Obama appoints Indo-American in inter-faith council

Friday, February 6, 2009 at 3:02 am

The US President, Barack Obama, appointed an Indian American on February 5 to his new advisory council on inter faith relationships. Eboo S Patel, Founder and Executive Director of the Chicago-based Interfaith Youth Corps, would be a member of the President’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.

The council announced would have 25 members, who all will be appointed for a one-year term. However, fifteen members to the council were announced on February 5. The announcement came after Obama signed an executive order, thus establishing the new faith-based council.

This office will work on behalf of Americans committed to improving their communities, no matter their religious or political beliefs, Obama said. Joshua DuBois, a former Associate Pastor and Advisor to Obama in his US Senate office and Campaign Director of Religious Affairs, would lead this office.

According to Obama, “Joshua understands the issues at stake, knows the people involved and will be able to bring everyone together from both the secular and faith-based communities and from academia and politics around our common goals.”

“Beyond American shores this Office will work with the National Security Council to foster interfaith dialogue with leaders and scholars around the world,” Obama added.

Patel holds a doctorate in sociology of religion from Oxford University, where he studied on a Rhodes scholarship, as per information available on the website of Interfaith Youth Corps.

Patel also writes “The Faith Divide”, a featured blog on religion for The Washington Post and has also written for the Harvard Divinity School Bulletin, the Chicago Tribune, The Clinton Journal, The Review of Faith and International Affairs, The Journal of College and Character and National Public Radio.

Patel has spoken at the Clinton Global Initiative, the Nobel Peace Prize Forum and at universities around the world. He’s also n Ashoka Fellow, and was named by Islamica Magazine, as one of ten young Muslim visionaries shaping Islam in America.

Patel was even chosen by Harvard’s Kennedy School Review, as one of five future policy leaders to watch, and was given an ‘Honorary Doctorate’ from Washington and Jefferson College.

(Agencies)

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Obama appoints Indo-American in inter-faith council

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