Long Island
Multi-Faith Forum
BUILDING BRIDGES:
Understanding Our Neighbors' Faiths
The BUILDING BRIDGES program seeks to educate communities about religious diversity on Long Island. We encourage neighbors to reach out to one another with respect, expand their knowledge about beliefs and customs of those from different faiths, and explore ways to make our communities better for all people.
BUILDING BRIDGES is an interactive program that typically includes:
- 30-minute audiovisual presentation: "Faiths on Long Island" - panel representing several different faith traditions - question and answer period - booklet describing each faith community Our program's success has been built on the lively interaction between the panelists and the audience and our ability to customize each presentation around the interests and needs of each host community. All panel members are volunteers who range in age from teenagers to retirees. The panelists are not professional theologians. They do, however, address a wide variety of questions, such as how their daily faith is lived on Long Island, the religious holidays they celebrate, what they want their neighbors to know about their customs and practices, and how to get along with our increasingly diverse neighbors. All are well-informed about their own religious traditions and are eager to share their values and customs with others. The panelists can address specific topics, such as what they have learned from their traditions about tolerance, respect for diversity, and discrimination. Programs have also included such topics as health and sickness, dating, and marriage. LIMFF volunteers treasure their own faith communities while also cherishing America for protecting and affirming religious diversity. Our programs do not proselytize. We are all genuinely interested in learning about other religious traditions and building bridges of understanding.
