Last night I got some very wonderful news: my proposal to present at the InterFaith Youth Core's 6th Conference on Interfaith Youth Work was officially accepted!
The theme of the conference is "Leadership in a Religiously Diverse World," which, of course, is a very pertinant issue right now. My friend Nikole and I decided that we really wanted to put in a proprosal, even if we weren't actually going to present. We sat on the idea for a little while, and Nikole asked if I'd be interested in working around the topic of exclusive truth. The concept is pretty self explanitory, that a faith tradition may include a claim that it in some way is true where others are not. That can sound pretty scary, and in the realm of Interfaith Plurality, where we're trying to bridge the divides between faiths, it seems a daunting topic to approach.
But Nikole and I decided that it isn't. In fact, it is absolutely imperative that, if we plan to conquer the faith divide, we learn how to work with exclusive truth claims. So we decided to create a session to explore how those with an exclusive truth claim and those apprehensive of individuals with such beliefs can participate in interfaith plurality. We really wanted to show that exclusive truth claims and work in interfaith plurality do not have to be mutually exclusive, and that those with an exclusive truth claim can hold true to their beliefs while cooperating with others in common action towards the common good. The new generation of interfaith leaders need to know how to engage those whose religious beliefs include an exclusive truth claim, as well as those who may be apprehensive to work with someone with such a belief.
And I guess the InterFaith Youth Core agreed! With over twice the number of proposals as there are session spots, ours was chosen for the conference! So sometime between October 25 and 27, a room full of people at The Center for Civic Engagement at Northwestern University will partake in a discussion about what it means to be fundamentalist and how that connects to the idea of an exclusive truth claim, followed by an interactive exercise in which participants will be assigned exclusive truths and must find ways to all work cooperatively with the group, and then a talk-back in which the participants can unpack the experience and garner insight into working with exclusive truths in their interfaith undertakings.
HAPPY DANCE! And, special congratulations to Nikole because she will be presenting not once, but twice at the conference! In addition to The Truth about Truth: How to Engage Exclusive Truth Claims in Interfaith Work, Nikole's proposal with her fellow interfaith coordinators from the Chautauqua Institution about their Sacred Song Service was also accepted.
ETA: Happy Dance Again! One of my favorite people in the world, Anthony, is the recipient of a scholarship covering registration costs, so he'll be at the conference too!
