I feel more convinced than ever that interfaith efforts should include LGBTQ voices; if such work is intended to bring together people with different and sometimes contradicting convictions and identities, then it has to.

I can't deny that hearts are in the right places and heads are on the right side of this issue, but I ask of FEMEN: Please, slow down and make sure that your protests are respectful of whoever you're tying to help. There's no need to be patronizing or to exploit harmful stereotypes.

My own sense of being Christian has certainly been challenged and deepened time and time again by my encounters with and within Judaism. But some days, I yearn for the simplicity -- even if it is a fantasy -- of our family, all five of us, resting in the same tradition.

Those who would use Christmas as cover for their political agenda and to protect their white, middle class, privilege are waging the real war on Christmas.

Temple attendance is an awful criterion to apply to Hindus, since their tradition does not emphasize congregational activity and many Hindus prefer to do their spiritual practices on home altars and meditation cushions.

My hope is that Tulsi Gabbard, as a Hindu American, will bring to Washington and to her style of representation two striking qualities that are as quintessentially Hindu as they are American -- the duty to work toward the greater good and pluralism.

The involvement of multiple governments -- with resources, not just platitudes -- could create a global political climate of expectation for religious tolerance. The stakes just changed in that regard.

Pluralism is not a religion; it is an attitude of respecting the otherness of others and accepting the God given uniqueness of each one of us.

Pluralism responsibly done and (necessarily) rooted in secularism can only be a good thing. We don't need to embrace the homophobic, the racist or the sexist to get along.

One of the shameless outcomes of 9/11 was letting our enemies win. Osama bin Laden and his gang wanted to weaken America, and we let them, by pitting one American against the other.

In recent events, vigils and prayer meetings following, marking and responding to the horrific murders at the Sikh Temple in Wisconsin there were many who beat the inter-religious/interfaith dialogue drum

Storytelling can do that. It can connect and inspire us to new ways of thinking, to greater empathy and to increased familiarity with different experiences, identities and values.

Religious pluralism is at the heart of the American tradition, a value inscribed in our soil from the very beginning. America's promise is to guarantee equal rights for all identities.

Yes, Sikhs are not Muslims and Sikhs are not Hindus, but jumping to clarify difference leaves the unfortunate, if unintentional, perception that there is something wrong with those "others."

While these and other Christian college leaders press ahead in embracing a multi-racial future, friends at secular institutions tell Joel Perez that the diversity conversation is changing. Instead of being driven by a black-white binary, it has become much more nuanced.

Why is it that advocacy positions influenced by deeply held religious beliefs about poverty, hunger, disease, human dignity and related issues are seldom, if ever, critiqued from the left?

The phobias stem from the fact that religions have moved away from being spiritual to political entities, simply meaning each religious group is living in its own silos and in conflict with the other.

What kind of America do you want? Are you willing to do your share of in preserving the freedom and liberties of the individuals at home and abroad? The least you can do is to speak up.

The significance of such an approach to dialogues is not dependent upon whether both sides agree or disagree on a given issue; rather, that we are comfortable accepting these differences as a starting point.

Why should anyone stand up for you, if you are not willing to do the same for others? To create an America we dream about, we have to act.