What began as a group of religious scholars of different faiths gathering together to study scripture is now seeking to ease religious tensions across the world.
The Children of Abraham Institute, which was founded at the University and Cambridge University in January of 2001, has since extended its reach both to the international stage and to university curriculums.
In January 2001, Religious Studies Prof. Peter Ochs helped found CHAI as a political outreach of a preexisting group, the Society for Scriptural Reasoning. SSR brought scholars of the Abrahamic faiths -- Judaism, Christianity and Islam -- together to study sacred texts from the three religions.
CHAI was founded once some of the members of the SSR realized their group potentially could facilitate peace agreements as well.
"People assume the problems between religious groups are religious differences, and that the solution is to avoid religious leaders and to solve the problem by bringing in economic development," Ochs said. "Our assumption is the opposite: that really religious people like each other because they are religious and that they want to find a solution. They are moved by piety, discipline and love of God."
CHAI was successful at fostering relationships between leaders of different religious traditions, Ochs said, adding that the institute extended the idea of studying scripture together to an international audience.
"This began quietly with scholars and religious leaders studying their love of God," Ochs said. "Then we learned that after a year or two these people began to love each other, so we could ask a group what they thought about a political conflict."
Several universities in the United States and abroad have incorporated elements of CHAI into their academic curriculum, Ochs said.
Cambridge hired three new religious studies professors, while Duke University and the University of Indianapolis both have founded groups of students and community members to study scripture together.
The University also has an undergraduate group, the CHAI club, devoted to the institute's mission, as well as a graduate degree in the joint study of the three Abrahamic religions. Next year the department will offer a course on the topic.
"There is a need to deal with religion seriously," said Dustin Batson, fourth-year College student and CHAI club co-founder. "Refusing to deal with religion is counterproductive."
The CHAI club not only meets to have their own discussions on religion, but also is developing the curriculum for next year's class.
"I have never been more impressed with a group of students' energy and potential," Ochs said. "This group of students is breaking the ground academically, politically and religiously. They are going places that we do not know anything about."
Last summer, Ochs went to Cape Town, South Africa, to start a study group aimed at calming the tensions between religious groups.
"For those of us who are deeply involved, this becomes the center of our lives," he said. "We are not na
ve that this will work on bringing peace, but we have to act as if it will. It is a profound movement of hope because we believe that right in the middle of what some say is the source of conflict, really is the solution."
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