For the second year in a row, Paths to Understanding (PTU) was an official partner of Habitat for Humanity’s Interfaith Build in King County. More than 100 volunteers worked on the Yarrow Cottages housing community in South Park. Volunteers from Muslim, Buddhist, Christian, and Jewish communities came together, guided by their shared values for the common good.
In a time of increasing loneliness and isolation, which can fuel dehumanization and political violence, the significance of this Interfaith Build was even greater. These communities wanted to show that people from diverse traditions and cultures not only are able to live and work together but are eager to do so.
Participating in this Build was an act of public leadership.
In the early 2000s in Bellevue, WA, B’nai Torah, the Iman Center, and several Christian congregations came together in public leadership to create the first-ever Interfaith Build with Habitat for Humanity. Even leaders from the Habitat home office in Atlanta, Georgia flew out to participate. Over the next five years, interfaith partners built several homes together. Among these leaders were Rabbi Jim Mirel and Imam Jawad Khaki. Their leadership sent a powerful message: the dehumanization of American Muslims after 9/11 would not go unanswered. People of diverse wisdom traditions stood united, showing that we are stronger because of the gifts each tradition brings.
As volunteers arrived at our Interfaith Builds this past week, they donned their hard hats and safety glasses and then engaged in conversations led by PTU staff. Prompts encouraged participants to share a little bit about their wisdom tradition’s values and also about what makes them unique as an individual. Our staff witnessed compassion and laughter that continued throughout the day.
In recent years, many have said we need to put down our phones and “touch grass”—spend less time on social media and more time connecting with nature and each other. At this year’s Interfaith Build, people did just that: they touched grass, shook hands, and swung hammers.
We look forward to next year!
But if you don’t want to wait for a year, you can invite people from other wisdom communities in your neighborhood to a Potluck for Democracy or to volunteer together anytime. Email PTU and our staff will help facilitate your gathering. We don’t have to have to wait to laugh, eat, and work together.