We actually are not providing a definition or blueprint, rather, we are offering an invitation to co-create an “interreligious society” with us. While religious diversity is a fact of our American life, most people don’t know how to engage their neighbors about religious differences. In fact, many Americans fear that religious diversity is always dangerous. ICJS aims to help Americans abandon fear of religious diversity. Then, all of us—together—can identify and define what the “interreligious society” will look like.
Yes. While ICJS programs and initiatives center Jewish, Christian and Muslim traditions, ICJS includes people who check any box, many boxes, or no box as their religious identity. Actually, we don’t expect you to put yourself in a box, as the surveys ask you to do when you check the box of your religious identity. We know that real people do not fit comfortably into predefined categories. Rather, we welcome everyone who supports the vision of ICJS to build an interreligious society—one where dialogue replaces division, friendship overcomes fear, and education eradicates ignorance.
The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states that: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” Since our nation’s founding, Americans of all religions and lifestances have been interpreting and contesting what religious freedom means in the United States. That conversation remains unfinished and every American has a stake in its outcomes.
Both. Our local in-person programming is anchored in fostering interreligious collaboration and relationship-building. This is because the opportunities for intellectual, spiritual, and emotional discovery are strongest when you learn with someone and not just about someone. That’s why our cohort-based fellowships and facilitated dialogue sessions are in-person and based in Baltimore.
Yet, our reach extends beyond Baltimore. Each year, ICJS offers two residential intensives that regularly recruit participants from across the country and around the world. Also, since 2020, ICJS has been building an extensive digital library with on-demand courses, lectures, panels, and interviews that has a national—even international—reach. Finally, our interreligious expertise reaches a national audience through publications, public media,and invited speaker opportunities locally and around the world.
Yes, the vast majority of Americans are curious about the interreligious society, but don’t know how to participate in it. So while we might think of them as “the choir,” we know they aren’t ready to sing! As we are fond of saying: Even a choir needs practice, sheet music, and an opportunity to sing. ICJS is a place where the interreligious choir can practice. We aren’t only for opera-level sopranos; we welcome all people with any level of interreligious understanding to join us learning to sing.
In 1963, the U.S. Supreme Court in Abington v. Schempp argued that, while “teaching religion” was not permitted in public school contexts, “teaching about religion” was allowed. During the 60 years since, teachers—particularly in K–12 public schools—have had almost no guidance about what they can and cannot “teach about religion” in their classrooms. As a result, many teachers choose to say nothing or as little as possible about religion—even when religion is present throughout the culture, history, language, and literature in the curriculum and religious diversity is evident in the identities and lives of the teachers and students. This absence of any instruction on religion leaves students woefully lacking in the interreligious fluency needed to navigate our pluralistic society. ICJS fills an important gap in a public school teacher’s professional and personal development.
Because religion is already a public conversation topic. Religious topics, collaborations, and conflicts are present in our schools, our legislatures, our courts, our workplaces, and in our neighborhoods. But who is speaking? Do we hear multiple religious voices, including those who don’t practice religion? ICJS wants to help bring many religious voices to the public square, while also equipping people to use their interreligious ears so they can better understand and value one another as equals in American civic life.
No. Partisanship focuses on political party politics, and ICJS does not endorse candidates or engage in partisan activities. The work of building a healthy multireligious democracy is much larger than partisanship, as it focuses on building a strong civic life where participants share a sense of identity and purpose and are capable of having hard conversations with one another. By working to build a strong multireligious democracy, ICJS is helping to create a collaborative and creative civic life where our religious differences can be a powerful force for good..
Many philanthropists today are looking to invest in this more expansive view of democracy. For example, Kristen Cambell, CEO of the funder network called PACE (Philanthropy for Active Civic Engagement), wrote:
“Democracy is experiencing a crisis of legitimacy at both an institutional and cultural level. A lot of worthwhile attention and funding focuses on the former—ensuring government systems work, power is balanced, and democracy delivers public benefit. But to transcend politics, more investment is needed in civic culture—the shared experiences that shape democratic norms, beliefs, and values in a diverse and pluralistic society. This could include investments in programs that . . . nurture inclusion and belonging.” 1
1Want to Fund a Healthy Democracy? Stop Focusing on Partisan Politics. Kristen Cambell, Oct. 10, 2023. The Chronicle of Philanthropy.
No. ICJS is an independent, nonpartisan, nonsectarian 501(c)3 educational organization.