Interfaith Youth Core leader Eboo Patel discusses in Newsweek magazine how New Orleans native Dr. Kyshun Webster overcame his difficult childhood to eventually found nonprofit Operation REACH. The organization, which focuses on youth education, has been working with Interfaith Works to ensure the participation of individuals from a variety of religious backgrounds. Read more.

Christians, Jews, and Muslims gathered at a Lutheran church in Schaumburg, Ill., to participate in a discussion of their shared patriarch inspired by bestselling author Bruce Feiler's "Abraham: A Journey to the Heart of Three Faiths," reports the Chicago Tribune. Read more.

In addition to celebrating their individual faiths each week, members of the Santa Clarita Valley Interfaith Council meet once a month to learn about each other's faith and host community events to raise religious awareness, reports The Signal. Read more.

The combined efforts of Muslims and Jews in the United States are working not only to strengthen the relationship between these two "often alienated faiths," but also to create a worldwide model for religious understanding and cooperation, writes Reuters. Read more.

Using Moses as their guiding prophet and the shared act of breaking fast as a springboard, a group of Emory University's Muslim and Jewish students met at the school's first interfaith event to discuss the meaning behind their respective fasts and to better understand each other's faith, reports the Emory Wheel. Read more.

From singing Christian songs to chanting Hindu prayers, Canadian students are learning to embrace multiple faiths thanks to the Multifaith Ceremony project, which engages students in interfaith dialogue and expands their understanding of various faiths, writes the Toronto Star. Read more.

The opportunity to work side by side on a shared community project united Jewish, Muslim, and Christian Peace by Piece participants, but in the process, this Baltimore interfaith building project created other opportunities for them to "learn about the places where [they] differ," reports the Denver Examiner. Read more.

A three-day basketball camp held in Israel provided a venue for Arab and Jewish teens to connect on the court and, in the process, discover that they have much in common and can "overcome[e] bigotry and hatred with clean sportsmanship," reports CBN News. Read more.

In the hopes that Jewish and Christian students may come to better understand their own and each other's faiths, a new program sponsored by a group of Israeli schools is bringing together students to read the Bible and the New Testament, as well as visit synagogues and churches, reports Ynetnews.com. Read more.

Continuing the interfaith dialogue that began shortly after September 11, Detroit's religious leaders work to teach religious tolerance to youth through a documentary film project and workshops that highlight the shared origins of Islam, Judaism, and Christianity, reports Voice of America. Read more.

Fercan Kalkan, a Turkish businessman living and working in Bryan, Texas, has transformed his lifelong dedication to cross-cultural communication into the establishment of a new local cultural center that will enable people of all faiths to explore their similarities and differences, reports The Bryan-College Station Eagle. Read more.

Using basketball as a unifying force, Atlanta Hawks co-owner Ed Peskowitz created an Israeli-based basketball tournament in which players from 30 universities around the world participate, reports USA Today, encouraging friendship and understanding among the 17 nations represented. Read more.

With backing from the Catholic Church and the Church of England, but not without skepticism from some critics, British Prime Minister Tony Blair plans to focus his post-retirement work on encouraging interfaith dialogue and uniting the Abrahamic faiths, reports the Guardian. Read more.

In an effort to understand various ways of thinking about faith and to discuss religious and social issues, a group of Muslim women from Syria will begin holding online audio-visual discussions with young men and women in the United States, reports Gulf News. Read more.

Whatever their faith, when U.S. soldiers or victims of war have a spiritual need, today's military chaplains answer the call, and that includes such tasks as leading services, explaining tenets of the faith, and ensuring that dietary restrictions are met, writes Newsweek. Read more.

Yale University chaplain Frederick Streets has completed 15 years of service dedicated to "multi-faith activities and awareness," reports the Yale Daily News. Read more.

A spiritual and collegiate lifestyle may seem incompatible, writes the UWeekly, but on Ohio State University's campus, a dozen faith-based organizations serve both the religious and social needs of the students. Read more.

From participating in a memorial service for Virginia Tech's victims to serving the homeless at a soup kitchen to being arrested for protesting the Iraq war, Alexander Levering Kern, the new executive director of Boston's Cooperative Metropolitan Ministries, puts his beliefs into action, reports The Boston Globe. Read more.

Some 10,000 youth on five continents have engaged in interfaith dialogue about peace thanks to the efforts of Eboo Patel, who, writes The Indianapolis Star, was spurred on by the bigotry and hatred he witnessed as a youth to form the Interfaith Youth Core. Read more.

