Bringing it home: Lessons from interfaith dialogue

Key takeaways

• Spring break this year took on a deeper meaning and purpose for 12 UCLA students who came together for an interreligious study trip to Spain.
• Through the Dialogue Across Difference Initiative's Bruin Bridge Builders Fund, the Bedari Kindness Institute provided financial support to students on the excursion.
• In a Q&A, third-year undergraduate Aaden Poyuzina told Newsroom about his motivation for joining the trip and what he learned from the experience.

This year's spring break took on a deeper meaning and purpose for 12 UCLA students who came together for an interreligious study trip to Spain.

During the journey hosted by the Academy for Judaic, Christian and Islamic Studies (AFJCIS), they visited key physical and cultural sites, such as mosques and synagogues that were later converted to cathedrals, illustrating the deep interactions between Muslims, Christians and Jews in medieval Spain.

"At a time when many students experience campus life through increasingly isolated ideological and social 'echo chambers,' the program sought to create meaningful opportunities for encounter, mutual curiosity, and human connection across religious and cultural difference," said Reinhard Krauss, the academy's executive director.

Krauss, a former lecturer with the UCLA Center for the Study of Religion, co-led the trip with Mariam Saada, who holds a Ph.D. in Spanish linguistics from UCLA, and Rabbi Sara Abrams, a former interfaith chaplain at UCLA Medical Center. This intentional religious diversity was also reflected in the cohort, with four Jewish students, four Christian students and four Muslim students.

Maia Ferdman, staff director of the Dialogue Across Difference Initiative at UCLA, believes such opportunities help foster connection and understanding across difference. Through the Bedari Kindness Institute's Bruin Bridge Builders Fund, the initiative provided financial support to students on the trip. These mini-grants allow students to either access learning opportunities (training grants) or develop their own campus-based programs focused on bridging divides (program grants).

"We hope that the fund opens doors to students so that they can gain these different types of experiences," said Ferdman. "And to bring their learning home and to campus, empowering them to apply those lessons here."

Aaden Poyuzina, a third-year double major in political science and public affairs, went on the excursion to Spain. The AFJCIS board member and co-founder of the Common Ground Collective at UCLA regularly brings together students of different faiths for community service events and dialogues, as well as interns for the Dialogue Across Difference Initiative. He told UCLA Newsroom about his motivation for joining the trip.

Answers have been edited for clarity and length.

Why are you personally interested in building bridges?

First, a part of it comes from my parents' divorce. Growing up, I wanted unity, belonging and togetherness because it was lacking in my family. I know it hurts to witness or be a part of harsh division, and I want to do what I can to make sure there is less of that in our world.

Second, my faith. There is a verse in Matthew: "If you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others?" I read this as a calling to show love to all people, to be that person who treats everyone as one of their own.

Third, I grew up in a community I often disagreed with. As I developed my own beliefs, I began to see the world differently than those around me. However, I still held a love for them. They were my friends, my teachers, my family. No matter how much we disagreed and how frustrated they could make me, I could never hate them. But I began to hear people I was more politically aligned with calling those on the other side monsters, evil, heartless and so on. This deeply hurt me because these words were directed towards the type of people I grew up around. I knew they weren't evil.

That's when I realized these issues of dehumanization were not unique to the right or the left. This inspired me to build bridges, to show people that we are all so human. We all have dreams, fears, things that make us laugh, things that make us cry and so much more. We don't highlight that enough; instead, we assign labels. It is much easier to hate a label than a person. I want to show that we are all so much more than a label.

Why did you go on the trip?

It is sad to me how rarely the Jewish, Muslim and Christian communities interact. A lot of trauma has separated these communities, and for many of us, this trip was our first opportunity to truly learn from and hear from our peers of different faith backgrounds. I dream of a world where people from different backgrounds laugh together, eat together, learn together and enjoy each other's company. I figured the first step toward that community was genuine friendship. I am glad to say that I now consider everyone who went on this trip a genuine friend. We invite each other to events, send fun photos and greet each other on campus. That dream of a world full of friends feels closer to reality than ever before.

What did you learn on the trip?

We learned so much. I learned how our faiths view scripture similarly and differently. The steps of prayer and the importance of prostration to Muslims. I learned more about Jewish Shabbat traditions and how they differed from family to family among the people on our trip. I learned more about Catholicism and how the students on our trip viewed their relationship with the church and their personal faith. I learned how our three faiths interacted in Spain over time, in positive and negative ways - with both the good and bad having great lessons to teach. The good showed us what an interfaith community can look like and what we can aspire to; the bad taught us what to avoid and that we always need to include one another, no matter what. The bad often occurred because the voices of the oppressed were not at the table. For any intergroup community to thrive, we all need to have a place at the table, and when one can't be there, those who are there need to stand up for them as if they were their own. Because, ultimately, we are one.

What do you want other students to know after going on this trip?

Growing up, I heard so many people share rhetoric that put down, othered and dehumanized another group. It's a mentality that reduces people to a single identity or belief and uses that gross simplification to strip away their humanity. Coming to UCLA, I had hoped to leave that environment behind, but I found that same rhetoric here sometimes as well. As a community, we often forget that everyone, at the end of the day, is human and deserves love, care, compassion and respect. I lead efforts to build bridges and inspire dialogue because I want to live in a world full of love. We are never going to agree on everything, and I don't think we should. Diversity in opinion and perspective is part of what makes us so strong. What I want, and what I believe dialogue helps achieve, is a culture of safe engagement - a culture where we meet differing perspectives with empathy, curiosity and care.