Who We Are
Our Philosophy and Style
Every interfaith group has its own philosophy and style. Because our mission is to “build bridges of understanding and friendship,” over the years we have develop a way of being together in dialogue. We assume that most of us know a lot more about our own faith traditions than we know about the faith traditions of others. We assume that when it comes to other religions, we all have a degree of prejudice or misunderstanding. We also assume that healthy relationships among people of different faith backgrounds can help significantly in working through our different belief systems and religious practices.
Hanz Kung once said, “There will be no peace among the nations of the world until there is peace among the religions of the world.” What we do here in Washtenaw County is an effort in peacemaking, one person at a time, one group at a time, one congregation at a time.
Our intent is not to be a group that puts aside all our differences and tries to find the least common denominator for being in the same room. Thus, our global vision is not to dream of a time where all religions are one, when there are no denominations and world religions have evolved into one religion. Instead, our goal is for all of us to be true to our own faith traditions while at the same time respecting, honoring and understanding all people and groups whose religious outlooks are different from our own.
Several key principles describe our style:
- 1. We are a dialogue group not a political action group. Though religion and politics impact each other significantly, taking stands, making statements or influencing the political process on moral and ethical issues are the responsibilities of individuals and individual congregations (or groups within those congregations) much more than that of the collective alliance of our religious groups.
- 2. When we come together for dialogue, we put aside any attempt to evangelize, missionize or proselytize.
- 3. At the same time, when we around the table together, we do our best to be true to our own religious identity, who and what we are as a Buddhist, Muslim, Catholic, Hindu, etc.
- 4. When we are in dialogue with each other, we try to use language that includes other religious perspectives, so for example instead of speaking of “churches,” we would refer more often to “churches, synagogues, temples and mosques.”
- 5. In our public gatherings such as our Interfaith Thanksgiving Celebrations and gatherings for prayer and meditation, our desire is not to hold public worship services, but instead sacred gatherings where all religious perspectives present are honored.