Interfaith Dialogue as a Method for Non-Violence

As a group, the three of us- Adwan, Bharat, and Victoria- represent three different spiritual backgrounds. We all have had experience regarding various forms interfaith dialogue and see it as way of connecting with other people, building bridges, and building understanding. These three variables are important in non-violent action. Today our world is facing many violent conflicts because many see violence as the only way to resolve problems. Inter-religious conflicts are one of the most common problems and people are becoming more and more intolerant towards other faiths. On the contrary, many religions talk about interfaith relations and reveal interfaith dialogue as a resolution for conflict. Interfaith dialogue provides a platform for different religions to come and share religious values and beliefs which help each other understand each other’s religions and one’s own religion. Therefore, we structured our training in such a way that we first provoked the participants by looking at violence, specifically within an inter-religious realm of conflict, discussing how they feel towards it, and what they would like to see change. After drawing upon their ideas and backgrounds we introduced some information about methods of non-violence and the approach of interfaith dialogue. We used an activity that implemented interfaith dialogue and then attempted to connect that to real life situations in which interfaith dialogue could or could not be used to resolve inter-religious conflict