Amid humanitarian crises in Syria and Iraq and debate in the U.S. about how to address them, a panel of Kansas City-area faith leaders sat down in May to discuss religious teachings and traditions and whether they could – or should – guide national policy. Nearly 330 people attended the event, part of the Library’s 2016 Immigrant Heritage Series.

Continuing that examination, seven members of the Greater Kansas City Interfaith Council join representatives of the American Friends Service Committee’s Kansas City program in leading a dozen separate and simultaneous roundtable discussions. Each focuses on an issue or question raised in May, among them:

• We have become expert at waging war; how can we become better at waging peace? Must we continue to respond to violence with violence? Is there any other way to respond to ISIS or al-Qaeda?
• From the adage “talk is cheap,” how should the tenets of faith be demonstrated and communicated to the point of actually limiting or minimizing extremist violence?
• How do religions reconcile a prophesied Armageddon with ISIS’ intent to make it a reality?

Attendees can participate in one discussion or several, moving around the room.

The Immigrant Heritage Series is co-presented by the GKC Interfaith Council and the American Friends Service Committee, which works to increase activism and address the root causes of violence and economic injustice.