Last weekend, Interfaith America was thrilled to host nearly 500 attendees from over 150 campuses at our annual flagship event, the Interfaith Leadership Summit.
This year’s Summit takes place in a challenging and complicated interfaith landscape, and we endeavored to both acknowledge those difficulties and lift up the inspiring potential of building interfaith America.
Our theme for 2024, The Ties That Bind, wove throughout our mainstage and breakout sessions, encouraging participants to explore what holds our communities and nation together without diminishing the disagreements among us. Eboo’s keynote during the opening session lifted up the Olympics as a powerful demonstration of what diverse communities can achieve together, and was followed by an inspiring conversation with Manu Meel from BridgeUSA and Shira Hoffer from the Institute for Multipartisan Education about the values, ideas, and actions that inspire their work as bridgebuilders.
This year’s program brought a number of exciting innovations that reflect Interfaith America’s widening organizational lens.
Our Faith & Health track brought together faculty and professionals committed to engaging religious diversity in health fields education. We hosted a set of corporate leaders, including IA Board member Sumreen Ahmad from Accenture, to discuss the importance of engaging religious diversity in the workplace with our Summit participants. A new track for campus faculty focused on teaching about pluralism in the classroom and engaged a range of rich conversations about the challenges and opportunities of doing so.
We heard repeatedly that participants valued the opportunity to think deeply about their work on campus, to connect with each other and re-connect with practical guidance and tools for moving this vital work forward, and ultimately, to refresh their energy and purpose for bridging divides back in their local communities. In today’s complex national context, we maintain deep hope in the community that gathered at the Summit and the potential for a more connected future.
Mary Ellen Giess is Chief Program Officer at Interfaith America.
