Thoughts on the History and Development of the Vaishnava-Christian Dialogue: Journal of Vaishnava Studies

Abstract

While in Denver Colorado, my home from 1975 to 1993, I had my first experience with formal dialogue when, as a local Hare Krishna1
member, I attended the inaugural meetings of an interfaith group concerned about the environment. While the goals were important, protocol was a tripping point, and after three meetings when participants were still apologizing for using terms like “church” in a “mixed group of faiths,” I lost hope that anything significant could ever arise from a group so stuck on labels.
In 1993, I moved with my family from Denver, Colorado, to Washington, D.C., to continue my new role as ISKCON’s North American Director of Communications in the nation’s capital. I became involved in multiple projects involving dialogue, as a participant, and later Board Member, of the Washington Metropolitan Region of the National Conference of Christians and Jews (later the National Conference for Community and Justice), known as the NCCJ. At those dialogues, I learned how to understand the world from another
person’s perspective and how to relate better with my fellow human beings despite differences in gender, race, age, religion, sexual orientation, and other “diversities.”