The Interfaith Speakers Network (ISN) is an educational program provided by Interfaith Atlanta in cooperation with an array of faith traditions and faith organizations. It was initially created as an arm of the Islamic Speakers Bureau, in collaboration with Interfaith Atlanta (formerly FAMA). In 2020, FAMA assumed full responsibility for the ISN. ISN provides opportunities to hear and interact with a panel of local practicing representatives from six faith traditions: Christianity, Islam and Judaism (the Abrahamic faiths) and Buddhism, Hinduism and Sikhism (the Eastern faiths). The panels are educational, interactional and facilitate dialogue and understanding between different religions. In addition to sharing information, ISN panels showcase ways that different faith traditions can work together.
Each panel, typically moderated by an ISN facilitator, begins with a brief PowerPoint presentation of each faith tradition, followed by a question and answer session, open to questions that audience members have always wanted to ask. It may be the first time for many of the audience members to experience seeing people from different faith backgrounds working together and presenting together. All our ISN panelists are trained and certified to adhere to the First Amendment guidelines (teach and not preach) when presenting about their religion.
ISN programs promote religious pluralism by both emphasizing our shared values and practices and modeling respectful civil discourse when discussing our differences.
Our Interfaith Panels augment middle and high school curriculum, and college and university classes on world religions. They also benefit Faith-based and civic organizations by providing valuable information. Our Panels are flexible enough to address specific topics which may be of interest to your specific audience. Examples
include:
- Health Care Panel – Taking Care of the Patient’s Spiritual Needs
- Disaster Relief – What Do You Need to Know about the Different Faith Traditions as you Prepare for Disaster Relief?
- Legal Panel – Addressing Issues which may arise in the Context of Legal Matters
- Living as People of Faith – Challenges and Opportunities
- The Values We Share
- Women of Faith
- Extremism in Faith Communities
- Our Hopes for the World and How We Hope to Achieve Them
Duration of Panels: 60 minutes or 90 minutes
While we primarily serve the Metropolitan Atlanta area, we will consider requests throughout North and Central Georgia.
You may also request a three-person Panel with only members of the Abrahamic or Eastern faith traditions.
While ISN does not charge a fee for providing a Panel, we gratefully appreciate any honorarium which would be used exclusively for the work of Interfaith Atlanta.