Couple Gives $10-Million to Foster Religious Tolerance

How much: $10-million over 10 years

Who got it: Claremont School of Theology

Who gave it: David L. Lincoln, an heir to the Lincoln Electric Company fortune, the founder of Lincoln Laser, and a real-estate developer, in Paradise Valley, Ariz., and his wife, Joan, a ceramics artist.

Purpose: The pledge will support a new consortium of graduate programs at Claremont and elsewhere for students studying to become religious leaders. The program will train students in both their particular religion’s teachings, ethics, and scriptures, and in the teachings of other religions. The goal is to help religious leaders learn to work together effectively to solve such global problems as disease, hunger, and poverty.

How it happened: In 2006, the institution’s leaders started talking about creating the consortium, recalls Jerry D. Campbell, president of the Clarement School of Theology. A Claremont trustee since 2003, Mr. Lincoln and his wife, both Methodists, had for many years been interested in the idea of increasing understanding among people of different faiths and were immediately taken with the idea, said Mr. Campbell.

What’s next: Claremont plans to offer some of the project’s courses next fall, and excitement about it has already increased applications to the school, he says. “We’ve had the largest group of applicants this year than in recent times, and nine out of 10 are coming because of this,” said Mr. Campbell. “The current generation of young people is seriously concerned about what religious differences have been doing to create violence in the world.”

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