Led by Akbar Ahmed, a prominent Islamic scholar and American University professor, a group of four U.S. students traveled through nine Muslim nations to speak with students, politicians, and activists to dispel stereotypes (their own and of those with whom they spoke) of Islam in the Western world, reports the Christian Science Monitor. A new book chronicles their journey and insights. Read more.

By shifting the focus from "known history" to "forgotten history," author Zachary Karabell reveals in his new book Peace Be Upon You that Muslims, Jews, and Christians have cooperated and exchanged ideas for centuries, reports Bloomberg News. Read more.

An interfaith coalition in the Charlottesville, Va., area is addressing the needs of the poor, writes The Daily Progress, by influencing local officials to better meet demand for affordable housing and public transportation throughout the region. Read more.

In The Lutheran, Carol Schersten LaHurd explains the overarching similarities and differences between Islam, Christianity, and Judaism, stressing that "theological disagreements" should not "prevent mutual respect and understanding." Read more.

A touring comedy troupe featuring a Jew, a Muslim, and a Christian is playing on stereotypes to break down barriers, says The Daily Reflector, and in doing so, it's helping audiences draw connections among the faiths. Read more.

One short trip can bring about a lifetime of changes, writes News 10 Now, which is the hope of Syracuse University students now preparing for a trip to Turkey where they will examine how Muslims, Christians, and Jews have learned to coexist. Read more.

A joint Muslim-Jewish initiative called NewGround, explains The Arab American News, addresses challenges posed by the "other," encourages understanding of common issues, confronts joint social issues, and tackles the Palestinian-Israel conflict. Read more.

Interfaith dialogue may be "very much in vogue," explains Lisa Miller of Newsweek. She says it's the key to finding common ground among faiths and negotiating global crises, and essential to ensure world peace. Read more.

Finding common ground at a young age is the key to a new Christian-Jewish-Muslim program, says the Washington Jewish Week, in which middle-school students share their personal knowledge about faith. Read more.

Seeking to better understand the Middle East conflict, community members are meeting for a six-week lecture series on Islam, says The Roanoke Times, to "foster mutual understanding, conversation, and respect." Read more.

Muslim, Christian, and Jewish students will be attending multifaith academies in at least 25 of England's towns and cities, where, according to the Telegraph, students will learn to have a greater understanding of diverse religions and cultures. Read more.

The directors of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee and the Milwaukee Muslim Women's Coalition have been collaborating for more than 10 years to improve the dialogue and promote understanding between members of their faiths, according to the Marquette Tribune.  Read the article.

In response to a Houston community's reaction to the construction of an Islamic Temple, an interfaith group of leaders from the Catholic, Islam, and Jewish communities has formed an alliance to promote religious acceptance, reports the Houston Chronicle. Read the article.

Voice of America profiles Eboo Patel, head of the Interfaith Youth Core, which brings young people of different faiths together to solve community problems. Read the article.

According to the Belleville News-Democrat, citizens across the country will honor Martin Luther King, Jr., on Monday by making it a day on, not a day off.  In Belleville, Wash., Christian, Jewish, and Muslim teenagers will convert a house into a community food pantry, fulfilling "King's vision?that people of various colors and races can work side by side and come together in harmony."  Read the article.

Some 20 years after Pope John Paul II became the first pontiff to visit a synagogue, his interfaith work is being remembered through a pilot program to combat 2,000 years of tension and a rise in anti-Semitism, reports the Miami Herald.

"Religion is the most pervasive yet least understood topic in global life." In the hopes of changing this commonly held truth, the Washington Post's Sally Quinn and Newsweek's Jon Meacham launched On Faith. This online forum will host conversations "that shed light rather than generate heat." Weekly questions will give group members the opportunity to share their unique perspectives. According to Quinn and Meacham, the "point of [the] new online religion feature is to provide a forum for such sane and spirited talk, drawing on a remarkable panel of distinguished figures from the academy, the faith traditions, and journalism."

Part of supporting a free society is accepting all faiths. And, as demographics change, the military is striving to embrace the varied religious practices of all those who serve this country. This is no easy task, especially given that soldiers have reported belonging to more than 100 different faiths. Elizabeth Kelleher, writing for USINFO, explains that "military chaplains are trained in interdenominational services and typically carry Jewish and Christian versions of the Bible; the New Testament; the Book of Mormon; the Quran; prayer rugs; and a portable altar, among other items." Supporting these myriad faiths is exceedingly important, adds law professor Robert W. Tuttle: "To maintain good morale in an all-volunteer force, the Pentagon must pay more attention to the troops' religious needs."

