We believe there will be no peace in the world without religious pluralism, and no religious pluralism without the leadership of young people.

In an era of global religious conflict, idealism has a new face: interfaith youth cooperation. The evening news features stories of young people killing each other to the soundtrack of prayer. Yet across the country and the world, young people of many faiths are coming together around the shared value of service. They are changing the toxic conversation about religion and building the American dream of a place in which freedom for one relies on freedom for all. The watershed moment for their idealism has come: today's young people will grow up under the leadership of your administration, in which civic engagement is supported in an unprecedented way. Their idealism has the potential to be realized as never before.

This is our time.

Your election demonstrates the revitalized participation and trust among the diverse communities in America-we must leverage this groundswell. We must recognize the power in young leadership to mobilize a generation of socially active citizens, as you have. America is the most religiously devout country in the West and the most religiously diverse country in the world, but we have yet to build Reverend King's beloved community.

President Obama, we need you to take charge of translating America's religious diversity into religious pluralism. Pluralism has three components: respect for religious identity, mutually inspiring relationships between people of diverse faith traditions, and common action for the common good. This kind of pluralism strengthens the fabric of civil society through a commitment to service.

We must bridge America's religious communities to maximize their wealth of social capital. We only understand a fraction of the power of faith communities, because we only know what they can do alone. Partnered with one another, creating common action together, religious communities will advance an ethic of volunteerism that is badly needed in America.

And the young people of these communities will lead the way.

Beyond civil society, religious pluralism has the potential to transform American diplomacy. The global perception of America has already improved-but as you yourself told us on election night, this moment requires all of us to do more. We must strive to be a global leader in interfaith cooperation. The world is inspired by the American ideal of diverse communities living together. We must live up to this ideal and invite others to do so as well.

A culture of religious pluralism breeds a culture of peace. The United Nations interfaith meeting in November revealed that leaders around the world are seeking this culture of peace. They recognize that constructive interreligious interaction is the way to achieve it.

This is not about selecting wedge issues and imbuing the public square with God talk.

This is about identifying shared values and bringing diverse communities together to act upon them.

I challenge you to hold up the value of religious pluralism. Help the young leaders of today make it a reality.

Eboo Patel is the founder and executive director of the Interfaith Youth Core. He writes "The Faith Divide" blog for the Washington Post, and his book Acts of Faith was recently published in paperback.