Last Thursday, groups of 10 strangers met in private homes around central Pennsylvania to take part in the Amazing Faiths Dinner Dialogues.
They shared a meal and discussed the role of faith or spirituality in their lives. During dinner, they listened quietly as each person answered a question -- all different -- on the card he or she received when they arrived.
"Each person takes a card from the moderator and has five minutes to answer the question on it," said Rabbi Carl Choper, who helped coordinated the dinners in the midstate.
"Nobody will respond to what the person says, but listens. They speak without the sense that someone will object to what they say. At the end, people have a chance to say what they learned."
It was the first time the Amazing Faiths Dinner Dialogues took place outside of greater Houston, where the meals began two years ago as a way bring people together to learn about and explore beliefs and faith traditions. The project is sponsored in part by The Boniuk Center for Religious Tolerance at Rice University.
In the past, groups have met informally long after their dialogue event, either by participating together at other Amazing Faiths events or by organizing their own social occasions as friends.
Choper, executive director of the Religion and Society Center in Harrisburg, hopes to get more people involved and organize the dinners again next year, he said.
Leave a comment