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1. Running Head: ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS: SERVICE‐BASED INTERFAITH ACTIVISM 1
“Actions Speak Louder Than Words: Service‐Based Interfaith Activism”
Amanda D. Quraishi

2. ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS: SERVICE‐BASED INTERFAITH ACTIVISM 2
Abstract
Interfaith activism is a powerful method for building tolerance and understanding in
a pluralistic society like the United States. Religious and community leaders across
the country regularly engage in interfaith dialogue, which often takes the form of
academic discussions or interreligious services. However, for interfaith activism to
be truly effective in challenging stereotypes and promoting peace on a societal level
it must become a populist movement. Service‐based interfaith activism engages
laity by inviting them to demonstrate the very best each of their faith traditions has
to offer. Service‐based interfaith activism is also highly adaptive to the unique
needs of each local community and an entire movement can start by utilizing
existing organizations and resources, rather than creating new organizations to
promote this kind of work.
Keywords: faith‐based understanding, service‐based interfaith activism,
interfaith dialogue

3. ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS: SERVICE‐BASED INTERFAITH ACTIVISM 3
Actions Speak Louder Than Words: Service‐Based Interfaith Activism
The primary purpose of interfaith activism is to expose participants to other faith
traditions with the aim of building understanding and tolerance. Interfaith activism
in the U.S. usually takes the form of religious scholars, clergy, or other community
leaders engaging in comparisons of their respective faith traditions through public
dialogue or interfaith worship services. While this kind of activism is valuable in the
realm of religious scholarship, its benefits are limited when confined to the world of
academia, or when only those in positions of leadership have the opportunity to
participate and laity participates in a mostly passive role.
Service‐based interfaith activism, however, is far more effective for promoting
widespread interfaith engagement because it addresses social needs on local,
national, and global platforms and encourages popular participation and leadership
by laity. Service‐based interfaith activism places almost no academic requirements
on participants and involves people from all age groups, professional backgrounds,
socio‐economic statuses, levels of education and ideologies. It works to promote
interfaith understanding because participants expose one another to their religious
traditions by actively demonstrating the very best each tradition has to offer.
The Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC), based in Chicago, IL is one organization that
promotes service as a form of interfaith engagement, particularly on university
campuses and among students. IFYC members mobilize other students across the
country for service‐based projects like the campaign to send a million meals to the
people of Haiti after the devastating 2011 earthquake. Through shared service

4. ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS: SERVICE‐BASED INTERFAITH ACTIVISM 4
projects benefitting a greater collective, students have the chance to work ‘in the
trenches’ with members of other religions, building trust and understanding in the
process. IFYC founder Eboo Patel wrote about the benefit of building relationships
through shared service by referencing the phenomenon called “Pal Al” which means
that the more knowledge one has of another religious perspective, the more likely
one is to have a positive view of that group overall; and that differing faith groups
build stronger relationships when they participate in community activities that
build social capital. (2011)
Interfaith Action of Central Texas operates a program called Hands on Housing that
uses volunteer labor to restore, repair and renovate dilapidated housing for low‐
income, elderly individuals. For ten years the Hands on Housing program has
facilitated and annual Muslim‐Jewish Workday, bringing together members of both
communities for a full day of manual labor. All volunteers are engaged: children,
adults and the elderly participate for a full day of painting, carpentry, gardening, and
other work resulting a ‘total home makeover’ by the end of the day. There is a
sense that both faith communities are there to represent their faith traditions, and
yet there is no formal interfaith ‘dialogue’ that happens during the workday.
Nevertheless, the bonds between these faith communities (individuals and the
collective) have grown stronger because of this annual project, so that members
from each community regularly participate in each other’s holidays, events and
charity work throughout the year.
Rather than depending on dogma‐centered discussion, service‐based interfaith
activism relies on a natural human interaction through shared service experiences

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to create the understanding, tolerance and affinity between people of different faith
traditions. Members of various faith traditions who come together to share the best
of their teachings in action create a synergistic effect in which the whole of the
experience is greater than the sum of its parts. Participants not only walk away
from service‐based interfaith events with a greater understanding of themselves
and their neighbors, they also experience the esoteric and highly intimate shared
spiritual reward that is a result of compassion in action. These positive experiences
only reinforce the effort made by participants to engage in this kind of service, often
leading them to recruit others in their faith tradition to participate as well.
Interfaith writer and religious scholar Karen Armstrong summed up the benefit of
letting our actions speak for us in an interfaith context when she wrote in The Spiral
Staircase (2004), “The one and only test of a valid religious idea, doctrinal
statement, spiritual experience, or devotional practice was that it must lead directly
to practical compassion.“
A service‐based interfaith activism movement does not require a traditional
organization but rather, should embrace a de‐centralized, leaderless movement as
described in the book Starfish and the Spider (Brafman & Beckstrom, 2006). This
organizational model allows for agility and speed in response to hyper‐local needs
or issues. The lack of formal meta‐structure would allow for a movement of service‐
based interfaith activism to evolve within local communities, responding to unique
needs quickly and creatively. This type of open‐source problem solving, where
individuals with unique gifts and specialties can quickly identify issues and mobilize

6. ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS: SERVICE‐BASED INTERFAITH ACTIVISM 6
around them based on their passion and conviction, are far more powerful and
sustainable than traditional organizational models.
Members of society who are often overlooked for participation in interfaith dialogue
(such as children, the elderly, stay‐at‐home moms and small‐business owners) could
be engaged for this kind of work with the minimum of expense and difficulty. This
can be done in any number of ways; for example:
• Approach non‐profit organizations engaged in community service programs
to facilitate interfaith groups. Since these organizations are already set up
for service and are often in need of volunteers, asking for an opportunity to
serve with them using their facilities can be well received.
• Engage in small, informal projects with neighbors, co‐workers or friends
based around larger community events or holidays; have all participants
recruit or invite others in their personal circle to increase the organic reach
of the project.
• Work on behalf of your religious community to trade off with other religious
communities working within each other’s religious‐based charity programs.
Service‐based interfaith activism is the key to engaging a greater number of
individuals from diverse faith communities. This type of activism is not limited to
those with special knowledge, education or access. Rather it is available to anyone
who sees the need to build bridges and understanding between people of different
religions. Service‐based interfaith activism benefits the participants by providing
them with opportunities to demonstrate compassion—the highest form of
expression for many faith traditions—and to witness the compassion of others. It

7. ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS: SERVICE‐BASED INTERFAITH ACTIVISM 7
addresses societal problems by giving motivated individuals the chance to work on
issues that are critical for their own communities and see the benefits of their labor.
The goal of experienced interfaith activists and leaders, then, should be to facilitate
and promote these kinds of service‐based interfaith projects as broadly as possible
within their respective communities, offering all available resources, tools, and
encouragement to anyone and everyone who is inspired to participate in interfaith
activism.

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References
Patel, E. & Meyer, C. (2011). The Civic Relevance for Interfaith Cooperation for
Colleges and Universities. Journal of College and Character, 12(1), 1‐9.
Armstrong, Karen (2004). The spiral staircase. New York, NY: Knopf
Brafman, O. & Beckstrom, R. (2006). The spider and the starfish: The unstoppable
power of leadership organizations. New York, NY: Portfolio