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Interfaith Resources
Following
is a brief list of interfaith organizations, academic centers, and
other resources to help you learn more about interreligious dialogue
and cooperation. If you have others to recommend, please let us know.
- Buxton Initiative
The
initiative is developing practical ways to facilitate dialogue among
people of different faiths and life experiences to build understanding,
friendship, and collaboration. It has extended its conversation to
include ambassadors, CEOs, policymakers, senators, military leaders,
journalists, and through its Young Leaders Program, young Christians
and Muslims.
- Interfaith Alliance
Founded
in 1994 by an interfaith group of religious leaders, the alliance
promotes interfaith cooperation around shared religious values to
strengthen the public's commitment to civic participation, freedom of
religion, diversity, and civility in public discourse. It also
encourages the active involvement of people of faith in the nation's
political life.
- Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility
For
more than 30 years, the Interfaith ICCR has been a leader in the
corporate social responsibility movement. Its membership is made up of
275 faith-based institutional investors including national
denominations, religious communities, pension funds, endowments,
hospital corporations, economic development funds and publishing
companies, which press companies to be socially and environmentally
responsible. The combined portfolio value of ICCR's member
organizations is estimated at $110 billion.
- Interfaith Youth Core
This
organization employs innovative program models and a capacity building
approach with the goal of building a movement that encourages young
people of faith to strengthen their religious identities, work toward
inter-religious understanding, and cooperate to serve the local and
global community.
- Institute of Interfaith Dialog
The
IID is a non-profit organization that aims to unite global communities
through interfaith dialogue, highlighting both the differences and
similarities in cultures and religions to achieve world peace.
- International Committee for the Peace Council
The
council's mission is to demonstrate that peace and effective
inter-religious collaboration is possible. Peace Councilors promote the
example of collaboration between leaders from different religious
communities to relieve suffering.
- International Council of Christians and Jews
An
umbrella organization encompassing 38 national Jewish-Christian
dialogue groups worldwide, the ICCJ works to promote understanding
between Christians and Jews; address issues of human rights; counter
prejudice, intolerance, discrimination, racism, and the misuse of
religion for national and political domination; coordinate face-to-face
exchanges of experience and expertise; encourage research and
education; perform outreach in regions with little structured
Jewish-Christian dialogue; and provide a platform for wide-ranging
theological debate.
- The World Faiths Development Dialogue
Started
in 1998 as an initiative of then-World Bank president James D.
Wolfensohn and then-Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey, the
organization's aim is to facilitate an inter-religious dialogue on
poverty and development, and interaction between religious leaders and
international development institutions.
- The World Conference of Religions for Peace
The
largest international coalition of representatives from the world's
great religions dedicated to achieving peace, the organization works on
every continent to create multi-religious partnerships that mobilize
religious people's moral and social resources to address their shared
problems.
- Seeds of Peace
Founded
in 1993, this organization seeks to give young leaders from regions of
conflict the leadership skills to promote reconciliation and
coexistence. It Began with 46 Israeli, Palestinian and Egyptian
teenagers in 1993 and has expanded to include young leaders from South
Asia, Cyprus, and the Balkans. More than 2,500 young people from four
regions of conflict comprise its leadership network.
- International Association for Religious Freedom
The
association works for global freedom of religion and belief. It
includes more than 90 affiliated member groups in 25 countries,
encompassing faith traditions including Buddhism, Christianity,
Hinduism, Islam, Shintoism, and Sikhism, among others.
- The American Religious Experience Project (West Virginia University)
This
collaboration between West Virginia University, the University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Louisiana State University aims to engage
both scholars and novices interested in studying American religion.
- American Academy of Religion
Founded in 1909, the AAR is the world's largest association of academics who research or teach topics related to religion.
- The Center for the Study of Religion (Princeton University)
The
center's objective is to encourage intellectual exchange and
interdisciplinary scholarly studies about religion via the humanities
and social sciences.
- Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture (Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis)
Established
in 1989, this research and public outreach institute is devoted to
promoting understanding of how religion relates to other aspects of
American culture.
- Center for Christian-Jewish Learning (Boston College)
The
center is devoted to developing and implementing new relationships
between Christians and Jews based not merely on toleration but on
respect and enrichment -- as outlined in Roman Catholic documents since
the Second Vatican Council.
