We Need to Build

Field Notes for Diverse Democracy

Author Eboo Patel
Ebook
On sale May 10, 2022 | 224 Pages | 9780807024072
“You don’t create societies by burning things down, You create societies by building things.”

From the former faith adviser to President Obama comes a fresh manifesto for those who seek to promote positive change and build a more diverse and just democracy


The goal of social change work is not a more ferocious revolution; it is a more beautiful social order. It is harder to organize a fair trial than it is to fire up a crowd, more challenging to build a good school than it is to tell others they are doing education all wrong. But every decent society requires fair trials and good schools, and that’s just the beginning of the list of institutions and structures that need to be efficiently created and effectively run in large-scale diverse democracy.

We Need to Build is a call to create those institutions and a guide for how to run them well.
 
In his youth, Eboo Patel was inspired by love-based activists like John Lewis, Martin Luther King Jr., Badshah Khan, Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Dorothy Day, Abraham Joshua Heschel, and Thich Nhat Hanh. Their example, and a timely challenge to build the change he wanted to see, led to a life engaged in the particulars of building, nourishing, and sustaining an institution that seeks to promote positive social change—Interfaith America. Now, drawing on his twenty years of experience, Patel tells the stories of what he’s learned and how, in the process, he came to construct as much as critique and collaborate more than oppose.
 
His challenge to us is clear: those of us committed to refounding America as a just and inclusive democracy need to defeat the things we don’t like by building the things we do.
Introduction

SECTION ONE: CRITICS AND BUILDERS

CHAPTER ONE
Critic: A Personal Journey

CHAPTER TWO
Builder, Creating Interfaith America

CHAPTER THREE
Jen Bailey, Critic and Builder

CHAPTER FOUR
Campus as Crucible

SECTION TWO: THE GOOD SOCIETY

CHAPTER FIVE
America, the People’s Potluck

CHAPTER SIX
The Obama Story, the Trump Story

CHAPTER SEVEN
The Genius of Religious Institutions

SECTION THREE: CONSIDERATIONS AND CAUTIONS

CHAPTER EIGHT
The Challenge of Being in Charge

CHAPTER NINE
Align the Substantive and the Symbolic

CHAPTER TEN
Be Guided by a Vision For, Not an Anger Against

CHAPTER ELEVEN
Embrace Diversity, Including the Differences You Don’t Like

CHAPTER TWELVE
Embrace the Multiple Languages of Social Change

CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Be Careful Turning Identity Categories into Ideological Categories

CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Seek Solutions, Then Seek Scale

CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Welcome All Allies

CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Persuade Your Opponents

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Consider Constructive Engagement Before You Cancel

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Stand on the Balcony and Think of a Hedgehog

CHAPTER NINETEEN
Appreciate the History of Your Movement, Then Extend It

CHAPTER TWENTY
Be Cautious About Becoming a Symbol

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Be Cautious About Making Generalizations and Speaking for Others

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Be Cautious of the Single Story

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Be Cautious About the False Social Map

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Be Cautious When Accusing Others

CONCLUSION
A Letter to My Sons, Future Builders of Diverse Democracy

Acknowledgments
Notes
Index
Named “one of America’s best leaders” by U.S. News and World Report, Eboo Patel is Founder and President of Interfaith America, the leading interfaith organization in the United States. Under his leadership, Interfaith America has worked with governments, universities, private companies, and civic organizations to make faith a bridge of cooperation rather than a barrier of division. Eboo served on President Obama’s Inaugural Faith Council, has given hundreds of keynote addresses, and has written five books. He is an Ashoka Fellow and holds a doctorate in the sociology of religion from Oxford University, where he studied on a Rhodes scholarship. Eboo lives in Chicago with his wife, Shehnaz, and their two sons.

About

“You don’t create societies by burning things down, You create societies by building things.”

From the former faith adviser to President Obama comes a fresh manifesto for those who seek to promote positive change and build a more diverse and just democracy


The goal of social change work is not a more ferocious revolution; it is a more beautiful social order. It is harder to organize a fair trial than it is to fire up a crowd, more challenging to build a good school than it is to tell others they are doing education all wrong. But every decent society requires fair trials and good schools, and that’s just the beginning of the list of institutions and structures that need to be efficiently created and effectively run in large-scale diverse democracy.

We Need to Build is a call to create those institutions and a guide for how to run them well.
 
In his youth, Eboo Patel was inspired by love-based activists like John Lewis, Martin Luther King Jr., Badshah Khan, Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Dorothy Day, Abraham Joshua Heschel, and Thich Nhat Hanh. Their example, and a timely challenge to build the change he wanted to see, led to a life engaged in the particulars of building, nourishing, and sustaining an institution that seeks to promote positive social change—Interfaith America. Now, drawing on his twenty years of experience, Patel tells the stories of what he’s learned and how, in the process, he came to construct as much as critique and collaborate more than oppose.
 
His challenge to us is clear: those of us committed to refounding America as a just and inclusive democracy need to defeat the things we don’t like by building the things we do.

Table of Contents

Introduction

SECTION ONE: CRITICS AND BUILDERS

CHAPTER ONE
Critic: A Personal Journey

CHAPTER TWO
Builder, Creating Interfaith America

CHAPTER THREE
Jen Bailey, Critic and Builder

CHAPTER FOUR
Campus as Crucible

SECTION TWO: THE GOOD SOCIETY

CHAPTER FIVE
America, the People’s Potluck

CHAPTER SIX
The Obama Story, the Trump Story

CHAPTER SEVEN
The Genius of Religious Institutions

SECTION THREE: CONSIDERATIONS AND CAUTIONS

CHAPTER EIGHT
The Challenge of Being in Charge

CHAPTER NINE
Align the Substantive and the Symbolic

CHAPTER TEN
Be Guided by a Vision For, Not an Anger Against

CHAPTER ELEVEN
Embrace Diversity, Including the Differences You Don’t Like

CHAPTER TWELVE
Embrace the Multiple Languages of Social Change

CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Be Careful Turning Identity Categories into Ideological Categories

CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Seek Solutions, Then Seek Scale

CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Welcome All Allies

CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Persuade Your Opponents

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Consider Constructive Engagement Before You Cancel

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Stand on the Balcony and Think of a Hedgehog

CHAPTER NINETEEN
Appreciate the History of Your Movement, Then Extend It

CHAPTER TWENTY
Be Cautious About Becoming a Symbol

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Be Cautious About Making Generalizations and Speaking for Others

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Be Cautious of the Single Story

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Be Cautious About the False Social Map

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Be Cautious When Accusing Others

CONCLUSION
A Letter to My Sons, Future Builders of Diverse Democracy

Acknowledgments
Notes
Index

Author

Named “one of America’s best leaders” by U.S. News and World Report, Eboo Patel is Founder and President of Interfaith America, the leading interfaith organization in the United States. Under his leadership, Interfaith America has worked with governments, universities, private companies, and civic organizations to make faith a bridge of cooperation rather than a barrier of division. Eboo served on President Obama’s Inaugural Faith Council, has given hundreds of keynote addresses, and has written five books. He is an Ashoka Fellow and holds a doctorate in the sociology of religion from Oxford University, where he studied on a Rhodes scholarship. Eboo lives in Chicago with his wife, Shehnaz, and their two sons.

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