Innovative Peacebuilding

The Middle East Peace Initiative includes a wide range of interreligious encounters, fact-finding trips, interfaith dialogues, cultural initiatives, athletic programs, and service-learning projects.

Interreligious encounters: MEPI is distinctive in that Jews, Christians, and Muslims travel together to each others’ holy sites and gain a mutual and first-hand understanding of the history and traditions of the Abrahamic faiths. For many participants, this is the first substantial encounter with the people and traditions of the other faiths in a religious context. During such shared experiences, people enrich one another with their unique perspectives. This helps strengthen one's own faith and dissolve barriers of ignorance, distrust, and fear. Interfaith dialogues offer fresh insights into some commonalities among the religions rooted in this part of the world.

Interfaith service-learning, cultural, and athletic programs offer personal contact and build understanding and respect among people of different communities.