About

Mission, Goals & Guidelines

SiVIC Brochure

MISSION

Silicon Valley Interreligious Council (SiVIC) builds interreligious harmony and understanding so as to promote a just and compassionate society in Silicon Valley.

GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

The goals and objectives of SiVIC are to:

  • Build relationships among religious communities
  • Provide leadership and a voice for the interreligious community
  • Encourage shared action and service
  • Educate ourselves and our community about our religious diversity
  • Provide a point of communication to and among religious groups
  • Interface with interreligious organizations and other guiding institutions
  • Be a resource for information and referral
  • Document the interreligious life of Silicon Valley
  • Work cooperatively with local, regional, national, and global interreligious organizations, including specifically functioning as a Partner City of the Parliament of the World’s Religions

CODE OF CONDUCT

In order for SiVIC to build authentic community among our many diverse traditions, we all ascribe to a shared understanding of what it means to build relationships and community. Below is a “code of conduct” for members of SiVIC. These are based on “The Dialogue Decalog” of Leonard Swidler, Kay Lindahl’s “Guidelines” in The Art of Dialogue and Centering Prayer and David Bohm’s On Dialogue.

Eight guidelines for building inter-religious community:

  1. I am ready to change and grow in my interactions with others.
  2. I will endeavor to speak and listen without judgment, assuming integrity in the other person’s self-understanding. I will suspend my prior assumptions and prejudices.
  3. I assume that we are all equal partners, both individually and institutionally.
  4. I will observe trust and confidentiality.
  5. I will endeavor to be as honest and open as possible. I will feel free to define myself, and will avoid comparing my ideal with another’s practice.
  6. I will work to avoid making generalizations about my own and others’ traditions, and will value “I” statements.
  7. I will delight in the difference of other people’s understandings and experiences.
  8. I will work collaboratively with others to build authentic inter-religious community.

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