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Interfaith dialogue can be a meaningful and enriching experience, allowing people of different beliefs and backgrounds to come together in conversation and understanding. However, at times it can also be challenging and uncomfortable.  To foster respectful dialogue, it's essential to approach conversations with an open and curious mindset.  Here are ten ways to be mindful in interfaith dialogue. Practicing these techniques can create a more compassionate and empathetic discussion that celebrates differences and promotes greater understanding. 1. BE CURIOUS: Ask questions with the intent to learn rather than from a place of judgment.  2. LEARN THE DETAILS: Ask questions like “What is the greeting you say with this holiday?” 3. ACKNOWLEDGE MISTAKES WHEN THEY HAPPEN: Mistakes are bound to happen; we are only human. Be sure to acknowledge them and apologize for any harm done.  4. ASK FOR PERMISSION: Say things like “Would you mind if I asked you about…” 5. BE WILLING...

Leaders, facilitators, and workers from all walks of life are more effective when they understand the many ways people practice and orient around religion and spirituality.  Build Religious Literacy: A Window Into Your Neighbor’s Faith is a new (virtual) mini-course that takes a deep dive into the lived experiences of people of diverse faith traditions.   This spring, the six-part interactive series introduced participants to Judaism, Islam, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and the Baha’i faith.  Each session includes a “living library” – diverse practitioners - who interact with participants on core aspects of their faith, share personal stories, and answer questions.  The series opens with an unusual twist – “un-defining” common terms frequently used in conversations about religion, followed by practice in respectfully asking curious questions. When we expand our religious literacy, we better understand the news, arts, and culture, as wel...

This Pride Month, Interfaith Philadelphia staff and board members who identify as part of the LGBTQIA+ community are sharing their experiences at the intersections of faith and sexuality. This blog post is part of a series of stories that will be shared throughout the month of June. My queer journey, like my faith journey, has been a series of learning, questioning, deconstructing, and relearning. In this post, I could tell you about how LGBTQIA+ folks and queer theology were not discussed in the mainline church I attended as a child, or how ‘converting’ from being gay was met with cheers in the Pentecostal church I found my way into as a lonely teen searching for community; or how I received death threats for participating in a ‘day of silence’ to remember those peers who died by suicide because they were terrified to be gay (and how those threats were prompted by my high school’s security guard and part-time pastor). But instead, what first comes to mind are the teachings around my b...

This Pride Month, Interfaith Philadelphia staff and board members who identify as part of the LGBTQIA+ community are sharing their experiences at the intersections of faith and sexuality. This blog post is part of a series of stories that will be shared throughout the month of June. What sort of attitudes and behaviors do I need to practice to build meaningful connections across lines of difference? In my work with the Crafting Community Project, I spend a lot of time thinking about this question, then finding concrete action steps to enact it.   One of the identities that I claim that nearly always acts as a line of difference that needs to be crossed in service of this work is being transgender non-binary. This language acknowledges the reality that the societal norms that we are socialized into as children on the basis of our physical anatomy are not ones that fit my understanding of myself.  I remember the very first time I used non-binary pronouns to describe my...

This Pride Month, Interfaith Philadelphia staff and board members who identify as part of the LGBTQIA+ community are sharing their experiences at the intersections of faith and sexuality. This blog post is part of a series of stories that will be shared throughout the month of June. Sexuality has always been inseparably part of my faith. Long before I was ready to understand why, I found the spirituality of queer Catholics to be one of the most deeply compelling examples of what it could mean to be Church. I was always awed by people — coworkers, teachers, friends, strangers — who were able to stand in the face of narratives and people that challenged their belonging and still say I have a right to be here.  As a young woman, a progressive, a frequent doubter and questioner, and a Chinese person in my heavily white hometown, I spent years feeling both vaguely and acutely that I did not belong in church. I wanted to, desperately. I have wondered over the years if I simply slipped in...