Diana L. Eck is an American scholar of religious studies and professor of Comparative Religion and Indian Studies at Harvard University. She is also the Director of <em>The Pluralism Project</em> at Harvard.
In this excerpt, the order in which she presents the items serves a rhetorical purpose. The items are listed in order of how "accepted" they are in mainstream American society. Christianity (a cross) is well-accepted, while Judaism (yarmulke) is still omnipresent, but more contentious. As she goes on, the list would appear more and more exotic to American readers. The question therefore is successful in testing the limits of religious plurality.
Answer:
do you mean like synonyms?
Explanation:
I want to inform you that the summary on Peace like a River will not be short. Here is the paragraph I managed to find. One part Christian-inflected odyssey, one part tragedy, and one part classic adventure in the American West, Peace Like a River by Leif Enger is the story of a 1960s Minnesota family narrated by the asthmatic Reuben, the product of the first of his father’s seven miracles. The title takes its name from the Christian hymn “It Is Well With My Soul” In case, you feel like this is not enough, I want you to check what the writers from Prime Writings can do for you.