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Augsburg Students Chosen for National Interfaith Fellowship

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A group of students and mentors are gathered together and smiling in front of the entrance to a building with white pillars and a white front door. Augsburg students Theo Coval and Augusta Nepor Sowa traveled to Utah for the first annual gathering of the Interfaith BRAID (Bridgebuilders Relating Across Interfaith Differences) Fellowship at the end of February. 

The BRAID Fellowship is an Interfaith America initiative designed in response to increasing prejudice and polarization. This program equips student fellows with skills, training, education, and experiences to collaborate effectively with communities close to home and across the country. 

“It is so meaningful to have the opportunity to work with Interfaith America and meet so many passionate campus leaders,” said Coval. “It was a genuine honor to be included amongst the peers I met in Salt Lake City, and I am very excited to be working on a campus project as part of the fellowship.”

Coval and Sowa were selected from a national pool of applicants. The program is designed to help students become interfaith bridgebuilders on their campuses and in their communities. Najeeba Syeed, El-Hibri Endowed chair and executive director of the Interfaith Institute, serves as a BRAID Fellowship mentor and works closely with these students as well. 

“Being part of this opportunity means stepping beyond conversation and into connection, where diversity isn’t just acknowledged but engaged with, where differences aren’t just tolerated but honored,” said Sowa. “It’s about choosing pluralism, embracing the richness of perspectives, and discovering unity in diversity. In a world where everyone wants to be heard, this experience has taught me the true power of listening with an open heart.”Learn more about the Interfaith Institute at Augsburg University.

Revolutionary Love: Augsburg University Interfaith Symposium to Feature Valarie Kaur

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Valarie Kaur is wearing a black top with red and white patterns. She has black wavy hair and is standing in front of a wall with a mirror and framed pictures.
Photo by Jiro Schneider

Augsburg University will offer its third annual Interfaith Symposium at 11 a.m. on Thursday, February 27, 2025, featuring visionary civil rights leader Valarie Kaur. The Interfaith Symposium is an annual invitation to students and community members to learn about religious, spiritual, and worldview diversity and connect with exceptional interfaith leaders. This event is free and open to the public.

Kaur’s keynote address, “Revolutionary Love Is the Call of Our Times,” will draw on her work to inspire and equip people to build beloved community through the Revolutionary Love Project she founded. Rooted in the belief that an ethic of love is essential to birthing a healthy, multi-racial democracy and a sustainable planet, the Revolutionary Love Project produces educational tools, training courses, artwork, films, music, and mass mobilizations to empower citizens from all walks of life to harness love as a force for justice.

As a civil rights leader, lawyer, award-winning filmmaker, and educator, Kaur has led visionary campaigns to tell untold stories and change policy on issues ranging from hate crimes to digital freedom. A daughter of Punjabi Sikh farmers in California, she lifts up her vision for America in her acclaimed TED Talk and #1 LA Times bestseller, “See No Stranger: A Memoir and Manifesto of Revolutionary Love.” She is also the author of “Sage Warrior” and a children’s book, “World of Wonder.”

“Valarie’s message of revolutionary love is critically important at this time,” said Najeeba Syeed, El-Hibri Endowed Chair and executive director of Interfaith at Augsburg. “In particular, I look forward to the ideas she will offer our students to address social justice issues that impact their daily lives through coalition building strategies that she has used throughout her own career as a human rights lawyer and activist.”  

Following the keynote address, a luncheon and panel discussion will take place at 12 p.m., featuring conversation with Ted Chen, vice president for equity, culture, and learning, Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies; Tamara Gray, founder and chief spirituality officer, Rabata; and Anantanand Rambachan, professor emeritus of religion, St. Olaf College. A limited number of seats will be available for $35. Sign up for the luncheon waiting list through the event registration link.

About Interfaith at Augsburg

Situated in a neighborhood home to numerous immigrant communities and with an increasingly diverse student body, Augsburg University is uniquely positioned to facilitate building bridges in a polarized world. Augsburg’s commitment to interfaith engagement is central to its mission, identified as a key outcome of its strategic plan, and rooted in its Lutheran theological heritage. Through interfaith education and intentional opportunities to strengthen interreligious communication, understanding, and relationships, Augsburg’s Interfaith Institute advances peacebuilding on campus, in the community, and beyond. Learn more at augsburg.edu/interfaith.

Professor Najeeba Syeed Highlights Interfaith Collaboration Following L.A. Fires

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El-Hibri Chair Najeeba Syeed wears a pink headscarf, gold earrings, and a purple top against a blue and purple background.Najeeba Syeed, El-Hibri Endowed Chair and executive director of the Interfaith Institute at Augsburg University, was interviewed by national media about the devastating fires in Southern California, which have destroyed at least a dozen houses of worship in the Los Angeles area. 

In a January 11 interview with Religion News Service, Syeed called attention to the long history of interfaith cooperation in Altadena, CA, where religious leaders have banded together to support victims of the fires even as they mourn the loss of sacred spaces. 

