Conversations with Jains about Interfaith Dialogue and Cooperation

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Sherry Fohr

Abstract

Drawing on interviews conducted before and after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and social unrest of 2020, this article will review some of the history of Jains involved in interfaith dialogue and cooperation in the United States, starting in the late twentieth century. Naresh Jain, Arvind Vora, Sulekh Jain, Nikhil Bumb, Pankti Gala (and Jains for Justice), and Nirali Sheth describe their various approaches to interfaith work, ranging from apolitical to politically progressive, and give various descriptions of the two Jain practices/values often primary to their interfaith efforts: ahiṃsā (non-harming, non-violence) and anekāntavāda (many-sidedness of truth).

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