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This article was written by Peter Dziedzic, a sophomore at DePaul, who is pursuing a double major in Religious Studies and English. Peter is the co-President of DePaul Interfaith and member of the Executive Committee of the Better Together Campaign at DePaul University.

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The world is not at peace.

A decade into the millennium, hate crimes still plague our neighborhoods, acts of terrorism claim the lives of innocents at unsuspecting intervals, and fear and mistrust have kept our communities from attaining local and global harmony.

This past year was scarred by acts of religious intolerance, not only here in America, but also abroad. While we’ve been exposed to issues of Islamophobia and Anti-Semitism here in the United States – Qur’ans threatened and burned, mosques defaced and denied, bomb threats and deeply-etched swastikas at synagogues – we must also be aware of such issues abroad.Christians in the Middle East, struggling to find peace and consolation after an attack on a church in Iraq in October left nearly 100 dead and an attack on an Egyptian church after a New Year’s Day mass, face persecution in their communities. In Saudi Arabia, religious freedom is nearly nonexistent for Christians.

Baha’is in Iran struggle for freedom of religion, and face imprisonment and harsh sentencing for their beliefs.

Muslims and Hindus in India fight and die over land mutually shared by temples and mosques.

Religious intolerance is not a local or national problem. It is a global problem. It is a human problem.

Why is it that religions, which often preach mutually-shared values and share spiritual ancestry and lineage, have come into such stark and profound conflict, especially in the twenty-first century? Perhaps it is a repercussion of such rapid globalization, or perhaps it is a refusal to accept what appears to be a threat to our cultural heritages. Perhaps it is a refusal to branch out from our communities, or a fear of the unknown manifested in bullets and slurs. Regardless of the initial factors, many people today do not see religion as a force for good.

A few weeks ago, The Munk Debates, which are Canadian-based high-profile debates that seek to provide a lively discussion and substantive forum for leading thinkers to debate critical issues, questioned the power of religion. On November 26, Tony Blair, former Prime Minister and interfaith leader, a proponent of religion as a force for good in the world, and Christopher Hitchens, a bestselling author and atheist who proposed otherwise, participated in a televised debate relating to this issue. The public was allowed to poll their decision. 32 percent of people thought religion was a force for good in the world, whereas 68 percent thought otherwise.

With the New Year beginning, it is time to look to the weeks and months ahead. What will characterize 2011? Will we see more bombings, more hate crimes, more mistrust, or will we see our struggle for mutual acceptance and unification take precedence? What is needed most in 2011 is a rise in interfaith cooperation, engagement and understanding. We need to stand in solidarity with our own faith communities and other faith communities when basic freedoms are denied – freedom of choice, freedom of life, and freedom of faith.

While great and noble work has been pursued here in the States and abroad to combat religious intolerance and to promote understanding, there are still profound misunderstandings and misconceptions that exist among many faith communities. What is needed is a global push for cooperation, a worldwide denial of religious hate crimes, religious persecution, and religious intolerance.

Such a sweeping movement, however, has to start right here, right now – in our own communities. It is the responsibility of each individual to commit to their own open-mindedness, their own understanding, and their own willingness to work for peace.

DePaul, as an institution, has a wonderful and rich history of interfaith cooperation. Likewise, many college campuses and community initiatives across the United States and the world have been inspired to unite faith communities to combat acts of bigotry, pursue community service initiatives, and promote religious literacy.

It is we who will decide if 2011 is mired by continual acts of violence or acts of love and solidarity – each and every one of us, whether we are Hindu, Jew, Christian, Muslim, Atheist, Humanist, or none of the above. It is we who will stand in defiance of ignorant acts of intolerance. It is we who will define religion as a force for good.

How will you begin the New Year?