Enjoy the series and move quickly BEYOND BELIEF by engaging your friends, guests, congregants, or audience in a productive dialogue. Spiritually-grounded action begins with a clear understanding of multi-faith relationships and the opportunity for inclusive, authentic expression in a safe and nurturing environment under the guidance of a skillful facilitator.

Sample Dialogue download as .doc or download as .pdf

Dialogue on BELIEF (approx. 90 mins)

This agenda can be used during community events leading up to the Oct. 18th – 24th premiere week, as well as to guide a post-screening discussion during the week of the series.

WELCOME and Interfaith/Intercultural Opening (5 MINS): This could be a prayer or other spiritual or cultural practice that set the tone for the vision of your time together.

INTRODUCTIONS (10 MINS)
Introduce yourself to the attendees and share why you joined and got involved.

Ask attendees to introduce themselves to share their own personal belief stories and share why they are interested in these issues.
(Suggestion: If there are fewer than ten people, you have attendees introduce themselves to the group. If there are more than ten people, have attendees’ pair off for introductions to their partners. After about five minutes, come back together and ask the room to share about the person they just met.)

We are part of a community of individuals from diverse spiritual, cultural and faith backgrounds that will explore and build relationships through conversations around three guiding questions:

1. What do we believe and how does that belief system bring us closer to our life purpose?

2. What do others believe and how can we learn more about those beliefs and our common humanity?

3. How can we connect more closely to other communities of faith and belief to impact the world for the greater good?

Our goals today are to build dialogue around the power of our distinct as well as our shared beliefs and cultural experiences. We open the door to opportunities to deepen dialogue within our community that foster interfaith/ intercultural understanding.

(Suggestion: For those hosting multiple-night screenings, choose several questions to discuss after each evening’s viewing. This will shorten the post-screening discussion while allowing people to express in more depth.)

The purpose of this part of our dialogue is to give people an opportunity to share their personal experiences.

To get the ball rolling, share the impact that your faith, beliefs, and cultural/spiritual practices have played in your life or that of your community.

Have facilitators - skilled in interfaith and/or intercultural communication - present to help facilitate the dialogue.

SAMPLE QUESTIONS

(Feel free to ask your own, these are simply guidelines to help stimulate conversation)

For the purposes of our conversations - Belief is defined broadly as – cultural, spiritual or religious practices that one engages in to sustain their lives. (Facilitators: Allow safe space for people to express their practices without expectation of a religious affiliation.)

1. What role does faith and belief play in your life?
2. What do you believe and how does that belief system bring you closer to your life purpose?
3. How do our diverse cultural traditions bind us together in community with one another?
4. What are the benefits and risks of interacting with people who have different beliefs, cultural or spiritual practices?
5. What do you not know about people from other belief systems that you want to know?
6. What faith practices do you engage in to sustain yourself and community during the most challenging times?
7. What are steps we can take to embrace the diversity of beliefs within our community?
8. What is your hope for the future of belief around the world?
9. What is your hope for the future of intercultural understanding in our community