This past August, I had the amazing opportunity to represent Hindus for Human Rights (HfHR) at Interfaith America’s Leadership Summit 2022 in Chicago, which is the largest gathering of students and educators committed to discussing religious pluralism. Interfaith America (IA) is a national interfaith organization building a network of individuals and organizations to promote religious difference as a means of cooperation and creativity rather than conflict. IA taps into sectors such as healthcare, education, and racial equity to spread this vision through curricula, training, consultations, and conferences, such as the one hosted in August. 

The conference opened up with an Opening Symposium on Day 1 where we heard from a variety of speakers and conference hosts, namely IA Founder and President Eboo Patel. One concept he spoke about that truly resonated with me and the rest of the audience was that religious diversity is less of a “melting pot” and more of a potluck. We often hear of the common phrase “melting pot” in reference to bridging diverse cultures or backgrounds. But that implies all of these different pieces are coming together and melting into each other when, in reality, that is not what happens and is not an indication of learning, sharing, or preserving the diversity. Instead, a potluck, where everyone brings their dish, which could be representative of tradition, family history, and so on, to share with others and engage in celebration over all of the variety of foods, is what bridging diverse religions actually means. Eboo’s distinction between these two concepts was eye-opening and an accurate introduction to the tone of the conference thereafter. 

Later that day, I got to table for HfHR where I set up brochures, cards, sign up sheets, and information sheets for conference attendees to stop by and read through. As attendees came in and out of their breakout sessions to mingle and stop by the different booths, I got to converse with students, educators, and staff about HfHR’s mission to promote religious pluralism against issues such as Hindu nationalism (also known as Hindutva), casteism, and other forms of minority oppression. I received many questions about what Hindutva means and how it has affected other faiths in South Asia, especially India where almost one-fifth of the population is comprised of religious faiths such as Buddhism, Sikhism, Islam, and Christianity. There was also a lot of interest in reading through the Hindutva 101 document because many people were not familiar with the overlap between government corruption and religious oppression in India. It was motivating to see so many people show an interest in learning more about the topic, especially people who may not have a direct connection to South Asia. Because of the inclusive nature of the conference, I was able to speak to attendees of different ages, genders, faiths, and cultural backgrounds and something I think they all took away after coming to the HfHR table is that we share the same value of tolerance and inclusivity. 

After the two days were up and we wrapped up the conference, I counted and we got a total of 23 new attendees who were interested in joining the HfHR network which I’d call a success! Coming out of this conference, we’ve expanded the HfHR member base and awareness in the interfaith community as well as made new connections with other organizations such as Fifth Tribe, the Parliament of Religions, Interfaith America Magazine, and Union Theological Seminary. 

I’m so grateful to have been able to attend Interfaith America’s Leadership Summit as a representative for Hindus for Human Rights because of the invaluable knowledge I gained that weekend, the wonderful people I met, and the joy of sharing HfHR’s mission with the world. I encourage other students to get involved in student conferences with Interfaith America and HfHR as well for the opportunity to contribute to human rights campaigns as well as get exposed to new viewpoints and people. I’m looking forward to next year!

-Meghna Sudhakar