University of Iowa Opens Inter-faith Relations Seminar

The building of morale in the war effort through an objective analysis of the social, cultural and educational aspects of group conflict and a diagnosis of the manifestations, causes and proposed solutions of inter-faith conflict is the goal of a pioneer inter-faith relations seminar inaugurated this semester at the University of Iowa School of Religion.

Dr. Morris N. Kertzer, Jewish professor at the School of Religion and director of the B’nai B’rith Hillel Foundation at the University of Iowa, is giving the course, which is limited to fifteen upper class and graduate students representing the Catholic, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Jewish, Methodist, Baptist, Friends, Nazarene, Congregationalist and Unitarian faiths.

The scope of the course is limited to the American scene except that Professor Jacob Van der Zee, of the department of political science, is dealing with the South American aspects of the problem and Professor Hew Roberts, of Australia, is offering a British viewpoint. In addition, Professor Kurt Lewin will present the sociological side of minority-majority relations and Professor Louis Wirth, dean of social science at the University of Chicago and visiting professor at Iowa, will lead a discussion on “The Anatomy of Prejudice.”