About
Known as DI (Dialogue International), the organization was started by a group of Turkish graduate students at UW. These founders felt that the portrayal of Muslims in the media and in American society misrepresented Islam as a whole, especially after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. Their fear was that these misrepresentations were leading to conflict on a personal, community and global scale.
“With so many media images and other information about Muslims, sometimes misleading, sometimes misinformed, they felt responsible for representing themselves,”
DI executive committee member Jessica Ozalp said. The founders decided the best way to combat this conflict and represent themselves was to hold events where people of different faiths could come together and discuss particular aspects of their religion, which they hoped would increase knowledge of other faiths while quelling any misguided stereotypes.
“We observed that there are many misconceptions, especially about Islam, but just about religion. The main reason is people don’t know much about each other. If you don’t know about something, either you are afraid of it or you ignore it.”
founding member Tevfik Kosar said.
Each semester, DI hosts a variety of events, such as video lectures, documentaries, interfaith panels and dialogue dinners, where students, faculty members and religious leaders near campus can participate. Each of these events usually falls under one of two themes – to show commonalities among religions or to present lesser-known aspects of Islam. Some past topics include Love and Tolerance, What is Jihad? and Women in Islam.
“It’s good to learn from their traditions, and it’s good be able to teach from our tradition,”
said Brent Christianson of the Lutheran Campus Center, who has represented Christian view in such panels as Death and Resurrection and Why do Christians and Muslims get Involved with Politics?
“I think we can appreciate our own without having to disrespect the other.”
Mission
In a world where even the farthest point is within an arm’s reach, it is impossible to live anywhere without experiencing diversity. In order for everyone to live peacefully, it is important for individuals to rise above differences that drive us apart or against each other. It is the mission of Dialogue International to promote respect and understanding among all cultural and faith traditions through organizing settings for the exchange of ideas and social interaction. We believe that establishment of dialogue environments will be a means to appreciate diverse opinions and eliminate the stereotypes often assigned to `others’. We invite and encourage sharing of various perspectives, which will inspire and illuminate us in our endeavor to fulfill this mission.
To reach this goal we have started a video lecture series which focuses on major religions and deals with less known aspects of them. We also organize celebrations of common holidays in major cultures and religions, including speeches by representatives of each religion. We have been organizing interfaith dialogue activities which have brought Muslim, Christian and Jewish speakers and members of other faith traditions together. We hope that all these activities will serve to establish a peaceful world and a growth of understanding, tolerance, and love.
