About 50 members of a Greensboro multi-faith delegation flew to Israel Sunday afternoon. They are members of the Interfaith Study Mission, representing Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
During their 10-day trip, participants will pray together and visit numerous areas of religious significance to these faiths.
Akir Khan is a college financial officer. He's also a Muslim American and part of the Interfaith delegation who says this trip will give him the chance to educate others on the many similarities between Muslims and non-Muslims.
"I'm tired of innocent people being killed, disagreements happening over things that happened hundreds of years ago and I thing the conversation must start now with my generation," explains Khan. "If I can be a part of that conversation and build social capital among different people, different races, different jobs and go down there, get along and be successful and come back and bring that harmony to Greensboro, then we've all won."
Afriqua Kilimanjaro is the editor of the Carolina Peacemaker. She's also an African American Jew. She looks forward to breaking down century-old barriers that often divide Jews and Muslims. "My talking about my experiences with someone else who is Muslim and them sharing their experiences with me, hopefully we can find some common ground and understand each other's faith and build a genuine friendship," says Kilimanjaro. "I can't say that will transfer to everyone in our community but we have to start somewhere."
Greensboro Interfaith delegations began traveling to Israel in 1994. The group's primary goal is to promote an appreciation for cultural and religious diversity.
