16th Annual Multifaith Summit
August 25 | Queen Anne United Methodist Church | Seattle
Anyone can listen. The Seattle Multifaith Summit is about understanding.
Those of us who are organizing the 2018 Seattle Multifaith Summit don’t pretend to agree about everything. Clearly, we don’t.
What we do agree about, wholeheartedly, is that we’ll all be better off as we develop perspectives, skills and practices that enable neighbors to understand each other across religious, racial, and political differences.
We have been at this a long time and have discovered that pretending doesn’t do much good. We have learned that listening is not the same as understanding. We have learned that understanding is not the same as agreeing. And we have learned that understanding is a path to living in peace, even when we don’t agree.
"And after all isn't that what life is all about, the ability to go around back and come up inside other people's heads to look out at the damned fool miracle and say: oh so that’s how you see it!? Well, now, I must remember that.
— Ray Bradbury, Dandelion Wine, William Morrow, 2001, page xiii
This is a working Summit that will use mediated engagement to help us understand how our neighbors sometimes reach conclusions and embrace ideas and practices that are different from our own … how to stay in the room with difference (even when it is not comfortable) … how to achieve a deeper understanding of ourselves and each other that is beneath our emotional responses and the words we speak.
We invite you to work with us, because who is in the room matters … your voice is important as we bridge the divides between people of different religions, races, and political opinions. It is time for us to come together across the divide to hold uncomfortable tensions, to share our stories for a better community, and to re-discover a common truth that will bond us to a truly common good.
Please, save the date. Even better, register now. Invite your friends … you won’t regret it!
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