by Maij Vu Mai
What is religious pluralism to the Survivor? To the one who’s lost faith in themselves? Lost faith in other people? Lost faith in humanity? To the one who’s lost faith in their ability to connect because…
by Miranda Hovemeyer
I’ll be honest. I haven’t felt at home in the field of interfaith work for quite a while. During one of the last interfaith conferences I spoke at, I was asked by an older white gentleman why I was there, then insisting…
by Sable Manson
n the spring of 2020, I was working with my higher education colleagues to prepare for an interfaith retreat set on Catalina Island, off the coast of southern California. We had planned numerous…
by Najeeba Syeed
I’ve written about “casserole” hospitality, an ethic of care demonstrated in America’s Heartland found in communities of various traditions who welcome…
by Cody Nielsen
Last month, I sat alone in the Pasquerilla Spiritual Center at Pennsylvania State College. I sat and cried for all the senseless acts of violence against Muslim, Christian, and Jewish communities across the nation and world…
by Sally Mahé
At the birth of the United Religious Initiative (URI) 20 years ago, Appreciative Inquiry (AI), a transformational philosophy and methodology for positive change, served as midwife.
by Andrew Smith
I learn best by listening to people’s ideas over a good cup of coffee. One such conversation sparked ideas that inspired a whole series of interfaith dialogues that have taken place over the past few years.
by Vicki Garlock
Sometimes, a story is told more easily through art. That’s certainly the case for this Bulgarian-based interfaith and cultural exchange camp – the brainchild of Angelina Vladikova and Svetlana Karadzhova…
by Chris Highland
One sunny Bay Area afternoon I was walking down a sidewalk under shade trees with my class of developmentally disabled adults.
by Sabrina N. Jafralie
My journey with religion and interfaith started before I was born. I am the child of parents who are culturally, racially, and religiously different.
by Bee Moorhead
As the saying goes, “Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it.” Talanoa Dialogue just might change that.
by Paul Chaffee
If the 1893 Parliament of the World’s Religions in Chicago made history by opening the door to interreligious relationships, the 1993 Centennial Parliament made history by endorsing and promoting Towards a Global Ethic – An Initial Declaration.
by Miranda Hovemeyer
There’s a photo that I keep seeing posted on social media. I can’t find the original source, but it’s a photo of what appears to be a page from a book. On the page is written, “Being taught to avoid talking about politics and religion has led to a lack of understanding of politics and religion.
by Johnny Martin
I woke up on an early June morning last summer with plans to attend the ‘Anti-Sharia Protest’ event in Paradise Valley, about 30 miles from my home in Mesa, Arizona. There had been a lot of media attention in the days leading up to the demonstration, which was being called an “Islamophobic hate rally”
by Elías González
Silence. Young people sitting in a circle. Prayers. “This is how it all began, with a prayer, by the hand of God. Like a dream.” Mexico City, one of the most populated cities on the planet, has historically been a land of encounter among cultures, civilizations, and religions.
by Tahil Sharma
This past year felt like a constant uphill battle. I never realized the degree to which my friends, colleagues, and I would be fighting to keep justice and equity afloat in a world that seems to be increasingly sinking into darkness.
by Ruth Broyde Sharone
Aziza Hasan is one of the most admired Muslim women in Los Angeles. She is a graduate of a small Mennonite college in Kansas, where she studied conflict resolution and mediation and spent two years as a member of AmericaCorps.
by Seán Rose
As an interfaith educator, trainer, and dialogue facilitator, Don’t Think Twice got me thinking about what improv can teach us about intercultural and interfaith work. Here are five principles which I believe can shape and inform great interfaith encounters.
by Ana Patel
Last year, while facilitating an experiential peacebuilding workshop, I invited the participants to try a listening exercise. Simple idea – simple activity. Participants were asked to divide into pairs, one listener and one speaker. The listeners were asked to spend three minutes listening to the speaker on climate change – keep eye contact, make encouraging gestures and sounds, but don’t interrupt. Then switch.
by Marcus Braybrooke
Father Albert Nambiaparambil, “the prophet of religious harmony,” as The Malayala Manorama, Kerala’s leading newspaper, called him, died on February 6 after a brief illness. He was 86. Albert made an important contribution to interfaith fellowship in Kochi (or Cochin), where he lived for many years...
by Thomas Albert Howard
It is hard to find today a major city that does not have an “interfaith” or “interreligious” council or a university that does not sponsor some sort of “dialogue” among world religions. But when and where did “interreligious dialogue” begin? Most scholars would point to Chicago in 1893 when the first “Parliament of the World’s Religions” met in conjunction with the World’s Columbian Exposition of the same year. But most things in history have antecedents.
by Henry Karlson
Interfaith dialogue is a constant element of any religious faith. Such dialogue, however, tends not to be on the level of the dogmatic teachings of the different faiths but on practical matters, such as questions concerning the morality or immorality of particular actions or on the way communities as a whole understand shared historical experiences.
by Jonathan Homrighausen
I stood in front of the Ark of the Covenant, holding my incense while I gazed on the golden wings of the cherubim. No, I am not starring in a remake of Raiders of the Lost Ark. I was inside The Tabernacle Experience, an interactive re-enactment of the Tabernacle which the Israelites built in the desert on their journey from Egypt to Canaan.
by S. Brent Plate
I just finished walking 750 kilometers (470 miles) along the Camino de Santiago. This is an ancient pilgrimage with roots going back over a millennium and was one of the three most important Christian pilgrimages in medieval Europe, alongside those to Jerusalem and Rome.
