Interfaith Conversations Project

Coordinated by Rabbi Amy Eilberg

 

Introduction

Our world cries out for peace. The news media relentlessly reveal the ubiquitous presence of hate, polarization, and violence. War rages in countless regions of the world; in our own land, barriers of prejudice and dehumanization separate people by region, ethnic orientation, political ideology and, of course, religion. Yet there are signs of hope: unprecedented numbers of people recognize the urgent need to heal the torn fabric of the human family. Many are ready to listen and communicate in new ways.

The Vision

During these years so marred by war and hate, many have pondered the destructive role of religion.  Islam has been widely viewed as the source and cause of terrorism throughout the world.  Jews around the world have been held responsible for the policies of the Israeli government.  Many thoughtful people have reflected that perhaps religion itself lies at the heart of the problem, propagating hate among its adherents, even as its sacred texts proclaim the values of peace and compassion.

At the same time, interfaith dialogue activists have strengthened their call to restore religion's role as a part of the solution to discord in the human family.  Many have seen that, while ideology polarizes, religion, expressing and reflecting on the deepest dimensions of the human experience, can serve as the vehicle for renewed dialogue and human connection.  When we share our stories, our values, and our dreams with one another, we begin to break down the walls of fear and hate that keep us apart.

The Interfaith Conversations Project

By the winter of 2006-7, the center had articulated the goal of expanding its program offerings to engage the heart and soul as well as stimulating and enlightening the mind, supplementing the interfaith conversation in the lecture hall with sustained, transformative dialogue in smaller gatherings.  It was time to bring religious communities together in large and small groups, to learn about one another’s traditions and to learn from and about each other as human beings, so that understanding could begin to replace fear and generalization, and new, previously unimaginable relationships could begin to transform lives and communities.

In the spring of 2007, the Interfaith Conversations Project convened a consortium of houses of worship, one Jewish, one Catholic, and one Muslim, in the northern and western suburbs of Minneapolis, to begin planning interfaith programming that would link the three congregations in a web of relationship, dedicated to furthering mutual learning and understanding.  Leaders of the three congregations: Adath Jeshurun Congregation (Conservative synagogue), Pax Christi Catholic Community, and the Islamic Center of Minnesota began a planning process, resulting in two successful program years, September, 2007 to June, 2009.

The programs have included dialogues on Jewish, Christian and Muslim approaches to such religious issues as hospitality, pilgrimage, justice, and majority-minority religion in America, as well as gatherings for shared meals, social service projects, and group visits to the three houses of worship.  In the second of these two years, in addition to the public programs, taking place alternately in the three houses of worship, the program convened a “living room dialogue group,” a smaller, committed group of Jews, Christians, and Muslims, who have met on a monthly basis in participants’ homes to learn about one another’s spiritual lives and to enter into deeper relationship with one another.

At the same time, the Interfaith Conversations Project entered into conversation with the Downtown Interfaith Clergy, who have for many years offered public programs of interfaith dialogue to members of the downtown congregations (Jewish, Christian and Muslim) in downtown Minneapolis, based on the well-developed relationships among the senior clergy of those congregations.  As a result of these conversations, the project entered into a collaboration with eight of the downtown congregations in creating the Downtown Interfaith Young Adult Leadership Initiative, engaging young leaders of the downtown congregations in their 20s and 30s in an intensive program of mutual learning, interfaith relationship-building, and leadership development for leading congregations of the future in a pluralistic society.

The participants, drawn from eight congregations (Temple Israel, Masjid An-Nur, Basilica of St. Mary, St. Mark’s Episcopal, Gethsemane Episcopal Church, Hennepin Avenue United Methodist, Westminster Presbyterian, and Plymouth Congregational) met monthly from the fall of 2008 into the summer of 2009 for a first year of learning and relationship-building.  Monthly public programs explored such topics as God, messiah, spiritual autobiography, religious particularity and universality, spiritual practice, religion and politics, and the dynamics of power and privilege.  The participants self-organized additional informal meetings at downtown coffee houses, creating more informal settings to get to know one another.  In addition to continuing such programs for the coming year, the group is planning visits to one another’s houses of worship, a collective social service project, and a retreat or pilgrimage experience, to deepen learning and relationship.

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