To dismantle religious bias and bigotry, ICJS builds learning communities where religious difference becomes a powerful force for good.

Religious bias doesn’t always announce itself. Sometimes it’s a joke that relies on an old stereotype, an offhand remark about someone’s religious practices, or an assumption about what people believe based on their religion. Jews, Muslims, and members of other religious minority communities often encounter this kind of bias, whether conscious or unconscious. Antisemitism and…

The birth of Benjamin Sax’s first child in a Jerusalem hospital led to what he describes as “an unintentional interreligious encounter.” In this excerpt from Introduction to his new book, Encounters: Dialogue, Antisemitism, and the Israeli–Palestinian Divide, Sax reflects on that experience and its significance. For a moment during my wife’s labor, I was escorted…

Some people come to an ICJS Fellowship seeking to change the way they work. For a few, the experience changed where they work. Five of ICJS’ 17 staff members—nearly a third of the organization—first came as Fellows, looking for personal or professional growth, not a new job. But somewhere along the way, their engagement with…

Religious difference is a fact of American life. For Heather Miller Rubens, Ph.D., the more important question is what we do with it: whether difference becomes a source of division or a source of strength for our democracy. That question runs through two strands of Rubens’ scholarly work this year. In her writing and teaching,…