ABSTRACT
It is clear that with increased technology and mobility, people from various faith traditions and worldviews now interact, either by choice or by situation, more frequently. As history attests, diverse groups are either unwilling or unable to constructively regulate worldview differences. In an increasingly multicultural world, understanding and appreciation of religious and worldview differences are potentially beneficial to social functioning. Two factors put the academy in a unique position to foster multicultural understanding and appreciation. First, many campuses are microcosms of the cultural and religious pluralism that reflects the United States society as a whole. Second, the traditional college-age years are critical years in the development of social attitudes and perspectives. For these reasons, we should expect students’ experiences in the academy would influence their development of pluralistic attitudes. The findings set forth by Rine and by Bryant Rockenbach and Mayhew show this to be the case. Our purpose here is to discuss how the findings set forth in their chapters both extend the knowledge base on the impact of college and how their findings may stimulate future research efforts on religious diversity.
