Why Dialogue ?

Today we live in a world where natural and manmade disasters, hunger, diseases, wars, terrorism, economical inequality, social unrest, religious intolerance and bigotry threaten the quality of our life and our very existence. This world belongs to all of us. Since there is no other place to live, stopping these horrors is one of humanity’s utmost responsibilities us- ing all resources and institutions, and the only reasonable way of achieving this is through spreading the culture of peace, tolerance and dialogue. Dialogue, which involves sharing ideas and interacting with others, is definitely not an effort to impose certain views on others and establish authority over them. The aim of dialogue should be to recognize, understand, and appreciate one another.

Our Principals

While trying to create a peaceful atmosphere of dialogue we try to adhere to the following principals:

• We will not engage in debates because a debate implies a winning and a loosing side. Dialogue should result in both sides winning by improving their understanding.
• We will not engage in political discourse since political differences often result in highlighting dissimilarities and feelings of anger. Instead, we will focus on universal and timeless human values.
• We will focus on our similarities while acknowledging our genuine differences.
• We will respect everyone’s God given right to choose what they believe. It is possible to respect someone while not agreeing with them on every issue.
• We will work hard to remove misunderstandings and take the first step when necessary.