Religous Diversity and Pluralism in the United States - Dutch Journalists

May 21-28, 2005, Washington, DC and Houston, Texas
Contact: Washington Foreign Press Center Program Officer: George Brazier
Telephone: 202-504-6318, Email: braziergw@state.gov

With the Netherlands struggling to integrate immigrants from Muslim countries, the Foreign Press Center assisted the US Embassy The Hague in organizing a reporting tour for Dutch journalists on religious diversity and pluralism in the United States.

The one-week tour opened on May 22 with a Sunday service in a predominantly African-American Baptist Church in Washington and concluded with a visit to a mosque in Houston.  In between, the journalists - from ethnically diverse Rotterdam, The Hague, Amsterdam, and Eindhoven - in Washington heard from academics, think tanks, and lobbyists on the importance of religion in American life and the Constitutional framework that allows different communities to play equal roles on the American stage.  In a session with the Community Relations Service, they learned how this unique arm of the Department of Justice brings communities together through mediation and training in conflict resolution.

In Houston, participants enjoyed the down-home hospitality of Arab and Muslim Texans both in their homes and where they work.  They interviewed Houston's first Muslim city council member, talked with counterparts at the Houston Chronicle about covering minority community issues, met with a leading immigration attorney, and were interviewed in a weekly Arab radio broadcast.  At a specially arranged meeting of Houston's Interfaith Ministries, they learned how Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Sikh, and other communities work to make this "city of minorities" a success.