…if you are here because your liberation is bound up in mine, then let us walk together. — Lilla Watson, Australian activist

This workshop explores more deeply the skills needed to talk about interfaith cooperation, particularly as a Unitarian Universalist. Participants return to their own stories of religious pluralism (Workshop 5) and enrich them with communal narratives, role-play how to change a conversation in the face of religious bigotry, and learn the real life story of Faithful Fools, a Unitarian Universalist interfaith service, and its street theater initiative with San Francisco’s homeless.

Goals

This workshop will:

• Introduce “communal narratives” and demonstrate how they enrich storytelling
• Show an example of an interfaith organization that was co-founded by a Unitarian Universalist minister
• Refine participants’ skills for conducting interfaith dialogue.

Learning Objectives

Participants will:

• Incorporate communal narratives and “big stories” into their personal stories of interfaith cooperation
• Practice changing the conversation when faced with religious conflict, bigotry, or stereotypes
• Revisit interfaith stories explored earlier in this program.