Open Journal of Social Sciences, 2018, 6, 50-53 http://www.scirp.org/journal/jss ISSN Online: 2327-5960 ISSN Print: 2327-5952 DOI: 10.4236/jss.2018.610005 Oct. 23, 2018 50 Open Journal of Social Sciences Navigating Turbulent Religious Diversity in Global Health Annekathryn Goodman Division of Gynecologic Oncology, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA Abstract Physicians who work internationally and in culturally diverse settings will on occasion be challenged by political upheavals, riots, or other disturbances. Medical professionals who work in global health need to be aware of the ten- sions and challenges that people of different religions experience. This edi- torial reviews the philosophy of several theological leaders who grappled with issues of social justices and the importance of respectful communication and understanding across religious differences. Physicians must have training and develop expertise in global health diplomacy to function on three levels: indi- vidual, national, and international. Keywords Religious Difference, Religious Injustice, Interfaith Environment, Global Health Diplomacy 1. Personal Experience In September of 2012 two colleagues and I were caught up in a crowd in Dhaka, Bangladesh. We were trying to get to the airport after two weeks of medical work in India and Bangladesh. The crowd was angry at America. They were burning an “American” straw figure and chanting. This all occurred two weeks after the start of anti-American riots in many Muslim countries on September 11 of 2012. An anti-Islamic movie trailer called “The Innocence of Muslims” which was downloaded onto YouTube in July triggered Muslim anger, riots, many injuries, and at least 50 deaths [1]. We ultimately left Bangladesh for the United States physically unscathed but emotionally rattled. This led me to want to understand the background to reli- gious tensions, religious intolerance, and how that impacted the safety of inno- How to cite this paper: Goodman, A. (2018) Navigating Turbulent Religious Diversity in Global Health. Open Journal of Social Sciences, 6, 50-53. https://doi.org/10.4236/jss.2018.610005 Received: September 13, 2018 Accepted: October 20, 2018 Published: October 23, 2018 Copyright © 2018 by author and Scientific Research Publishing Inc. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY 4.0). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Open Access