Examples of Peace Tyyibah Taylor

Examples of Peace
Tayyibah Taylor

When thinking about the future of interfaith leadership, I realize we, as people of faith, have a wonderful opportunity to be powerful examples of love, understanding and peace. We can listen to the stories of others and share our own, and we can also acknowledge the highest goals of all our rituals and faith traditions.

While we all want to see a better world and a peaceful world, we may also want to hold on to our prejudices and to our narrow definitions. We may be more committed to our judgments about others than we are to creating peace.

Perhaps when we learn to see each person as a spiritual being on their path back to the Almighty, we can exemplify compassion. Seeing each other as a human soul is quite easy when we are around people who look like us, speak like us and worship like us. It takes some effort when a person is markedly different, because we often get trapped by the exterior and become unable to transcend the physical. With practice, we may realize that our differences are positives, for it is through them we learn more about each other, more about our own selves, more about humanity and more about the Creator.

The more we practice and cultivate the ability to see others as spiritual beings journeying back to God, the more we will be examples of peace. It won’t be just at special interfaith events or at peace conferences that we demonstrate our understanding, but in every interaction, every day. If this example doesn’t come from us, the people who profess to worship the Source of Peace, then from whom?

Principles of InterFaith Leaders' Fellowship from Bob Smithers

Principles of Interfaith Leaders Fellowship

1. The only requirement for membership is the desire and intent to work at developing interfaith understanding in Atlanta.

2. For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authority – a loving God as He may express himself to our group conscience.

3. The fellowship has but one primary purpose – to provide a gathering place where members can share ideas and experiences.

4. Our leaders are but trusted servants; they do not govern.