Adding Identity to the Interfaith Triangle of Teens: Walking the Walk and Religious Identities

Posted by Interfaith Center of Greater Philadelphia on May 12, 2014

On May 18, the Interfaith Center is hosting a presentation by Professor Ria Van Ryn from Yeshiva University. Ria has spent this year studying Walking the Walk, our interfaith program with high school youth and will be presenting on the results of her study.

“Adding Identity to the Interfaith Triangle:
Walking the Walk and Religious Identities”
by Ria Van Ryn, Ph.D.

Sunday, May 18th 1:00-3:00pm
Rodeph Shalom Synagogue
615 N Broad Street, Philadelphia

Please RSVP to Marjorie Scharf at mns@interfaithcenterpa.org

From Dr. Ria Van Ryn: “As a primary initiative of the Interfaith Center of Greater Philadelphia, Walking the Walk, challenges its participants to “dare to understand” one another in religiously diverse contexts. Sessions encourage young people to ask curious questions, communicate their unease when they encounter harmful stereotypes, serve as ambassadors of their congregations and schools, and put their values into practice at service-learning sites. But what are the outcomes of a year spent engaging in these tasks? Specifically, how do participants in Walking the Walk speak about their religious identities after immersion in intentional religious pluralism? I will discuss the results of research exploring these questions, drawing from observations, a pre- and post-participation assessment of youth, and a survey of adult leaders involved with Walking the Walk. I argue that Walking the Walk works to add proficiency in honing religious identity narratives to the highly touted “interfaith triangle” of attitudes, relationships, and knowledge that currently dominates our understanding of the positive outcomes of interfaith encounters.”