- Walter H. Capps Center for the Study of Religion and Public Life (University of California, Santa Barbara)
The
center seeks to advance discussion of issues related to ethics, values
and public life and to encourage non-partisan, non-sectarian civic
participation. Among its key issues: pluralism; transnationalism; war
and peace; environmental ethics; indigenous populations; politics;
moral and ethical debates; civic engagement; and the role of religious
influences in society.
- The Louisville Institute
This
Lilly Endowment program for the study of American religion based at
Louisville Presbyterian Seminary seeks to enrich American Christians'
religious life and to encourage the revitalization of their
institutions by bringing together religious leaders and scholars.
- The Material History of American Religion Project
Between
1995 and 2001, this project based at Vanderbilt University's Divinity
School studied the complex history of American religion by focusing on
material objects and economic themes.
- The Leonard E. Greenberg Center for the Study of Religion in Public Life (Trinity College)
This
center was established in 1996 to advance knowledge and understanding
of the varied roles that religious movements, institutions, and ideas
play in the contemporary world; to explore challenges posed by
religious pluralism and tensions between religious and secular values;
and to examine the influence of religion on politics, civic culture,
family life, gender roles, and other issues in the U.S. and worldwide.
Non-sectarian and non-partisan, its initiatives aim to foster
discussion of religion in public life.
- The Martin Marty Center (University of Chicago Divinity School)
Through
consultations, conferences, and publications, the center brings
scholarly perspectives to bear on religious questions facing the wider
public and encourages scholars to anchor their academic questions to
the a broader culture.
- The Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding (Georgetown University)
Founded
to build stronger bridge of understanding between the Muslim world and
the West as well as between Islam and Christianity, the center focuses
on the breadth of the Muslim world, from North Africa to Southeast
Asia, Europe, and America. It has become an internationally recognized
leader in the field of Muslim-Christian relations.
- Education as Transformation
This
international organization works with colleges, universities, K-12
schools and related institutions to explore: the impact of religious
diversity on education and strategies to address it; the role of
spirituality in educational institutions; the cultivation of values;
moral and ethical development; and the fostering of global learning
communities and responsible global citizens.
- Center for Religion and Civic Culture (University of Southern California)
An
organized research unit of the university's College of Letters, Arts
and Sciences, the center promotes discipline-based, transdisciplinary,
and interdisciplinary research about how religion and religious
institutions are involved in civic culture.
- The Jewish/Muslim Initiative (University of Illinois, Chicago)
Sponsored
by the Jewish Studies Program at the university's College of Liberal
Arts and Sciences, the Institute for Law and the Humanities,
Chicago-Kent College of Law, and Illinois Institute of Technology, the
program includes community outreach to encourage communication between
the religions, a yearly course, and a visiting professorship.
- Institute for the Study of American Religion
The
institute monitors all of the religious denominations, organizations,
and movements in North America and publishes a series of reference
books about them, including the Encyclopedia of American Religions.
- Religion Source
Religion expert referral site for journalists.
- Religion and Religious Cultural Studies Web Search Project
Reference website linking to religion and religious resources dealing with American studies.
- Book Review: 'America and the Challenges of Religious Diversity'
In
"America and the Challenges of Religious Diversity," Robert Wuthnow, a
sociologist at Princeton and the director of the university's Center
for the Study of Religion, examines how Americans deal with the
country's diverse creeds.
- Beliefnet
A
multi-faith e-community designed to help people meet their own
religious and spiritual needs -- in an interesting, captivating and
engaging way. Not affiliated with a particular religion or spiritual
movement, Beliefnet aims to help people find their own. The site has a
collection of experts and scholars, spiritual tools, and an array of
discussions and dialogue groups.
- The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life
Launched
in 2001, the forum seeks to promote a deeper understanding of issues at
the intersection of religion and public affairs with timely, impartial
information to national opinion leaders, including government officials
and journalists. A nonpartisan, non-advocacy organization, the
organization does not take positions on policy debates, and functions
as both a clearinghouse and a town hall. It also compiles a religion in the news feature.
- Multifaithnet
A
self-access research, learning, information and dialogue tool, this
site provides updated access to global electronic resources and
interactions useful for the study of world religious traditions and
communities and the practice of interfaith dialogue.
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