WHAT WE DO

We seek to enrich impoverished understandings of religious diversity and to strengthen enfeebled practices of interfaith engagement.

We are a Drake University center for the practice of comparative philosophy of religion, the understanding of local-lived religion, and the cultivation of interfaith literacy and leadership.

Check out our social media platforms!

Meet My Religious Neighbor

In May 2017 we began an ongoing series of open houses in places of worship in the greater Des Moines area. Each open house occurs on the first weekend of the month (insofar as possible). Each visit provides an opportunity to tour a sacred space, learn how religion is practiced there, and meet and connect with people from different faiths and walks of life. Please join us!

Meet My Religious Neighbor is a collaboration between The Comparison Project at Drake University, Des Moines Area Religious Council, and Interfaith Alliance of Iowa. For more information, please visit iowainterfaithexchange.org


SPRING 2020 VISITS 

3/8/2020 Celebration of Holi  

Hindu Temple and Cultural Center
-Sunday, March 8th, 11:00 am – 2:00 pm
-33916 155th Lane, Madrid, IA 50156
– Join us at the Hindu temple for fun, food, and prayer. Meet your host at 11:00 am for Holika Pooja (prayers). Throwing the colors will begin after 12pm, followed by dancing and lunch, available for purchase at 1pm.

4/19/2020 Lao Buddhist New Year Service 

Wat Lao Buddhist Temple
-1804 E Park Avenue, Des Moines, IA 50320
– Please join us for the annual Lao New Year’s Service! The event will include a “Tak Bat”, in which lay members of the temple donate “alms” to Buddhist monks; this food later comes back to the community “blessed.” The service includes a washing of the temple’s Buddha statues, as well as a ritual sprinkling of water on the congregation, both of which symbolically remove any evil and wrongdoing from the previous year. Guests are invited to stay past 11am for a short parade, a long meal, and many other festivities. 

5/2/2020 Islamic and Cultural Center Bosniak Es Selam Mosque

– 17630 Bosniak Lane, Granger, IA 50109
– Join us for tours beginning at 6:30 pm, Iftar (dinner) at 7:15 pm, and Isha (prayer) at 8:42 pm. Religious leaders are welcome to come in religous clothing or formal dress. Men need to wear pants, regardless of weather. Women need to use a scarf to cover their head and wear clothing that covers to their ankles and wrists. Also, be prepared to remove your shoes when entering the building.

"Guides" to the Religions of Des Moines

In 2013 The Comparison Project began creating guides to religious “communities” in the greater Des Moines area. Each guide includes a history of the community and description of its practices, along with information relevant to visiting that community’s services.

For the most part, each guide was created within the context of a Drake University course about that community (as part of a “Religions of Des Moines” series). In cases where courses have not yet been taught about a religious community that is featured in our photo-narrative on religion in Des Moines (Spectrum of Faith), we provide the student entry from it.

We thank Bob Blanchard for the photos of these communities (http://www.bobblanchardphotography.com)

Please find here entries on these religious communities:

Learn More

Our People

Our director is Tim Knepper, Professor of Philosophy at Drake University; Leah Kalmanson, Associate Professor of Philosophy, and Erin Lain, Associate Provost for Equity and Inclusion, are our co-directors.

Our “Meet My Religious Neighbor” open-house series is a collaboration with the Des Moines Area Religious Council, Interfaith Alliance of Iowa, and CultureALL.

Our Interfaith Youth Leadership Camp is a collaboration with the Des Moines Area Religious Council, especially Sarah Trone Garriott and Luke Elzinga.

Our Advisory Board is currently served by Dr. Richard Deming, Matthew Mitchell, Arthur Neis, Lyle Simpson, David Skidmore, and Mary Pat Wohlford.

The students in Prof. Knepper’s “Interfaith @ Drake” and “Religions of Des Moines” classes are our “hands and feet,” assisting with everything from communications and publicity, to social media and website, to strategic planning and grant-writing, to programming and evaluation.

Our Funding 

The Comparison Project is generously supported by the following donors:

Help 

We are always looking for help!  Contact comparisonproject@drake.edu if interested.

Contribute 

There is so much more that we can do!  What prevents this most is money.  If you want to support our programming, please do so here: https://alumni.drake.edu/comparisonprojectsupport

Learn More

This summer (2017) we wrote a TCP Strategic Plan and TCP Balanced Scorecard. If you want to know about some of our future plans, check out these documents.