Panel Discusses Including the Nonreligious in the Interfaith Conversation

On March 20, Hartford Seminary student Carl Chudy brought together a lively panel of religious and secular speakers to explore how the interfaith conversation can incorporate the perspective of the nonreligious. Father Chudy, a Catholic priest of The Xaverian Missionaries USA, is working on a Master of Arts in Transformative Leadership and Spirituality at Hartford Seminary, and this panel was his final project. Joining the panel were:

• Tom Krattenmaker, contributing columnist to USA Today and author of Confessions of a Secular Jesus Follower
• Kathleen Green, Executive Director of the Yale Humanist Community
• Bilal Ansari, Assistant Director, Davis Center, Williams College
• Allyson Zacharoff, International Peacemaking Fellow, Hartford Seminary

The panel looked at two main topics:

• Why have this conversation in the first place? What makes this important? What are the challenges and obstacles?
• Consider the disaffiliation with religious institutions and the new idea of spirituality. What does that mean for us?

Panelists touched upon the issues of language and labels, finding shared values, disaffection with religious institutions, and the need for community and connection. A video of the panel can be viewed here: