Religious Tolerance Focus of New Center at Rice

Given the tenets formally expressed by the world’s major religions, it might seem that religious tolerance is a precept spread uniformly across faiths. One only has to watch the evening news, however, to see that, in practice, this is not always the case. In an effort to shed light on the situation, a new center at Rice will strive to promote understanding through study of the sources of religious tolerance and intolerance.

“Advancing the cause of religious tolerance is surely one of the greatest challenges of our age,” said then-president Malcolm Gillis, center, announcing the creation of the Boniuk Center for the Study and Advancement of Religious Tolerance. The center was made possible by a gift from Dr. Milton Boniuk, second from left, and his wife, Laurie. Carol Quillen, right, associate professor of history, will serve as the center’s first director. Also pictured is Sidney Burrus, dean of the George R. Brown School of Engineering.

The Boniuk Center for the Study and Advancement of Religious Tolerance, which was formally announced April 22, was made possible by a gift from Milton Boniuk and his wife, Laurie. “Advancing the cause of religious tolerance is surely one of the greatest challenges of our age,” noted Malcolm Gillis, president at the time the new center was established. “The Boniuk Center will be concerned with tolerance for all religions: the three Abrahamic religions, Hinduism, Buddhism, and others.”

The Boniuk Center has two primary aims: first, to create a scholarly archive of writings, documents, and historical evidence of religious tolerance; and second, to establish and foster a code of religious conduct or tolerance. “Throughout history, religious tolerance has been an elusive goal for societies,” Gillis said. “There are, however, examples of tolerant societies in all ages, where we find both deep attachment to religious beliefs and causes and passionate commitments to justice and respect for those with different beliefs. The Boniuk Center will seek lessons from this history.”

Boniuk, an ophthalmologist and full-time clinical faculty member of the Department of Ophthalmology at Baylor College of Medicine, said he envisions a code of religious tolerance that the mainstream of all religions could embrace and accept. He looks forward to seeing Rice students, faculty, and staff members embrace the code and hopes it will be adopted by other universities, religious congregations, and public and private preparatory schools as well as major corporations and labor organizations. “I hope that in a short period of time,” he said, “there will be a dramatic change in how people view religions.”

Carol Quillen, associate professor of history, who will serve as the Boniuk Center’s first director, noted that religious intolerance often reflects complex political and cultural situations. “A meaningful commitment to tolerance requires that we study religious differences as these relate to other spheres of human life,” she explained. “The Boniuk Center’s work of promoting universal religious tolerance will, therefore, require the commitment and collaboration of many—religious and community leaders, politicians, and scholars from across the humanities and social sciences.”

The Boniuk Center will not have to look far for scholarly expertise. It will be part of Rice’s School of Humanities, which is home to some of the nation’s leading scholars of religion and history whose work is directly concerned with the problems of persecution, religious extremism, and the impact of religion on contemporary political processes around the globe. They work cooperatively with scholars in other departments, such as political science and sociology, where similar research is being conducted.

—Margot Dimond