The Interfaith Dialogue Project includes student groups representing various faith backgrounds that will each chair meetings throughout the semester. Alden explains: "This project fills a need that has existed for a long time on this campus. Outside of specific religious organizations, students seem reluctant to talk about personal experience with the spiritual. Outside of religion classes, Duke provides few opportunities to engage in analysis of moral and spiritual issues. The Interfaith Dialogue Project gives students a chance to integrate the personal and the academic in an open format."

Chris Barrett, a Duke Divinity School student and an intern at Duke Chapel, agrees. "Duke Chapel is pleased to participate in such a worthwhile effort. The Interfaith Dialogue Project creates a space for students to engage the particularities of their own tradition and re-examine them in the light of other faiths. It also provides a civil atmosphere in which common ground can be celebrated and differences can be confronted honestly and openly." Barrett facilitates student discussion during meetings of the Interfaith Dialogue Project.

Ed Cheely, Duke SKS President, adds: "The SKS is pleased to assist the Kenan Ethics Program in making their initiative successful, because many groups at Duke share the desire to reintroduce moral and spiritual discussion to campus. This project helps students find ways to act on their beliefs in daily life. The SKS' experience over the past ten years has shown that practical application is the key to student interest."

The Interfaith Dialogue Project is an outgrowth of Duke University's participation in the national Education as Transformation Conference, attended in 1998 by the Kenan Ethics Program, campus ministers, the Duke Divinity Board, the Duke President's Office, the Women's Center, and The Self Knowledge Symposium. Begun in 1996, The Education as Transformation Project (EasT) encourages dialogue about religious pluralism and spirituality in higher education. EasT involves over 250 colleges, universities, and education-related institutions, such as the Boston Research Center for the 21st Century, The Episcopal Church Foundation/Trinity Institute, and Global Education Associates.

"The Interfaith Dialogue Project is a perfect example of what we hoped would result from the Education as Transformation conference at Wellesley last fall—open-ended discussions with a variety of faith perspectives, and the chance to act on what is learned," says Diana Dana, EasT Project coordinator. "Interfaith dialogue is real education—it opens students up to universal questions of truth and life. The results are greater maturity, deeper faith conviction, and more informed thinking, all of which promote greater understanding and respect among diverse groups. "Kudos to the Kenan Ethics Program and Duke University student groups like the Self Knowledge Symposium for this cutting edge work."

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The Kenan Ethics Program: kenan.ethics.duke.edu
The Education as Transformation Project: www.wellesley.edu/RelLife/transformation
Duke University Chapel's Student Religious Activities Group: www.chapel.duke.edu

The Self Knowledge Symposium Foundation (SKSF) is an 501(c)(3) educational nonprofit organization dedicated to encouraging people to consciously develop their own personal, moral and spiritual values and to live according to them. At the forefront of the national interest in spirituality, the SKSF creates experiential learning programs and social contexts within which people can explore the deeper questions in life, developing intellectual understanding and personal character in a quest for the life worth living. The Self Knowledge Symposium Foundation advises the SKS campus groups, sponsors a non-student discussion group, and co-sponsors meetings, lectures, retreats and The Symposium spiritual journal. For more information, visit www.selfknowledge.org.