Note to Readers of The Faith Divide: This week we will be launching two new features. One is a weekly guest writer, who will post on Wednesdays. The second is "The Bridge", which is a brief description of an individual, an activity or a story bridging the faith divide. I will continue to write twice a week, posting on Mondays and Fridays.
-- Eboo
A movement is a network of individuals and institutions making an idea reality.
Take the Green Movement, for example. The core idea is that the earth is precious and needs to be protected. That idea is put into practice by everyone from eight-year-old children who recycle to major companies who are desperately trying to perfect alternative fuels for human use.
Two weeks ago, about 75 leaders and stakeholders of the emerging interfaith youth movement gathered at the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) in an event co-organized by my organization, the Interfaith Youth Core, to discuss the shape and future of what we are about.
The core idea of our movement is simple: Religious diversity can either unite us or divide us, and the direction we go on this key issue will be largely determined by young people.
There are at least five intersecting trends which create the context for the interfaith youth movement.
1) The youth bulge
2) The religious revival
3) The breakdown in traditional socio-economic patterns
4) The increased frequency and intensity of interaction between people from different backgrounds
5) The growth in numbers and power of civil society forces
One of the remarkable things about the gathering at USIP was the diversity of stakeholders represented. Here’s a snapshot:
*Think tanks - including the Heritage Foundation, the American Enterprise Institute, Brookings, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the New America Foundation and the Center for American Progress.
*Policy makers from the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security.
*Representatives from faith-based organizations, including the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, the Islamic Society of North American and the Muslim Public Affairs Council.
*Grassroots interfaith groups, most notably Interfaith Action, Inc. of Sharon, MA.
*Scholars who study and teach about the growing interfaith movement.
*Leaders in the field of international development, including the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
*Leaders in the field of youth development, including the Search Institute and the International Youth Foundation.
*Staff and faculty at universities who run campus-based interfaith programs.
*Conflict resolution scholars and practitioners, including the renowned Muhammad Abu-Nimer, Professor of International Peace and Conflict Resolution at American University's School of International Service.
*Leaders of international interfaith organizations, including the United Religions Initiative.
*Leaders from the private and philanthropic sectors interested in investing in this growing movement.
*Talented young people who have chosen to make this work an important part of their careers.
Movements take off when lots of different sectors view themselves as having an enlightened self-interest in making the core idea reality.
But the fact that there are many doors into the room also leads to a set of fascinating disagreements. At the USIP meeting, there was disagreement on matters ranging from whether interfaith youth work should be viewed in a national security context to whether the movement should focus on a single activity, like interfaith Habitat for Humanity projects.
“These are exactly the types of conversations that happen within young movements,” my friend Sam Rizk, Executive Director of the Forum for Development, Culture and Dialogue, observed towards the end of the convening.
I couldn’t agree more. And as I said goodbye to Sam, who I first met nine years ago when we were both starting out in this work, we both remarked about how privileged we feel to be present at the beginning of something extremely exciting and potentially very significant.
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