#bettertogetherday

It's finally Better Together Day! People all over the country are coming together for interfaith engagement on their campuses and in their communities. Want to be part of it?

Help Refugees and Promote Interfaith Literacy

What inspires you to do good? Support Syrian refugees simply by answering that question on the Better Together Day website. For every person who participates, IFYC will donate $2 to the International Rescue Committee – up to a grand total of $10,000! If you want to learn what inspires others, take a stroll around our values gallery.

Join the Conversation

Show off your ideas by using #BetterTogetherDay on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. We’ll also be on Twitter all day using #BetterTogetherDay for our Interfaith Trivia Contest, every hour from 10:00am-to 10:00pm (CST). You’ll boost your interfaith literacy AND have a chance to win a #BetterTogetherDay t-shirt!

At ING, we believe that developing religious literacy generally and interfaith literacy specifically is key to fulfilling our mission of building intercultural and interreligious understanding and harmony. As an educational organization, we provide both Islamic and multi-faith presentations to schools, colleges, churches, synagogues, community centers, and other venues. While we strive to deliver presentations that are objective and academically sound, we aim not only to impart intellectual knowledge but also to foster the face-to-face encounter with Muslims and adherents of other major religions that, according to both social science research and common sense, is the most effective counter to prejudice.

Our Islamic Speakers Bureau trains Muslims to speak on various topics relating to Islam, from introductory presentations on American Muslims and their faith to presentations on Muslim women, the history of Muslims in the U.S., and Muslim contributions to civilization. Our Interfaith Speakers Bureau trains adherents of five major religions (Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism) to speak on multi-faith panels on various topics, including the ethical values that all their traditions share.

The Hindu American Foundation (HAF) is an advocacy organization promoting dignity, mutual respect, and pluralism amongst all peoples. The Foundation educates the public about Hinduism, speaks out about issues affecting Hindus and other minorities worldwide, and builds bridges with institutions and individuals whose work aligns with HAF’s objectives. HAF focuses on human and civil rights, public policy, media, academia, and interfaith relations. Through its advocacy efforts, HAF seeks to cultivate leaders and empower future generations of Hindu Americans.

HAF seeks to serve Hindu Americans across all sampradayas (Hindu religious traditions) regardless of race, color, national origin, citizenship, caste, gender, sexual orientation, age and/or disability.   HAF provides accurate and culturally competent information about Hinduism through its educational efforts, including its signature Hinduism 101 and Dharma Ambassador training programs. Through these programs, HAF empowers people from various faiths with the knowledge and resources to better understand Hinduism, ultimately countering Hinduphobia.

(Photo caption: U.S. House of Representatives Chaplain Father Patrick Conroy speaking about religious pluralism alongside Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, a practicing Hindu, at HAF’s Congressional Reception, 2015.) Pluralism is an inherent facet of Hinduism, the oldest living spiritual tradition in the world. The Sanskrit hymn, Rig Veda I.164.46, states:

Ekam sat vipraha bahudha vadanti (Truth is one, the wise call it by many names).

The Center for Inquiry (CFI) or its predecessor organizations have been active for forty years, working through both advocacy and education to protect secular government and fundamental human rights, to promote reason and science to the general public, and to end the stigmas attached to being nonreligious.

CFI cherishes the desire of the founders to maintain a proper relationship between religion and government, and the strong protections for freedom of religion, belief, and expression they included in the United States Constitution. These protections allow for a pluralistic, tolerant society in which individuals can believe or not believe, and live out their beliefs free from discrimination or harm.  

However, we also recognize that there exist efforts to base American identity or laws on sectarian religion, as well as widespread misconceptions and stereotypes about both religious and nonreligious minorities. And we believe that Americans of all religious affiliations — and those of none — must work together to protect the secular heritage and character of the American government.

To combat efforts to create laws based on sectarian religious beliefs, and to protect freedom for all Americans, CFI’s Office of Public Policy and Legal Department advocate at all levels of government for laws that respect a naturalistic and humanistic understanding of the world which is accessible and intelligible to all people. These efforts include lobbying Congress and the Administration, filing briefs with the Supreme Court, and advocating at the United Nations in New York and Geneva.

