Practical Steps for Faith and Interfaith Leaders Living on the Edge
If we agree that the sacred–secular split is hollowing out both faith and public life—and if we reject domination as an answer—then the question becomes practical:
What leaders of wisdom traditions and interfaith leaders actually do?
Not next decade.
Not after the culture cools down.
Now.
Here are several practices drawn from the Living on the Edge framework.
1. Teach Public Values Without Telling People How to Vote
Wisdom traditions are not thin on public values. We are rich in them.
What many leaders avoid—out of fear or fatigue—is naming how those values show up in shared life:
- Human dignity
- Limits on power
- Truth-telling
- Care for the vulnerable
- Responsibility to future generations
This does not require endorsing candidates or policies.
It does require helping people ask better questions:
- Who benefits from this system?
- Who bears the cost?
- Who is missing from the table?
- What does our tradition say about power, wealth, and responsibility?
If we don’t help people connect faith to real-world decisions, someone else will gladly do it for them.
2. Normalize Discomfort as Part of Faithfulness
Many congregations assume discomfort means something has gone wrong.
In reality, discomfort often means something important is happening.
Living on the edge—between traditions, cultures, generations, and experiences—will surface tension. Leaders can help by:
- Naming discomfort as normal
- Distinguishing discomfort from danger
- Teaching skills for staying present rather than shutting down
Discipleship has never been about comfort.
It has always been about formation.
3. Shift from Individual Dialogue to Group-to-Group Relationships
Much interfaith work focuses on individuals who already like dialogue.
That’s not enough anymore.
We need group-to-group engagement, where:
- Congregations meet congregations
- Service clubs meet mosques
- Synagogues meet churches
- Rural groups meet urban groups
This matters because distrust today is collective, not just personal.
When groups form relationships, they stop being abstractions. They become neighbors.
Shared meals, shared stories, shared service—done slowly and intentionally—change the emotional map of a community.
4. Create Spaces for Shared Story, Not Debate
Most people are exhausted by arguments.
What they rarely experience is being heard across difference without needing to perform or defend.
Faith and interfaith leaders can host spaces where:
- Stories matter more than positions
- Listening is valued over winning
- People speak from lived experience, not talking points
These spaces rebuild trust not by agreement, but by recognition.
You don’t have to like your neighbor to stop dehumanizing them.
But you do have to encounter them as human.
5. Name the Competing “Religion” of Our Time
Silence is never neutral.
If faith leaders do not name the dominant story shaping public life, people will assume it is simply “the way things are.”
We need to help communities recognize the operative religion of our time:
- Humans as economic units
- Success as accumulation
- Worth as productivity
And then ask, gently but clearly:
- Is this really the world we want?
- Does this story honor human dignity?
- What alternative vision does our tradition offer?
This is not about replacing one orthodoxy with another.
It is about making values visible again.
6. Practice Public Honor Across Difference
In a culture trained to shame, public honor is disruptive.
Faith leaders can model this by:
- Honoring the courage of other traditions
- Naming the gifts of groups they disagree with
- Thanking people for showing up across fear
Public honor lowers defenses.
It widens moral imagination.
It rebuilds civic muscle.
7. Remember the Goal Is Not Unity—but Trust
We are not trying to erase difference.
We are trying to make shared life possible again.
Trust does not mean agreement.
It means we can:
- Disagree without demonizing
- Compete without destroying
- Govern without contempt
That is the work of living on the edge—not retreating from public life, and not seizing control of it, but staying present in the tension with wisdom, humility, and courage.
This is work faith communities are uniquely equipped to do.
Not because we are perfect.
But because our traditions have practiced this kind of work for a very long time.
Next week, I’ll talk more about specific organizations and resources.