As participants file into the room, they each take their respective spots around the table. Settling in, they keep their microphones muted until the facilitator is ready to begin the dialogue session. Each is ready to listen, to learn, to connect across geographic, religious, and social differences.
This time around, however, there is one more divide to overcome between them — a digital one.
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses, individuals, and organizations around the world are reimagining how in-person experiences can be transferred online. Tour operators are offering “virtual vacations,” universities and schools are moving courses online, and “digital dating” is becoming an alternative to in-person meet-ups.
The crisis has also precipitated a shift in approaches to intercultural and interreligious dialogue.
While there are challenges in the change, interreligious organizations and seasoned dialogue practitioners are finding inventive ways to not only transfer dialogue online, but make it more effective in the process.
Drawing on their wealth of experience, they are using digital tools in intentional ways. While it may seem surprising, they are finding online dialogue can foster transformative relationships across differences.