Yesterday was my first day as an intern for the Kansas City Interfaith Youth Alliance. I am the first of four college students working with KCIYA this summer. I first heard the word "interfaith" at the end of my sophomore year in high school. At the time I was very involved with my school's diversity club, SEED, but we never talked about religious diversity. Interfaith made sense to me; you can't fully talk about racial and cultural diversity without including religion. At first, I was nervous about joining a movement about different "faiths" because, to be honest, at the time I didn't know what I was. I identify now as a Humanist, something I learned about through my interfaith work. I graduated from Notre Dame de Sion High School last year (2011), and just finished my freshman year at Harvard University where I continue to promote pluralism through the Harvard Interfaith Council. At the end of my first day, my boss, Jon, posed this question to me:

Why is it important to engage in interfaith youth efforts to build mutually enriching relationships based on respect for religious identity...

a)  … for our society (globally)?

b)  … for the Kansas city metro area?

c)  … for you? 

To begin to answer this multifaceted question, I think I should first describe interfaith and its mission. We celebrate our differences, learn from each other, and try to understand each other. I have a friend (another intern) who says she can't stand the word "tolerate." Interfaith work is about moving past "tolerating" the other, and instead "embracing" the other as a partner in a common goal: the betterment of society. It is important to engage the youth because they are the future. Even in the present, we live in a highly global society. Communication across the world is easier and faster than ever. I can only imagine how much more mixed society will be in the future. It is important, for our society, that we know how to communicate with those who hold different beliefs from our own. It is important for Kansas City, a growing city, to educate its youth in order to be more apt at dealing with a global society, and it is important for me because I can't stand to see discrimination or prejudice. It kills me that those who are ignorant about other faiths choose to judge them and persecute them. I am a Humanist. In a poll, people who did not believe in God were ranked as least trustworthy out of the choices, which included Christian denominations, Judaism, and Islam. Whether or not I believe in God does not mean I can't be a good person, or that I can't respect those who do have faith. 

Interfaith conversations occur daily because it is almost impossible to go through a whole day without interacting with someone of a different faith. Why don't we just bring it out in the open, upholding the highest respect for our peers, especially in light of disagreements?