Boniuk Institute Research

Under its new charge to become a premier interdisciplinary research and scholarly institute focusing on religious pluralism and tolerance, the Boniuk Institute for the Study and Advancement of Religious Tolerance Convenes thought leaders across disciplines and sectors, Discovers new knowledge through original research, and then Disseminates that knowledge among local, national, and global communities in order to promote meaningful change.

GLOBAL RESEARCH

Research Focus: In what ways to religious tolerance, pluralism, and understanding look different in different sectors of society and different parts of the world?

The Global Religious Pluralism Initiative will be a multiyear global data collection effort involving scholars from different disciplines in a focused effort to analyze and understand how the conditions and consequences of religious tolerance, understanding, and pluralism shape and are shaped by interactions, practices, policies, discourse, and trends at each level of society around the world.

A Global Re-Granting Initiative will sponsor original research from scholars from different disciplines conducting global studies of religious diversity, collaboration, and conflict at the intersection of societal levels withing and among institutional domains, such as government, education, science and medicine, workplaces, and religious organizations. The Institute will synthesize these findings and use them to make research-informed contributions to our understanding of how religious tolerance and pluralism work across nations and contexts, and how to foster socially beneficial pluralism and reduce religious conflict and discrimination.

Learn more about the Boniuk Institute's Spring Convening, which brings together an interdisciplinary group of scholars from around the globe to discuss and expand the field of research into religious pluralism and conflict.

LOCAL RESEARCH

Research Focus: What is the civic capacity of Houston's religious communities? To what extend to Houston's religious communities work together for the common good of our city?

Mapping the Civic Capacity of Houston's Religious Communities Initiative will discover how religious communities approach inequality and how they see religious pluralism and tolerance as relevant to their work. This focus on a local context will allow the Institute to apply its research and scholarship directly, while at the same time increasing the civic capacity of religious communities in its home city of Houston, Texas.

RESEARCH CENTERS AND ASSOCIATES

To broaden the Boniuk Institute's research focus and intellectual discovery, the Institute will develop two research centers and engage in collaborative agreements with other existing programs comprised of multiple scholars and faculty at Rice University and beyond. Centers include a Religion and Public Life Center (RPLC) and a Center on Religion, Science, Health, and Environment (CORSHE); collaborators include Rice University's Program in Jewish Studies and Baker Institute's Religion and Public Policy Program (RP3).