Janet Penn, Executive Director of Inter Faith Action or IFA in Sharon remembers how not so long ago she was inspired by the words of 19th-century Unitarian minister Theodore Parker.  In his 1853 sermon on "Justice and the Conscience," Parker declared:

"I do not pretend to understand the moral universe; the arc is a long one, my eye reaches but little ways; I cannot calculate the curve and complete the figure by the experience of sight; I can divine it by conscience.  And from what I see I am sure it bends towards justice."

 When Penn joined to lead the Interfaith Action, she found the moral universe in her work because “in a diverse global society, reducing conflict and violence is a top priority among nations and individuals especially the youth and that is what IFA aims to do by empowering teens to understand faith and appreciate it better.”

Penn describes various scenarios where lack of understanding of faith among youth lead to greater discord and mistrust. She cites the instance of a local university that closed down without discussion, an exhibit featuring artwork of Palestinian children because some people felt it was anti-Israeli or a local mosque that came up for suspicion on harboring a terrorist. At the IFA, teens tackle these issues with openness, communicate across differences, facilitate respectful conversations about polarizing topics, and organize diverse groups to work together to solve problems. “We have found that it is far more difficult to be prejudiced when you know someone’s personal story and understand their historical narrative” said Penn.

There is no curriculum for the group whose backgrounds vary from Hindus,Christians, Jewish and Muslims that meet at the twice monthly workshops in Sharon.  Instead they are asked to identify barriers or problems among different religious and ethnic groups in their community and to propose ways they will address these issues. “Our whole effort is geared to deepen understanding of different religious and faith groups, invite a open dialogue on the topic and support with action through workshops and conferences.”

The upcoming conference called T.I.D.E or Teenage Interfaith Diversity Education (T.I.D.E.) Initiative on May 28-31 at North Eastern University, is one such initiative where teens trained by IFA will demonstrate their newly formed skills in opening up a conversation, participating in an innovative on-line dialogue, using digital media to extend the impact and reach of the conference to a wider youth movement.

Pluralism programs in the past have included “Sharing Sacred Seasons”, which brought 1,000 Jews, Christians, Muslims, and Hindus together during the past three years for learning and celebration; Identifying challenges to pluralism in their community and creating programs to address these challenges  Teens have also traveled to Amman Jordan and facilitated twelve dialogues with their Jordanian peers, in collaboration with the Jordanian Interfaith Coexistence Research Center.

Penn strongly believes that young adults enter the world with strong listening, communication, facilitation and leadership skills that are crucial to reducing conflict and violence in a diverse, global society. In 2009, IFA was recognized as an international good practice by UNESCO and was chosen by the Tony Blair Foundation to be one of six sites in the U.S. to host Faiths Actions Fellows.

Future challenges include scaling it to promote religious and cultural pluralism in public schools, universities and communities within the greater Boston area.Dr. Eboo Patel, Founder and Director of the Interfaith Youth Core, Chicago, IL, Member of President  Obama’s  Office of Community and Faith-Based Partnerships, has praise for the group :“Interfaith Action (IFA) in Sharon, MA is a great example of an organization…transforming religious diversity into interfaith cooperation. Their training programs develop skills that young people need to not only navigate our diverse society, but to lead their communities in promoting mutual understanding and respectful action. IFA has proven itself capable of transforming individuals and their community. Their graduates have gone on to become IFYC Fellows and leaders on their college campuses. There is enormous untapped potential for this training and when brought to scale, IFA could have tremendous impact on other communities across America'.

Here are also a few links :
1. Interfaith Action's Youth Program facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/index.php?lh=75ba7ec7a7ecce0717ec87763fb68da9&#!/group.php?gid=103280669394
2. TIDE Conference 2010 facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/index.php?lh=75ba7ec7a7ecce0717ec87763fb68da9&#!/group.php?gid=104423552928984
3. TIDE Conference 2010 facebook event page: http://www.facebook.com/index.php?lh=75ba7ec7a7ecce0717ec87763fb68da9&#!/event.php?eid=108776865816358&ref=mf

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