To combat misconceptions and stereotypes regarding religious and nonreligious minorities, CFI’s Office of Public of Policy also works with a wide range of religious groups on issues of shared concern. For example, we have worked with Muslim groups in urging the Department of Justice to investigate the NYPD’s surveillance of Muslims; with Christian groups on crimes committed by ISIS; and with Hindu groups on human rights violations in Bangladesh.

In addition, through our Outreach Department, CFI engages in grassroots efforts to build flourishing communities that host regular events and create goodwill among local populations. These efforts include discussion groups, civic days, English-learning classes, secular sobriety groups, interfaith efforts, a wide range of social events, and educational events featuring leading intellectuals, activists, authors, and religious and community leaders.

And, finally, through our magazine Free Inquiry and our podcast Point of Inquiry, CFI seeks to create spaces to get past sound bites and foster a more comprehensive dialogue on, and understanding of, the role of religion in society.

Sometimes one good deed leads to another.

Interfaith Alliance responded to legislation in various states that formalized discrimination on the basis of religious beliefs with a campaign to place the sign below in windows of businesses.  It is a riff on the awful signs that populated so much of the country in earlier times; they restricted restrooms, lunch counters, swimming pools, seats on buses and so many other things to people of one race.  We have put those days behind us, and so this sign was designed to remind customers that We Serve Everyone Only.

But the message of welcome turned out to be larger than we imagined.  The notion of creating a welcoming community for everyone has triggered an interest in the signage from interfaith groups as well.  Here is Rabbi Jack Moline with a diverse group of students of Dr. Bob Wright at the Wright Foundation who responded to a message of proactive interest in others:

If I want to create a welcoming community, it is incumbent on me to welcome you for who you are and, at the same time, affirm me for who I am.

The National Sikh Campaign is focused on educating our neighbors about Sikh-Americans. Sikhism is the 5th largest religion and the 3rd largest monotheistic religion in the world. However, the vast majority of our fellow Americans do not know anything at all about Sikhism. As a consequence of the lack of knowledge of Sikhism, Sikh-Americans face significant rates of bullying and discrimination.

Our community intimately knows the importance of supporting religious literacy and pluralism. Once our neighbors learn that Sikhism is rooted in equality between race, gender, and religions, discrimination against Sikhs decreases.

Supporting religious pluralism is also central to the core beliefs of Sikhism. Since its founding, countless Sikhs have fought and laid down their lives to protect the right for others to practice their faith. In fact, The ninth Sikh, Guru Tegh Badadur in his unwavering goal of building a just, pluralistic society, sacrificed his life so that others may practice their faith.

Shoulder to Shoulder was founded in 2010 by a number of religious leaders and institutions in the United States to take a collective stand against rising anti-Muslim bigotry in our country.  Though we may differ theologically and politically on many points, we are united by our shared values of hospitality and respect for one another, and by our commitment to our nation as a place where all communities should feel welcomed and have equal access to the religious liberty guaranteed by our nation’s laws.  

Because of this, we have pledged- and have invited all Americans to pledge- to REFLECT on what will heal divisions in our communities; to PARTNER across faith lines to know one another better and address issues of common concern, such as affirming and promoting religious freedom; to TELL the positive stories of these multi-faith partnerships publicly in order to report this reality to the media and shape public dialogue; and to DENOUNCE hatred, bigotry, violence and the use of misinformation against American Muslims wherever we see it in word or in action.  

Why do we have the right to believe or not believe?

It may seem abstract, but it matters. Throughout history, kings and emperors have claimed that individual rights – including the right to believe – were theirs to give and theirs to take away.

Today, we recognize that our rights stand on stronger ground. As President John F. Kennedy said, “… the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state but from the hand of God.” These rights are part of us. They’re who we are. And they’re the reason we can respect other people’s right to believe, even when we think they’re wrong.