As part of Wi’am’s ongoing commitment to empower young people to become major partners in the promotion of interfaith dialogue between different faiths, we organized an open interfaith meeting on Monday June 12. The event brought together 70 people of Christian and Muslim faiths (40 young people and 30 community members). The event hosted Christian and Muslim speakers (Sheikh Maher Asaf and Zoughbi) who talked about diversity, coexistence, citizenship, plurality, and common living from a Christian and Muslim point of view. The speakers talked about the role of the mind to decipher facts and differentiate between good and bad. By the same token, they reiterated the importance of common living and pluralism as a prelude toward a more harmonious community. By adopting these attitudes, we can prevent extremism and hatred. Moreover, they talked about the contribution that all religions have made to the history and diversity of the world.
The forum allowed youth to share experiences, address local issues, and suggest courses of actions by and for young people. Participants demonstrated their open-mindedness and good will. They tackled challenging, delicate issues in a mature and responsible way.
The participants in the discussion agreed that young people have an enormous potential to build bridges between various stakeholders of a society. Mutual understandings leads to practical action, which materializes in tangible results. So, the dialogue among people needs the visions, ideas and commitment of young people!
At the end of the meeting, Wi’am staff thanked the participants and prepared an Iftar meal (breaking the Ramadan fast) for all the participants as a token of sharing and promoting diversity in unity. 
