Facing History and Ourselves's video: John Sexton on Religion and Democracy Part 2: An Ecumenical Society

John Sexton, President of New York University since 2001, Benjamin Butler Professor of Law, and Dean Emeritus of NYU Law School, speaks at Facing History's Give Bigotry No Sanction: Exploring Religious Freedom and Democracy event in New York City on January 31, 2011. In part two of his interview with Facing History, President Sexton explores the notion of pluralism and diversity of faith, and the lens through which we see such diversity. The story of our time, Sexton says, is whether we're able to move away from the habit of viewing the world only through the window that we're given, or whether we embrace the opportunity of seeing the world with all the facets of a diamond. Moving away from the older ideal of a homogenous "melting pot," Sexton examines the ideal of an ecumenical society. He tells us An ecumenical way of looking at things is to say we're going to be a community of communities. Interlocking communities. Not gates, not walls between us. Human kind is going to develop as an organism, each part identifiable, each part autonomous, but each part intrinsically connected to each other . . . the question of our century will be, are we good enough to do it? Are we good enough to be ecumenical in this sense? Are we good enough to overcome the kind of bigotry that Washington condemns?