The most important thing that the Boston Interfaith Leadership Initiative (BILI) taught me is how to facilitate interreligious dialogue.
Even intra-religious dialogue, to me, is fairly stressful—there are so many differences across Hinduism I have often felt in trying to approach hard conversations. I envisioned that I would probably have to avoid inter-/intra-faith dialogue on hard topics altogether. I also struggled with understanding what the role of interfaith work in social justice is—or conversely, what the role of social justice in interfaith work is.
Spending time talking to peers and mentors and receiving training specifically on interfaith dialogue allowed me to feel comfortable enough to facilitate dialogue on case studies—Israel/Palestine and LGBT issues, among other topics—during our retreat. I am so grateful for this training. I think that many students interested in interfaith work struggle with the same things I did. The social justice/interfaith nexus is a powerful one, and I want to be able to model it on campus.
Bringing BILI back to campus will be hard. There’s no way around it! Unlike many other campuses, Boston University does not have an interfaith organization, so I will be starting from the ground up with my amazing colleagues. My co-fellow Connor and I are hoping to connect with the Howard Thurman Center on campus to work on promoting interreligious dialogue. Our campus tends to be very insular within organizations, and we lack a mechanism to connect all the religious life groups we have.
This year, I hope my colleagues and I can hold a queer interfaith panel and facilitate or moderate a discussion and Q&A afterward. I feel much better equipped to continue working on issues that are divisive and prevent communities from coming together and healing. I would love to continue working in some way on homophobia in the South Asian diaspora broadly. After working on a variety of case studies, I have also realized that I want to work more with the issue of Kashmir. I think this is an issue that would fit well in a series of lectures and ensuing discussions. I could also involve researchers/professors who are well versed in the topic.
One last way I would love to bring interfaith dialogue to campus is by actively connecting one-on-one with students and community members. I learned from my peers and mentors at BILI is how powerful a personal conversation can be. From relational meetings to just calling to check in, I think that one-on-one meetings are the way to foster an interfaith culture on campus.
Starting from scratch is going to be really hard! And it might be faster to meet with entire organizations at once or just send emails. But I think that the way to build up a thriving interfaith culture on campus starts with simple, one-on-one meetings.
I’m nervous for the coming year. However, I’m confident that we will be able to build up an amazing interfaith culture at BU. It will be a learning process like any other, but I know that is part of the beauty of interfaith: growing with the people around you.