Building Bridges Across Communities of Faith

By Patti Otte

RIA Winter Drive and knitting donation to Network

On the fourth Thursday of every month, a diverse group of faith leaders gathers to have lunch, share fellowship, and exchange ideas. For this hour, the group builds relationships and respect. Business is conducted, future plans are made, and a guest speaker presents a program centered around items of concern to all, including topics close to home, such as hospital and school districts, police and fire departments, City government and services, safety and equality. They also discuss broader issues facing the world at large, like human trafficking, race relations, refugees and immigration. Time is then devoted to questions and answers, a significant part of the bridge-building process. After the monthly meetings, attendees disseminate information to smaller pockets of faith communities throughout Richardson.

This thoughtfully created organization is known as the Richardson Interfaith Alliance (RIA). It was formed in 2012 and, according to RIA Chair Niranjan Hanumanna, who has served in that position for the past five years, the “purpose of the Richardson Interfaith Alliance is to increase respect of all faiths through education and increased awareness and to coordinate and enhance faith-based services for the betterment of OUR community…As the mission statement states, Richardson Interfaith Alliance is striving to achieve enhanced understanding amongst peace-loving residents of this great city!”

Richardson Interfaith Alliance is a zero-cost forum for leaders from a variety of faiths to share their wisdom and commit to promoting compassion and unity. They are tasked with providing solutions to problems pertaining to faith issues within Richardson. One way they look for solutions is to discuss how people of various faith perspectives address topics such as conflict resolution and forgiveness.

As of this time, approximately 40 groups are involved with RIA. They range from Buddhist to Christian to Islamic to Jewish to the Baha’i Faith and many unitarian groups as well, such as the Sai Center & Meditation Center. Richardson Interfaith Alliance’s steering committee consists of 8-10 individuals who work in the background to keep the group on track. Thanks to Niranjan Hanumanna’s leadership and a committed steering committee, the group has survived de-spite an aging member population and numbers which dwindled during COVID; thankfully, the group is currently growing back to its pre-COVID participation.

One of the cornerstones of the group centers around compassion in action. RIA has a compassion in action director, a program director and a youth group leader, a position which is currently vacant. The City of Richardson partners with the RIA on several cultural and public safety initiatives, including Trash Bash. Beyond working with the city, the group participates in Feeding Children Everywhere, National Day of Prayer and other charitable initiatives. With a wide representation of different faith communities working together, RIA does its part to see Richardson flourish through a common thread of loving one’s neighbor.

According to steering committee member Rev. Dr. April Bristow, “Central to RIA’s mission is the charter for compassion. At the heart of compassion is a recognition of pain and dis-ease in the world and a conscious and intentional effort to ‘be with’ others in ways that are healing, to help individuals and communities move to wholeness. I am proud to be a part of efforts that seek to build rather than tear down.” Through the thoughtful work of the Richardson Interfaith Alliance, the cross-cultural ties that bind Richardson citizens together have grown stronger every year.