Somehow along the way, interfaith groups lost sight of their own core purpose and mission, themselves degenerating into yet another layer of vying, and rigid and dogmatic attachment to beliefs, not religious beliefs this time, but beliefs about how, and who’s better at “how to do interfaith.” How ironic.

IRFWP salutes the upcoming RI conference (announced below) for catching this tragic and obvious trap, and making it a central theme in their upcoming conference. We wish all concerned great luck and blessings to awaken us from the constant human habit to separate and compete, rather than integrate and cooperate (IRFWP ed.)

The most important thing to know about Reimagining Interfaith (RI), the upcoming conference in Washington DC (July 28-August 1), is how collaborative it is. There are 22 faith and interfaith organizations (including TIO) – contributing to the effort.

Considering the state of the world, a growing feeling throughout religious communities focused on peace, justice, and healing is that none of us can successfully address these issues alone. To have any hope for getting where we want to go, we have to be collaborative in a culture where competition so freqently trumps collaboration.

When I reimagine interfaith, it has to do with bringing the ‘left and the right’ together in friendly conversation, whatever the tradition(s), whatever the differences. Whether you and I agree philosophically or theologically has nothing to do with what we might do together to feed starving children or deliver refugees from war.

Personal collaboration can lead us to organizational collaboration, which is what we most need in addressing climate, race, war and nuclear weapons, polarization, poverty, and so much more. The fact is, we already live in a thoroughly interfaith world. Our task now is to reimagine this world as a kinder, gentler place where justice and peace prevail for all.

Read the full article here.