WASHINGTON, November 9 (UPI) -- WASHINGTON, Nov. 9 (UPI) -- Dr. Eboo Patel, the remarkable founder and executive director of the Interfaith Youth Core based in Chicago, is going to be the guest Thursday on "Speaking of Faith," public radio's national conversation about religion, meaning, ethics and ideas, hosted by Krista Tippett.

If you are going to be near a radio I want to recommend you tune in. The reason is because in the very short time I have been acquainted with Eboo Patel, I have observed that every time he opens his mouth, out comes something that is both compelling in its vision, and that has a decent chance to be made workable in the real world. I'm trying to think of the last time I have found both of those qualities in the same person, and I can tell you it's always a long dry spell between encounters.

Eboo is a young American Muslim leader who is committed to religious pluralism. Furthermore, he understands that a belief in pluralism also has to come with the courage to act on it. "Action," he says, "is what separates a belief from an opinion." In this area he really gets it.

Thursday, he will talk with Kristina about "Religious Passion, Pluralism and the Young". He says we will not save the next generation of every faith by seeking to tame their religious energies, but by deepening and emboldening them.

The program and companion web site will be live at www.speakingoffaith.org on Thursday November 10 at 1 p.m. Central Time.

The program will air again on public radio stations across the U.S., from November 10 through November 16. On the internet you can listen to the program via streaming audio.

While you're at it, this would be an excellent time to learn how to purchase a downloadable copy from National Public Radio (NPR), and follow along with their annotated guide to the radio broadcast. Broadcast locations and times for select cities are shown below. For for the complete schedule, zip over to www.npr.org and click on the "Stations" link at the top of their home page.

In an essay entitled, "We are each other's business," which he wrote for NPR's This I Believe series, Eboo wrote, "I am an American Muslim. I believe in pluralism. In the Holy Quran, God tells us, 'I created you into diverse nations and tribes that you may come to know one another.' I believe America is humanity's best opportunity to make God's wish that we come to know one another a reality... We live in a world where the forces that seek to divide us are strong. To overcome them, we must do more than simply stand next to one another in silence."

He's not chopped liver. He is as grounded and substantive as "Eboo" is enjoyable to pronounce. He was asked to give the keynote at the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize Forum. In 2002, Utne Magazine named Patel one of "thirty social visionaries under 30." Utne's words of praise are no longer true, by the way. He's still a visionary, but as of today he is no longer under 30.

Happy birthday, Eboo. Welcome to the next phase.

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