The Middle East Peace Initiative includes a wide range of interreligious encounters, fact-finding trips, interfaith dialogues, cultural initiatives, athletic programs, and service projects.

The Middle East Peace Initiative includes a wide range of interreligious encounters, fact-finding trips, interfaith dialogues, cultural initiatives, athletic programs, and service projects.

Interreligious encounters

MEPI is distinctive in that Jews, Christians, and Muslims travel together to each others’ holy sites and gain a mutual and first-hand understanding of the history and traditions of the Abrahamic faiths. For many participants, this is the first substantial encounter with the people and traditions of the other faiths in a religious context. During such shared experiences, we enrich each other with our own unique perspectives. This helps strengthen our own faith and dissolve barriers of ignorance, distrust, and fear.

Upon returning home, reports of positive learning experiences sparked interest in interreligious peacebuilding, helping to counterbalance the images of conflict commonly found in the mass media.

Inclusion of interreligious perspectives in policy discussions: Middle East peace talks have generally not involved spiritual leaders or addressed religious issues. Interfaith leaders in MEPI have held briefings with members of the Israeli Knesset, Palestinian authorities, and leaders in Jordan and Lebanon to advocate for closer involvement with the faith community.

Members of Parliament from many nations have attended MEPI briefings and spoken about how they apply the wisdom of their religious traditions to the issues before them in their own countries, leading to animated discussions about applicability in the Middle East.

Interfaith peace walks give “hands-on” experiences to all participants.