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Interfaith Communities and Dialogues

The Fellowship of Reconciliation

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FOR logoThe Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) started in 1915 as a Christian organization and developed through the years into an international movement in over forty countries with an interreligious membership of Jews, Buddhists, Christians, and Muslims.

In the name of their respective faiths, the people of the Fellowship of Reconciliation stand for non-violence. They are "testing the power of love and truth for resolving human conflict."

In the pursuit of their aims they have confronted issues in Iraq, Palestine, Columbia, and Vieques, Puerto Rico. They have shown solidarity with victims of injustice, worked for more humane criminal justice systems, advocated practices of ecological conservation, and opposed participation in warfare.

Interfaith Encounter Association

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IEA logoThe Interfaith Encounter Association (IEA) is "dedicated to promoting peace in the Middle East through interfaith dialogue and cross-cultural study." The IEA believes religion can and should be a source of the solution for conflicts that exist in the Middle East and other areas of the world.

One of the IEA's project is the Women's Interfaith Encounter (WIE) which brings Muslim, Christian and Jewish women together to study "topics of relevance to women from the point of view of the different religions. Interfaith study is used as a vehicle not only for understanding, acceptance and respect for the other, but as a way to deepen awareness of one's own religion."

Inter-Faith Ministries

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Inter-Faith Ministries logoInter-Faith Ministries is an agency that facilitates inter-religious dialogue and provides social services in the Wichita, Kansas area.

Members of Interfaith Ministries include congregations of eight world religions: Baha'i, Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Native American Spirituality, and Unitarianism.

Supported financially by member groups, grants from foundations and donations from the public, Inter-Faith Ministries devotes itself to a range of programs addressing many of the crying needs of society.

Interfaith Voices for Peace and Justice

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Interfaith Voices logoInterfaith Voices for Peace and Justice is a communications network for faith-based activist groups.

The network provides a variety of ways that representatives from different faith groups can interact with one another in the search for a common peace and justice agenda.

Interfaith Voices is sponsored by Eden Theological Seminary.

Living Faithfully in the United States Today

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Buddhist symbol Christian symbol Hindu symbol Judaism symbol Islam symbol Native American religions symbol A descriptive report on the conversations of Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Jews, Muslims and Native Americans who lived together for two weeks, and discussed the question, "What does it mean to live as people of faith in the United States today?"

The consultations were jointly sponsed by The Institute for Ecumenical and Cultural Research, the Office on Interfaith Relations of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, and the Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Interfaith Relations and the Churches

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NCCC USA logoA Policy Statement of the National Council of the Churches of Christ (NCCC) in the USA. This page contains links to the following documents:

  • The full text of the Policy Statement, Interfaith Relations and the Churches
  • A brief theological commentary on the Policy Statement
  • A worship service based on the text of the Policy Statement
  • A study guide for use in congregations or in other small group settings, Interfaith Relations and Christian Living

Monastic Interreligious Dialogue: Gethsemani Encounter

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The Monastic Interreligious Dialogue is made up of Christian monastics who engage in interreligious dialogue.

Buddhist symbol Christian symbolOf particular note has been a series of Buddhist-Catholic conferences. The prominent monastic tradition in both faiths, stressing seclusion, asceticism and celibacy naturally contributed to the desire of both Buddhist and Catholic monastics to get to know each other better. Two conferences have taken place, one in 1996 and another in 2002.

Bridge Building Between Christians and Muslims

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Islam symbol Christian symbol Dr. Jamal Badawi notes the need for significant Muslim-Christian dialogue and shares his understanding of major areas he considers imperative in any Christian-Muslim understanding:

  • The meaning of the term "Islam"
  • The meaning of the term "Allah"
  • The nature of the human
  • The relationship between the human and Allah
  • The question of accountability
  • Some conclusions pertaining to bridge-building between Muslims and Christians

Music and Dialogue Build Interfaith Community

Listen to Phyllis Joffe's report on David Chevan and Warren Byrd at NPR (web site will open in a new browser window)

Read "Dialogue for Four Hands: David Chevan and Warren Byrd" by music critic George Robinson (web site will open in a new browser window) jazz musicians in Connecticut are making music together, and in the process they are dialoguing as men of faith.

Judaism symbol Dr. David Chevan, bassist and professor of music at Southern Connecticut State University, New Haven, is Jewish.

Christian symbol His partner, Warren Byrd, jazz pianist, is a professor in the Connecticut area and a Christian from the African-American culture.

They have recorded sacred music from their respective traditions, and the results have been widely acclaimed. As they blend the spirituals and Jewish folk religious songs they seek to show the kinship of joy, passion and suffering in the two cultural strands.

The two musicians insist their collaboration is no gimmick; it is an interfaith effort. Both artists are passionate about their religion.

Faith Communities Uniting for Peace holds monthly Interfaith Prayers for Peace in Columbus, Ohio

Christian symbol Buddhist symbol Hindu symbol Islam symbol Jain symbol Sikh symbol Faith Communities Uniting for Peace is a gathering of people of faith, prompted by the war on Iraq, to find common ground, encouragement and wisdom for the transformation of the world. The organization affirms that "all faiths call followers to live and speak with peace, justice and compassion," and commits itself to putting their faith values into action.

They gather together as communities of diverse faiths to:

  • pray for peace
  • promote peace, harmony, restraint, and interfaith understanding, and
  • foster unity among people in Central Ohio and around the world

Current members of Faith Communities Uniting for Peace include persons affiliated with several Christian denominations (American Baptist, Roman Catholic, Friends, Lutheran, Mennonite, Presbyterian, United Church of Christ, United Methodist) and Buddhist, Hindu, Islamic, Jain and Sikh faiths as well as other people of conscience.

For more information about Faith Communities Uniting for Peace contact Rev. Deanna Stickley-Miner (dstickley@wocumc.org) or Dr. Tarunjit S. Butalia (butalia.1@osu.edu), Co-conveners.