Once a month, I’ve had the opportunity to meet with a group of teens from different faiths, backgrounds, and walks of life. I’m an active member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and I looked forward to connecting with people from different backgrounds and experiences. It’s proven to me that different beliefs don’t have to divide us.
This group, guided by Stephanie Abrahams’ caring leadership, gathers as Interfaith Teen Leaders. Over the past year, the Interfaith Teen Leaders program has provided a unique space for different cultures and communities to collaborate in meaningful ways.
We’ve spent our time exploring what it means to nurture curiosity, how to hold mutual respect, and the importance of empowering ourselves, and each other, to create the change we want to see.
In a world where religion and difference can easily turn into conflict or an “us vs. them” mentality, we’ve created a space where we can actually exchange ideas and questions: about what we believe, what we wonder, and what we don’t yet understand. But my favorite thing? We’ve all learned to listen. Assumptions and division start to dissolve when empathy takes their place.
You’d think a space like this would feel strange, right? Being vulnerable is hard, and conversations about faith can be uncomfortable. But the first thing I noticed was how normal it all felt. First off, we’re all teenagers in high school. Meral is captain of her volleyball team. Caleb plays basketball and loves Drake, but Sebastian prefers Bad Bunny. Jack somehow makes poker sound easier than Uno. Tarik’s all about soccer. Emma loves animals and painting.
I look forward to seeing them again after each time we meet. We’ve become friends. And unlike most friend groups, we’ve chosen to connect not just over what we have in common, but over what we don’t. We’ve shined a spotlight on our different traditions, languages, and beliefs and used that light to brighten our communities.
This summer, we gathered at Homeless Solutions. Side by side, teens from different faiths cooked and prepared hot dogs, watermelon, cookies, brownies, potato salad, and coleslaw for a group of more than 50 homeless people that included children. Some of us manned the grill, some served, and some played with the kids, tossing around footballs, playing spike ball, or applying fun summer temporary tattoos. Somewhere between the jokes and the smell of hamburgers, I realized: we weren’t just talking about community anymore.
We were building it.
This year, our group set an example. To ourselves, to our friends, to our neighbors, to our families. Thanks to this program, we know what’s possible when we choose curiosity over judgment. We’ve shown that different beliefs don’t have to divide us. And in a world that often encourages separation, we’ve chosen connection.
While easy to assume that difference means division, it’s the connection that creates community.