Pitching Peace

I never imagined equating the interfaith movement with the iphone. . . . Or inter-religious peace-building with the Nike swoosh. But alas, there we were at the Interfaith Youth Work Conference, deep in conversation about what we could learn from our corporate counterparts. I used to believe that all things marketing or advertising were evil and the only thing the corporate world could teach us in the activist world was how not to care about the environment or our employees. But I have come to terms with the very obvious and not so politically correct reality that Nike is better at selling shoes than we are at selling peace and community.

Now, I have to believe that peace is a much hotter commodity than cross trainers, but for some reason people are swarming to get the latest pair of kicks and staring suspiciously at those of us trying to fit them with the newest form of peaceful coexistence and community engagement. We have to be doing something wrong, I reasoned: everyone wants peace, everyone wants understanding.

Right?

Perhaps the essence of our mistake lies in the very values we espouse. Perhaps we are taking ourselves too seriously. Ok, before you freak out and name me as the newest heretic of the activist world - look at Bono for a moment. Ahhh. . . . Just say Bono and everyone calms down ;)

Bono is a rockstar. Bono is also a Christian. Bono is ending AIDS in Africa, right? Wow, remember when he was just a rockstar? Bono takes the issue of AIDS in Africa as seriously as it should be taken.

But did Bono name his campaign to end this atrocious disease "The Campaign to unite the world in ending the atrocious disease of AIDS on the world's most impoverished continent" NO! He did not name it that. He named it the ONE campaign. One word, ONE! And did he ask each one of us to get on a plane and head to Africa to personally intercept the transmission of the disease to a child during a blood transfusion? NO, he asked us to wear a plastic bracelet! Did he ask that we each donate 25% of our annual income or leave our jobs and take up the cause or boycott Starbucks? NO, he asked us to buy and wear a (RED) t-shirt.

I know, I know: we want people to do more than just wear t-shirts and bracelets and upload videos to websites but we have to start at the beginning. We have to realize that ending religious conflict and building real relationships across moral and religious perspectives has to begin with a public understanding of the need for this and the power and possibility of pluralism. Not to mention what the word pluralism means in the first place.

"So, what is your point?" you ask. We have to find a way to make community building more accessible to the community. When you are planning your next interfaith event, think about the last Facebook cause you joined and why you joined it or the last commercial you saw that really made you want what they were selling. I had so many people ask me at the Interfaith Youth Work Conference, "Why am I having such a hard time getting people involved in my projects?" Think about how you are pitching the peace you are selling. When the iphone first came out, Apple got a really bad bit of publicity about how complicated the phone was and how it didn’t always work right. So, they launched a campaign. . . they now have commercials with ballet dancers and corporate execs and average Joes telling us little moments when their phone got them out of whatever jam they were in. They tell us funny stories about how their voicemail is visual and you can see who and how long of a message you have. You laugh when the character says "5 minute voicemail from the guy who owes me money, clearly a story about how he's not gonna pay me. . . skip it." He doesn't tell you the technical aspects of the voicemail system or how to get to it from the main menu, he just tells you it works with a story you can relate to.

Interfaith work is complicated, community building is daunting, but it works.
Just tell people it works with a story they can relate to, most often. . . Your story! Don't forget that we have to be just as savvy about selling peace as the world is about selling violence, bigotry, and selfishness. We, the interfaith movement, the community builders, are some of the world's most creative people. Let's use it to spread the power of our message and the potential of this work!