverse backgrounds coming together creates a sense of unity and a common goal/idea they share. When people share things in common they are much more apt to accept and understand one another. It gives people the opportunity to open up and focus on shared values with their religions. Students start to realize that they can believe their beliefs are correct whiles other’s views may not reciprocate those similar ideas and still complete a project that is successful/uplifting together. The very core that Patel created is based on interfaith cooperation. It was evident in his work that he was passionate about its results (Chapter