Over the course of the afternoon, several crucial proclamations were apparent and shared among each of the four traditions represented: that sacred scriptures command that all paths are to be respected; that the Creator made us into different nations that we could ‘know one another’; that we don’t have to see ‘eye to eye to walk shoulder by shoulder’; and, given that our holy texts were written as revolutionary calls to action, we were reminded that we are a prophetic people, charged with the care of ‘the other.’
After the formal panel discussion ended, the session opened to Q&A. Questions posed from the audience ranged from the differences between religious versus political tribalism; the role of economic dislocation in societal polarization and the fear of change.