Can Faith-Based Colleges Truly Foster Interfaith Engagement?

How do religious higher education institutions, designed to cultivate faith-specific formation, engage with the reality of growing religious and worldview diversity? Can these spaces encourage mutual understanding without diluting theological integrity?

On 26th February 2025, the Muslims, Societies & Cultures research area at AMI hosted a thought-provoking seminar that tackled these very questions. Drawing from a pioneering research project funded by the Sir Halley Stewart Trust and the Westhill Endowment, Professor Kristin Aune and Dr Hafza Iqbal explored the nuanced dynamics of interfaith learning in Christian and Muslim higher education colleges across the UK.

In an age of increasing polarisation and religious misunderstanding, the role of faith-based colleges in shaping inclusive yet authentic discourse is more vital than ever. These institutions often attract students with strong religious convictions, but such environments also carry the potential to create echo chambers.

This research investigates whether these colleges can be catalysts for pluralism, fostering not just tolerance, but genuine engagement and empathy across religious and non-religious lines. It asks: What structures and practices within religious colleges help or hinder interfaith learning? What do students and faculty experience as barriers or opportunities for interfaith dialogue?

Key Findings: Interfaith Engagement That Transforms

The study encompassed two Muslim and two Christian colleges, capturing perspectives from students, lecturers, and administrators. The data illuminated several compelling patterns:

• High Pluralism Orientation: Religious college students were significantly more likely to exhibit high levels of pluralism orientation, 87% compared to just 40% among university students at large. This includes positive feelings towards people of differing beliefs and a willingness to engage with religious diversity.
• Informal Encounters Matter: Most interfaith learning occurred through informal relationships rather than formal modules. Class discussions, campus friendships, and lived interactions were crucial sites of transformation.
• Interfaith Activity Improves Attitudes: Students who engaged more frequently in interfaith activities—whether through curriculum, co-curricular events or conversations—developed more positive views of other worldviews.
• Safe Spaces + Provocative Encounters: A dual need emerged—students value both the safety to express their own beliefs and the challenge of confronting different perspectives. This balance is essential to fostering interfaith growth.
• Intra-Faith Learning as a Gateway: Interestingly, learning to navigate differences within one’s own faith tradition often prepared students for interfaith engagement. Internal diversity was seen as a mirror to external pluralism.
• Ongoing Transformation: Many students reported that their views on people of other faiths or no faith had evolved—sometimes profoundly—since starting their college journeys.

These findings challenge the stereotype that religious institutions are necessarily parochial or closed off from diversity. In fact, with the right frameworks, they may offer some of the richest terrain for deep interfaith learning.

About the Speakers

Professor Kristin Aune is Professor of Sociology of Religion at Coventry University’s Centre for Peace and Security. She is a leading authority on religion and higher education, as well as religion and gender, and has published widely on both topics. She serves as editor of the Religion & Gender journal and is the co-editor of Religion and Higher Education in Europe and North America (Routledge). She led the current research project on interfaith learning in Christian and Muslim colleges.

Dr Hafza Iqbal is a Research Assistant at Coventry University and Course Lead for Islam and Pastoral Care at the Markfield Institute of Higher Education. She earned her PhD in Sufi Studies and Islamic Practical Theology and has published work on digital religion and interfaith dialogue. Dr Iqbal’s contributions brought particular depth to understanding how Muslim students engage with interfaith learning in Islamic higher education contexts.

This presentation offered rich qualitative and quantitative insights into a rarely studied but deeply important area. We encourage you to watch the full seminar below to engage with the full spectrum of data, case studies, and recommendations.