At just 17 years old, Sameera Hussain, recognizing the importance of creating understanding among different faiths, founded her school's Muslim Students Association. The Arizona Republic's Doug Carroll notes that this interfaith student group, which is dedicated to "raising consciousness and performing community service," not only includes Christian members but is led by a Jewish sponsor. Appreciating the need for such an organization, English teacher Steve Munczek says, "Just because I'm a different religion it doesn't mean I can't support what they do." And it seems the students may already understand this better than most. Member Josh Riccio explains, "It has more to do with being a good citizen than with being Muslim."

Giving thanks is universal. And this Thanksgiving, a group of "Muslims, Christians, Jews and the non-religious" celebrated this fact by finding common ground during an interfaith service in Denver, one of many such services throughout the nation. The Rocky Mountain News' Hector Gutierrez writes that this year's service was led by Muslim clergy in a Presbyterian church. Next year's service is planned to be hosted by Buddhists. Rev. Cynthia Cearley, explaining how the services unite these varied faiths, says "in part, we gather because we believe there is more that is common among us, than what divides us."

Constructive interfaith dialogue may have become a recent priority of the world's major religions, but these groups have a long history of working to understand each other. In a recent interview with the National Catholic Reporter, noted Catholic theologian Cardinal Avery Dulles talks about the history of medieval Christian apologists and their attempts to understand Islam. This history is important to understanding the existing relationship between the two religions. Dulles believes that "dialogue with Islam should start with things like ecology, poverty, these sorts of common human problems, before we get to more sensitive theological questions."

Leading universities are eschewing the notion of blind faith and instead embracing "reason and faith." At Harvard University, a committee has recommended that the general curriculum include a class on this very topic. Writing in the Harvard Crimson, professor Diana Eck maintains that "no university in the 21st century should ignore the importance of basic religious literacy. No educated person in law, business, or public life can afford to acquiesce in old-fashioned or monolithic understandings of Islam -- or Christianity, for that matter." And in a Washington Post op-ed, Notre Dame University's president and provost further argues in support of the proposed required course, saying "today's students must understand religious beliefs and institutions if they are to meet the challenges and seize the opportunities the future will present."

Ever since meeting with Pope John XXIII in Rome some 50 years ago, Rabbi Jack Bemporad has devoted himself to interfaith dialogue. "You can't really have a dialogue with anyone unless there's a common language and a common way of looking at the world," he explains to Newsday. Bemporad now directs the Center for Interreligious Understanding, which sponsors events to improve relations between religions. Angelica Berrie, a major funder of the Center, claims that "almost all major wars have a religious basis," and a lot of issues "could be bridged if only some religious leaders had people to talk to."

In an effort to combat "the virulent hostility" that Rutgers University student Danielle Josephs witnessed on campus between Jews and Muslims, she helped create an interfaith dorm that has brought students together to live and learn from each other.  Called the Middle East Coexistence House, the dorm houses 11 women of various faiths who live together and take part in a weekly conflict resolution class "that covers the history, culture and current events of the Middle East," according to this report in the International Herald Tribune.

For almost 20 years, a group of Jewish, Christian, and Muslim students at Ohio Wesleyan University have met to learn from each other and explore how their respective religious texts are connected.  Called "Common Texts OWU," the group creates a safe space for students to have dialogue on interfaith issues.  As reported by Connect 2 OWU, the university's weekly magazine, freshman Jessica Black describes Common Texts as a "great way to have insight into another person's views of the world, both religious and culturally."

The purpose of interfaith dialogue is "more to be able to hear the different points of view of others and to take those in and learn there are other points of view than your own," New Jersey resident and practicing Zen Buddhist Merle Boyd says in this article from the Asbury Park Press.  Boyd is part of the Monmouth Center for World Religions and Ethical Thought, a group that includes Jews, Sikhs, Muslims, Christians, and others.

Three women -- Muslim, Christian, and Jewish -- met in 2002 to write a children's book about their different faiths, and started their own "faith club."  They have written a book about their experience, called The Faith Club, and have started a website to help other people create and join interfaith groups.  According to USA Today, the book "reveals how very hard it was when they were spiritual strangers learning to lay down their guards and dredge up their deepest fears and prejudices. Through it all, they found insight into one another's beliefs and greater clarity in their own."