“They’re helping their own communities, but they’re also stepping up and stepping beyond and helping each other,” she said. “That’s part of the story—faith communities, even when they are damaged, still show up for the broader community.”

Religion News Service published a January 16 column by Syeed highlighting the ways that local youth have led volunteer recovery efforts across faiths, ethnicities, and languages. “[Our teens’] continued service and their steady moral compass make me excited to see the world they will run,” she wrote. “A world in which we don’t need a litmus test on your beliefs before we offer care, where your story is important to share no matter which income bracket you come from. A world in which the measure of our humanity is how much we show up for each other with an embodied empathy that asks, “What do you need, dear friend, who I may not know? Let me be there for you.””

Syeed was also interviewed for a January 17 Sojourners article about calls from local leaders to focus on equity and justice in rebuilding. In it, she lifted up the long-standing interfaith connections in Pasadena and Altadena. “People knew each other in the neighborhood and worked together before the fires,” she said. “What you’re seeing now is an outpouring of those relationships.”

Building Trust in Divisive Times: Augsburg University to Offer Second Annual Interfaith Symposium

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Manu Meel is smiling at the camera against a backdrop of trees and water. He is wearing black glasses, a dark jacket, and blue shirt.Augsburg University will offer its second annual Interfaith Symposium at 11 a.m. on March 7, 2024, featuring keynote speaker Manu Meel, CEO of BridgeUSA. The Interfaith Symposium is an annual invitation to students and community members to learn about religious, spiritual, and worldview diversity; participate in enriching dialogue; and network with exceptional interfaith leaders. 

Meel’s keynote will focus on “Building Trust in Divisive Times,” the symposium’s 2024 theme. BridgeUSA is a youth-led, multi-partisan student movement that creates spaces on high school and college campuses for open discussion between students about differences. By engaging America’s youth in constructive discussions, the nonprofit organization is equipping the next generation of leaders with the skills necessary for navigating conflict, finding solutions across differences and building bridges in their communities.

“We are thrilled to welcome Manu Meel to Augsburg for this year’s Interfaith Symposium,” said Najeeba Syeed, El-Hibri Endowed Chair and executive director of Interfaith at Augsburg. “BridgeUSA’s efforts to help young people resolve conflicts and navigate difficult conversations aligns closely with the work of Augsburg’s Interfaith Institute. His message of building trust across different perspectives will be incredibly valuable during the U.S. election cycle and as conflict continues to play out across the world.”

Following the keynote address, a luncheon and panel discussion will take place at 12:30 p.m., featuring conversation with Rabbi Adam Stock Spilker, Mount Zion Temple; Martha Stortz, professor emerita of religion at Augsburg; and Joffrey Wilson, vice president of diversity, equity, and inclusion at Mortenson Construction. 

For information and to register, visit the 2024 Interfaith Symposium website.

About Interfaith at Augsburg

Situated in a neighborhood home to numerous immigrant communities and with an increasingly diverse student body, Augsburg University is uniquely positioned to facilitate building bridges in a polarized world. Augsburg’s commitment to interfaith engagement is central to its mission, identified as a key outcome of its strategic plan, and rooted in its Lutheran theological heritage. Through interfaith education and intentional opportunities to strengthen interreligious communication, understanding, and relationships, Augsburg’s Interfaith Institute advances peacemaking on campus, in the community, and beyond. Learn more at augsburg.edu/interfaith.

‘Humble Listening’: Najeeba Syeed Featured on Interfaith America Podcast

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Najeeba Syeed is wearing a pink heaadscarf, round gold earrings, and a purple shirt while posing against a blue and purple background.Najeeba Syeed, El-Hibri Endowed Chair and executive director of the Interfaith Institute at Augsburg University, was a recent guest on the Interfaith America Podcast with I’m Eboo Patel. The conversation explored the ethics and future of interfaith work amid deep divides across religious communities, the impact of global wars and crises on religious communities, and the role of institutions in promoting interfaith understanding through open-mindedness and deep listening. 

Towards the end of the podcast, Professor Syeed reflected on fostering constructive interfaith conversations in the classroom and on campus:

“To me, the confidence that I have in being Muslim and the teachings and the capacity is not impinged upon by being present for people of other faiths,” she said. “I can walk into a space and I have a deep belief that I’m there because of the calling of being a Muslim. It isn’t a threat to me to show up and exhibit rahma or which is compassion. It comes from the root word Rahmah, the same in Hebrew around the idea of the womb to express compassion for others because it isn’t a threat to my own interpretation of who I am. … It’s a position of strength and not a position of deficiency.”

“That to me is a spiritual lesson that interfaith can bring to so many of the dialogues that we’re trying to have on our campus, is that maybe the position of strength is actually doing this humble listening.”

“The position of strength doesn’t mean that we move to a diluted, common understanding of the world where we all accept one interpretation, a universal theology, or one diluted version. Maybe the strength is that we listen to each other.” 

Listen to the podcast via Interfaith America: “How Can We Engage in “Sacred Witness” Amid Deep Conflict?”