Boniuk Institute

Rice’s Boniuk Institute unveils strategic plan to advance religious pluralism

Rice’s Boniuk Institute for the Study and Advancement of Religious Tolerance hosted a 10th anniversary celebration at Cohen House Oct. 4 to commemorate a decade of work and share its vision for the next 10 years. The event featured the launch of the institute’s strategic plan to understand the conditions that lead to religious discrimination and conflict and to promote religious tolerance locally and globally.

Rice sociologist elected president of Religious Research Association

Elaine Howard Ecklund, the Herbert S. Autrey Chair in Social Sciences and director of Rice University’s Boniuk Institute for the Study and Advancement of Religious Tolerance, has been elected president of the Religious Research Association (RRA) for 2023-24.

Rice study: Peer religious discrimination harms mental health more than exclusionary organizational policies

Religious discrimination from one’s peers has a far greater impact on an individual’s mental health than exclusionary organizational policies, according to a new study from Rice University’s Boniuk Institute for the Study and Advancement of Religious Tolerance.

Varied regional culture may affect individual expression of religion in US

Religious expression in the workplace — from wearing symbols of one’s beliefs to discussing faith at work — varies from geographic location to location, with Christians more likely to express their faith in the South, Jews most likely in the Northeast and Muslims most likely to do so out West, according to a new paper from researchers at Rice University’s Boniuk Institute and its Religion and Public Life Program, Purdue University, West Virginia University and Wheaton College.

Religious calling to a job can motivate employees but might result in mistreatment going unaddressed

Feeling a religious or spiritual calling to a job can be a huge motivator, but it can also potentially result in employee mistreatment and exploitation going unaddressed, according to new research from Rice University’s Boniuk Institute for the Study and Advancement of Religious Tolerance and the Religion and Public Life Program.

At work, bosses express religion more than subordinates, study says

How much individuals express their religious beliefs in the workplace depends on how much power they hold there, according to new research from the Boniuk Institute for the Study and Advancement of Religious Tolerance’s Religion and Public Life Program at Rice University.

Religious violence increases anxiety among Muslims and Jews, even if they have never been personally targeted

Fear of hate crime looms especially large in the minds of Jews and Muslims, even if they have never been personally targeted, according to a new study from Rice University and West Virginia University.

Baker Institute event: COVID-19’s impact on Muslim world

The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on religiosity and practices in the Muslim world will be discussed in a Nov. 29 event at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy.

Muslims of Middle Eastern or North African descent most likely to report police harassment, study shows

New research from sociologists at Rice University and West Virginia University finds that almost 20% of Muslims report having been harassed by the police specifically because of their religion, more than four times the rate reported by people of other faiths.

Sociologist Ecklund named director of Boniuk Institute

Elaine Howard Ecklund, an internationally acclaimed sociologist of religion, is the new director of the Boniuk Institute for Religious Tolerance at Rice University.

Boniuk Institute, empathy advocates to present Compassion Week

Compassionate Houston, a partner of Rice’s Boniuk Institute for Religious Tolerance, is hosting Compassion Week Oct. 16-22 to provide the community with perspectives from a variety of backgrounds through virtual sessions.

Kassim wins prestigious dissertation completion fellowship

A series of setbacks didn’t deter this Rice grad student, who is soon to publish his second book.

The questions of our time: Humanities courses encourage closer examination of daily life

Rice's Big Questions courses speak to issues that are fundamental to our experience.

Religious hate crimes will increase, says Rice expert

Remembering John Lewis: Activist, Civil Rights Icon and Humanitarian

The Black Male Leadership Initiative (BMLI), with support from the Dean of Undergraduates and Boniuk Institute for Religious Tolerance, is honored to have serendipitously met John Lewis during our cultural excursion in May 2019 to Atlanta