Scholars increasingly recognise ‘the opportunity and responsibility of the educative process to create a bridge to understanding difference’ (Byrne 2011). A plethora of academic research has emphasised that interfaith initiatives can contribute to personal transformation and enhance social cohesion (Halafoff 2013). These activities are organised by various stakeholders: from religious institutions to academic organisations (McCarthy 2007a, 18,9). Interfaith initiatives can be defined in their broadest sense as organised activities that intentionally involve people who orient around religion differently (Pedersen 2004, 79). These initiatives have also received increasing scholarly attention worldwide (Griera and Nagel 2018 Cheetham, Pratt, and Thomas 2013). Since 9/11, the number of interfaith initiatives has proliferated rapidly at local, national, and international levels. The matrix can encourage organisers of interfaith initiatives to clarify their learning objectives and, consequently, develop more coherent and evaluable initiatives. This article is intended as a first step towards building a shared scholarly framework that can then be used to guide the organisation and evaluation of interfaith initiatives. These learning objectives are presented in a matrix of twelve categories, reflecting the learning objectives set by the organisers of the 93 initiatives. After conducting a systematic scoping review, we categorised and summarised the learning objectives of 93 interfaith initiatives. This article argues that setting up a shared framework of interfaith learning objectives is a necessary first step towards organising and evaluating interfaith initiatives. Forgiveness in the spiritual sense is not ever a matter of condoning things that have been done and saying that they are right or justifiable.Numerous scholars have emphasised that interfaith initiatives can contribute to personal transformation and enhance social cohesion, but it is often unclear if and how these initiatives effectively bring about the intended changes. Is it possible to accept the move through those feelings and learn to forgive?Ī: During these tough times of remembrance, I think the first thing is that there is no timetable for getting over grief. Q: For many, this anniversary will surely bring up strong feelings of loss and grief. As members of a human family we have to find ways of learning to understand each other and somehow reconnect with the love in our hearts, which is not easy to do. Q: How does one find hope in remembering the horrific events of 9/11?Ī: Very often the most difficult time in our lives are a catalyst for very deep and fundamental change in how we live and how we understand the world, and even out of a tragedy like 9/11, if that can be a wakeup call for the majority of human beings to find a way to come together rather than to continue these cycles of escalating hatred and violence, then hope has been achieved. Reverend Diane Berke is the Co-Founder & Spiritual Director of One-Spirit Learning Alliance & One-Spirit Interfaith Seminary in NYC.
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