The fourth webinar in Baraza - URI Europe webinar series was titled “An Agenda for Interfaith: From Tolerance to Holy Envy (Six stages of interfaith encounter)” and it was held on 16th February. During the webinar, key ingredients to make a success of community-based projects using case study examples were discussed. As well as what worked, why and what improvements could be made.

Speaker was Baraza advisor Prof. Dr. Douglas Kindschi, who is now in his 45th year at Grand Valley State University, served as Dean for 28 of those years. He is currently University Professor of Mathematics and Philosophy and the Director of the Kaufman Interfaith Institute. Also, he did graduate study at the Divinity School, University of Chicago, where he first encountered interfaith dialogue. He received his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in mathematics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and completed a minor in philosophy as a part of his doctoral study. Besides this, in January 2010 he was appointed as the founding director of the Kaufman Interfaith Institute. In addition to interfaith involvement in a number of Middle East countries including multiple visits to Oman, he brought the very successful exhibit, “Religious Tolerance: Islam in the Sultanate of Oman” to two different venues in Michigan. Prof. Kindschi is a visiting fellow at the Cambridge Inter-Faith Programme at Cambridge University in the UK.