Welcome to the Interfaith Observer!

Exploring Interfaith Culture and Religious Pluralism

The Interfaith Observer thrives in the Center for Ecumenical and Interreligious Engagement (CEIE) at Seattle University. The Interfaith Observer releases two multi-author and theme-based volumes in the fall and spring of each academic year, with a focus on first-person accounts on the positive impact of religious and cultural pluralism as a force for good in the world today.

Spring 2026: Personal as Political: Gender, Climate, and Economy

Featured

No Neutral Ground: Gender, Climate, and the Cost of Complicity

by Kehkashan Basu

We can no longer afford neutrality. Not when women and girls are being denied their fundamental human rights. Not when the rights of Mother Earth and all her creatures to exist, regenerate, and sustain life are being stripped away.

Grassroots Women: A Deep Potential of Love, Community and Power Toward the Better World We Need

by Ann Smith

I first heard the phrase ‘personal is political’ in 1985 in Nairobi, Kenya, at the UN Third World Conference on Women. African women came in waves; they walked huge distances, traveled by buses, trains, and planes to demand their voices be heard. It was a breakthrough moment to witness for the first time a grassroots global women’s movement.

Healing Division in Our World Through Oneness

by Faith Spencer

Today’s world is fragmented. Most U.S. adults tend to view life through a lens of political party affiliations and “us versus them.” There’s an evolutionary basis for this. In prehistoric days, loyalty to one’s own group (“us”) helped ensure survival, as did a skeptical and distrusting attitude about outside groups (“them”).

Visit full spring issue

Previously: Religion & Healthy Democracy (Fall 2025)

Featured Articles

Freedom at the Fringes

by Ivan Shneerson

I have long struggled to figure out where I belong. This came to a head during my senior year of college when I, an agnostic and low-observant Jew, chose to live in a Christian living community. Forty-nine young Christian men and me. Growing up, my family was…

What It Means to Be Interfaith

by Brandon LaGreca, LAc, MAcOM

My daughter recently reached a pivotal point in her homeschool curriculum: the study of world religions. Until now, my wife and I had been content to let her experience the sublime through nature, art, and music, instilling a subtle sense of…

Countering Islamophobia Through Interfaith Encounters

by Muhammad Sohail

The Muslim world has faced various social, political, and economic challenges recently. Internal divisions, unstable political and social systems, outside interventions, poverty, and unemployment have posed significant barriers to its influence in…

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