Before I joined the Center for Spirituality, Dialogue, and Service (CSDS) at Northeastern, I had never heard the term “interfaith” before. I was suddenly and violently thrown into an environment of new ideas, friendly people, and schools of thought I had never encountered. I’ll be honest—it was scary at first. But I quickly learned that people in interfaith settings generally have the same goal: to facilitate a friendlier and more accepting world regardless of belief system. 

As a rather cynical pessimist, I was not on board. My religious beliefs were mine. I did not care whether other people accepted me, and I did not care about what others believed. 

But that being said, I can’t not extend my hand to people that need help. So, I focused on helping the directors with things like logistics. Setup, clean up, ideas, research—anything that wasn’t directly tied to interfaith, but still helped them out. And with that, I participated in more and more interfaith events, from our biweekly Interfaith Dinner Dialogues to the interfaith Renew Retreat and other interfaith leadership experiences. 

Slowly, my view of interfaith began to change. It went from being completely pessimistic and uncaring to more curious and open. I was willing to learn about what interfaith dialogue was all about. Then, one day, the director at the CSDS told me about this opportunity: the Interfaith Leadership Institute. I didn’t consider myself an interfaith leader by any stretch of the imagination. But my director believed in me, so I thought I’d give it a go. The first thing I did for the Interfaith Leadership Initiative was go to a conference in Chicago, together with this year’s fellows of the Boston Interfaith Leadership Initiative. 

At the ILI conference in Chicago, it became abundantly clear to me that what I understood as “interfaith” was different from what others understood. As a Hindu person, I expected to be in the minority at the ILI conference. I was not prepared to see how few other Hindus there were. That was a big shock, but I was prepared to accept that. What I was unwilling to accept was how the conference felt very tailored to Islam and Christianity. There was minimal representation or desire to understand other faith backgrounds. This created a new lens for me to view interfaith leadership. 

What is interfaith if not openly accepting?

I quickly realized that Northeastern is actually unique in its on-campus faith representation and resources. Having 50+ spiritual/thought leaders was something I took for granted. After opening my eyes to the lack of opportunity for people around the country, I was saddened. I realized that interfaith work was more behind in this country than I initially thought and we have a lot of work to do. And I was willing to make a difference through the Boston Interfaith Leadership Initiative. 

After getting to know many of my fellow… fellows, I grasped how eager everyone was to make an impact in spiritual life, whether that was on campus or through even greater visions. And with this motivated team, we can create wonderful spiritual experiences wherever life may take us. 

…Or so I thought. I soon realized that not everyone, even these incredibly open-minded and accepting BILI folks, is willing to accept ideas and beliefs that clash with their worldview. I’m referring specifically to accepting faith traditions on the margins of their own beliefs, such as Satanism. It is just another aspect of what makes us all different. I wondered whether I should tone down my… eccentricities, should I hope to accomplish a goal with the BILI team. 

But that got me thinking. What is interfaith if not openly accepting? Why do we say people are “interfaith leaders,” but those same people reject certain faith traditions? Is it because it’s scary? Or weird? Or have murky origins and worship one generally considered “evil”? In that case, who are we to judge? My version of interfaith is openly accepting of all faith traditions, as I do not believe it is my place to judge what people believe—no matter what. The term “interfaith,” to me, means to play a support role in guiding people with a growth mindset to see a wider world view, and should they reject that and practice hate towards other world viewpoints, that’s on them. 

That’s what I want people who experience my interfaith leadership to see. I do not know much about being an “interfaith leader” or what that entails, and, frankly, I don’t think that I have the correct qualifications to be an interfaith thought leader. But if I can help people to understand humility and show them that discrimination against any faith tradition just doesn’t make sense, then I will personally be satisfied.

Image shows the Sacred Space at Northeastern University’s Center for Spirituality, Dialogue, and Service.