"Kids have the opportunity to create or destroy. If you don't give them the opportunity to create, they will destroy." Eboo Patel, a religious scholar and interfaith leader, established the Chicago Interfaith Youth Core to cultivate a generation of compassionate global leaders. The independent organization brings young people of all faiths together to do service work, reflect on their faith and better understand the connection between religion and social justice. While proud of being a Muslim, Patel feels a kinship with most faiths. He says there are many young Muslims just like him, who have a hunger to learn about other people's religions. "We are Muslims who admire the Dalai Lama and also Christians who talk about karma."

	Patel is inspired by people of faith and action -- Gandhi, Dorothy Day, and Martin Luther King, Jr. "What made these people significant," he says, "is they learned from religious traditions other than their own. These are not just social action heroes. These are people whose work was inspired by their religious beliefs." Utne Reader, a compass for alternative trends, named Patel one of America's "Young Visionaries Under 30" for his groundbreaking work with young people. Patel views his mission as one of trying to build a generation of compassionate leaders by quietly promoting tolerance. Patel has been saddened by the acts of terrorism that have deeply wounded his religion, Islam. He says Osama bin Laden is a coward and a terrorist who has twisted a beautiful faith. As a Rhodes Scholar, he earned a Ph.D. in the sociology of religion at Oxford University the same year he was also offered a Rotary Scholarship to study abroad.