Berkley Center

I want to share my experiences in the second gathering of the International Higher Education Interfaith Leadership Forum within the framework of the President of the United States’ Interfaith and Community Service Campus Challenge.

There at Georgetown University was the richness of multiculturalism, the mosaic of spiritualties, dissimilar nations exchanging ways of impacting social agendas to increase the welfare and respect for the dignity of every human being. I witnessed the theory and practice of inclusion of diversity among people living in or visiting the campus. At this intersection, we can exchange dialogue between the secular or non-religious vision and the religious one, providing spaces for learning to use inclusive language, avoid exclusive representations, communicate from one’s own faith or atheism or secularism, to overcome trauma—because the message is to support and spread positive examples.

It was a joy to share and exchange ideas with several young participants from different countries, cultures, and faiths, and to discuss their visions of the world they live and actively build, communicate, and act to address such issues as refugees and xenophobia unleashed among the inhabitants of cities and communities that have been violated by terrorism, as well as their dreams and hopes of creating spaces for unity in the midst of this chaotic world they inherited.

I consider the initiative of President Barack Obama to promote interfaith cooperation and community service on U.S. university campuses a successful strategy to achieve a common good through building understanding between different communities. A couple of years ago, he extended this call internationally, which is why I was invited to communicate my personal experience in interfaith cooperation at the Central University Campus of Venezuela through the Luis Dolan Chair for interfaith and intercultural studies for peace.

The chair was created in 2001 through an agreement between the university and the URI Cooperation Circle for Dialogue in Caracas. Its field of reflection and action covers the human sciences, and those physical and natural sciences that study human behaviors within specific communities, focusing on both individual and collective psycho-social reality and the role of belief and faith in modeling human beings and their societies.

The chair has worked since its beginning in 2001 to offer extension programs and open and/or strengthen several lines of research and action: tools for dialogue, negotiation and agreements, building a culture of peace, education in ethics, values and citizen coexistence, awareness and human rights education, the right to spirituality, the mythological journey into the archetypes that make up our lives, interreligious dialogue, and assessment of indigenous ancestral legacy.

The community service project “Children in a World of Peace” is the central action of this chair. The project is offered to students as an alternative to accomplish the 120 hours of community service required to receive a college degree. This project requires prior training to recognize inside themselves how they practice values and virtues associated with love for all mankind, to celebrate the unity and appreciation of cultural and religious differences, and to learn methodological skills and tools to work with children between 6 and 12 years old.

The training includes different modules that are given by representatives of different spiritual traditions: Buddhism and the practice of mandalas, the Christian meditation of Laurence Freeman, values from the World Peace University of Brahma Kumaris, Builders of Bridges of Soka Gakkai International, theory and methods of Teaching Values of the ALIVE Organization in Switzerland, the Baha'i faith methodology of working values with children, Circular Dances for Peace, and the indigenous world view and its connection with mother earth and the environment. The program includes intelligence skills, self-knowledge abilities, and emotional work for the students and the future of the children they assist. For the continuity of this work, partnerships and alliances with national and international institutions sharing the same goals of peace is key.

May peace prevail on Earth!