I have a friend who is an Orthodox rabbi. OK, several. But one in particular has a great philosophy: it is fun to be Jewish.

I like that. And people like him.

But something isn’t fun for my friend, and that’s a perceived bias against religious people. As he once mentioned, “people talk all about pluralism and diversity. Yet, there’s no place at the table for me.”

I never really thought about this issue until I was taking part in a webinar hosted by Joshua Venture. During the webinar, the presenter stressed that the cohort (the group of people who would be receiving their grants) needed to get along and be cohesive, while at the same time diverse. They wanted people to “meld well together”, I believe was the term.

At one point, a participant asked the question, “what if I am Orthodox? Will I fit in? Will I be a part of the cohesive [Read more…]