At our monthly internal Abrahamic Council meeting today, we agreed on a set of values to guide our discussions. We believe these values are a good basis for interreligious discussion, and are more important now than they’ve ever been.
Our values
We are kind and respectful
- We act in good faith, and assume good faith in the actions of others
- We appreciate our shared values and respect our differences
- We don’t try to convert others
- We listen respectfully to what others say
We are genuinely interested and open
- We are open to ask and answer questions
- We learn from each other
- We see the inherent worth in others’ beliefs and practices
We are honest
- No one can represent an entire religion, but we represent our own beliefs
- We identify where our personal beliefs diverge from common or mainstream beliefs
- We don’t speak for the beliefs or practices of other religions
We are bold
- We are not afraid to have hard conversations, but do so with sensitivity
We are tolerant and forgiving
- We do not blame each other for the actions of coreligionists, present or historical
- We are slow to take offence
- When we are offended, we treat this as a misunderstanding, seek to understand the context, and forgive.
We are united
- We make our decisions by consensus.
- We seek to achieve consensus, but where this is not possible, we move on.