President's Day ICD Meeting

This past President’s Day, I spent the afternoon with our friends at the Interfaith
Communities for Dialogue (ICD). The group includes members
from the Sikh Foundation of Virginia, Pozez Jewish Community Center, MakeSpace (an
inclusive Muslim organization), Durga Temple of VA (a Hindu temple), Dar Al-Hijrah
Islamic Center, Congregation Olam Tikvah, Baha’is of Fairfax County East Virginia, as
well as Ravensworth Baptist, Peace Lutheran, John Calvin Presbyterian, and
Annandale United Methodist.

We met in Room 8 at Little River to eat together, get to know one another better, and
talk about how we’ve been feeling since October 7, when the Hamas-Israel conflict
flared up with the devastating results that we are still grappling with. Most people in the
room shared that they felt both pain, grief, and frustration on the one hand, and hope
and faith on the other hand.

One person reflected that in times like these, we need to have faith not only in our own
traditions, but we need to have faith in the faiths of others. We need to recognize that
there are a variety of Jewish responses to the actions of Israeli leaders, there are a
variety of Muslim responses to the actions taken by Hamas, there are a variety of
Christian responses to the position and actions taken by U.S. leaders, and there are a
variety of responses the world over to the position and actions taken by the United
Nations. What I think the ICD member meant when he said we need to have faith in the
faiths of others was that these variety of responses serve as checks and balances
within each tradition as well as across traditions.

In addition, to have faith in the faiths of others might mean to trust that behind every
religious person there is a long history, including the story of their family, the story of
their faith, and the story of their struggles internally and externally. By recognizing the
real experiences of those who take positions or make judgments that are different than
our own, we can encounter people as people, rather than as ideologies.

As we reflect on the current state of our world, it is sound advice to remember the
complexity of religious traditions and that each person should be encountered as a
person. My hope is that we will stay open to hearing the experiences that underlie ideas
that differ from our own, and I give thanks for our involvement in and support of ICD,
which tries to facilitate these conversations. If you’d like to get involved, please let me
know.