Advancing Interfaith Dialogue: Religion, Peace and Development: Afghanistan and Pakistan
Introduction
Advancing Interfaith Dialouge
To advance this goal of interfaith dialogue and service on college campuses, Hindu American Seva Charities, Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs and World Faiths Development Dialogue hosted an interfaith roundtable dialogue on how religion and faith based communities can play a role in bringing peace and development in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Young Scholars Program at HASC is serving as the catalyst to engage both undergraduate and graduate students to advance interfaith dialogue through seva or service projects and the Refugee Settlement Program.
The roundtable focused on the following:
Identifying the religious communities, its leaders and their ideologies in Afghanistan and Pakistan and the extent to which faith based communities help shape development agenda.
Public understanding and perception of religion and peace.
State and institutional efforts to foster cooperation through public diplomacy, local engagement and Diaspora engagement through an interfaith approach;
Purpose
Conduct policy research around religion, peace and development in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Engage in service initiatives to understand the region and its communities through Diaspora engagement
Identify and engage with NGO and civil society groups in the United States and the region for the purposes of experiential learning.
