“Creating a Public Space through Service-Learning”

In this paper, I suggest that community-based learning can act as a “public space” for the exchange of religious and non-religious identities. By providing a space for the collaboration between religiously-affiliated Universities and non-religiously affiliated community partners, community-based learning offers the opportunity for the negotiation of what civic engagement means in a pluralistic society. This exchange can inform the conversation on the public role of religion by offering an example of how religious and secular communities can discover a common language through the realization of shared interests.