Overview
The Annual Chicago Interfaith Gathering (CIG) organized by the Niagara Foundation is one of the organization’s many interfaith programs. It is a three-day event, whose purpose is to bring together people of various religious and social backgrounds to discuss pertinent issues.
Religious communities often stand on the frontlines of any phenomenon, from conflicts to peace circles. When the former takes place, the traditions themselves often become victimized by the distortion of actors wrongfully misappropriating a religious identity to further other contextual motivations. What then is the role for interreligious dialogue in the process of peace building and reconciliation? What responsibility do religious communities play in responding to local, national, or international issues? What lessons, if any, do experiences of interreligious dialogue offer to the project of promoting peace after or during conflict?
At the Chicago Interfaith Gathering, Niagara Foundation assembles some of the country’s top intellectuals, peace building professionals, and interfaith leaders at a symposium and students at a workshop to address current trends and challenges in the project of healing individuals and communities during and after the respective phenomena takes place. The program is concluded or commenced with a dinner of friendship, called the Abrahamic Traditions Dinner.