World peace through pizza? No, but it’s a start

When I was in year 11 in 2018, my school, Luther College, offered students the opportunity to be a part of Building Bridges – an interfaith program that allowed young participants to meet with peers from different faith communities. When applying, I was excited about meeting people from other religions, but the selling point was that I would have pizza with them for dinner.

My application was accepted, and with a group of 25 students, I visited schools from the three Abrahamic traditions: Christianity, Judaism and Islam. Each program had a similar structure. First, the hosting school would put on a presentation about their faith. Here was an opportunity to listen, learn and view the world we shared through another lens.

A group of teens eating pizza and talking about religion wasn’t going to solve the world’s problems – but it helped us understand each other better, which we need now more than ever.Credit: Getty Images

Following the presentation was – in my opinion – the most important part of the program: dinner, and an opportunity to talk, share and laugh. And what better universal meal than pizza to learn how much we had in common, and to nurture new friendships between peers from different cultural and religious traditions?

After dinner came a facilitated discussion, led by young adults, many of whom had participated in the program themselves as students. The facilitators guided us through ‘hot potato’ topics like abortion and gay marriage. We discussed how our respective religions viewed these matters, what our families believed, and what our own beliefs were. It was a safe space to learn from each other, to break down stereotypes and misconceptions, and to decide as young adults whether we wanted to hold onto our beliefs or forge new ones.

Obviously, we weren’t solving global problems or brokering world peace over pizza. We were 16- and 17-year-olds discussing religion – and complaining about homework, discussing the best meals in our canteens, and laughing over the silliest of things. We were bridging gaps by realising we were all young adults with similar interests and issues, just navigating them from different perspectives.

The Building Bridges program had a profound impact on my life – so much so that I became a facilitator after finishing school. The program provided me with an opportunity to meet people and make friends outside my own circle, to listen to other people’s worldviews, and to understand the importance of humanising one another.

At the beginning of 2024, the organisers of Building Bridges made the difficult decision to close the program after 20 years due to the current conflict in Israel and Gaza. It came as a great shock, especially at a time when the need for a program like Building Bridges seems greater than ever. Building Bridges will be missed by the thousands of students and facilitators who participated. I can only hope that in due time it will re-emerge to help mend some broken bridges.

Melodie Goldsmith participated in Building Bridges as a student in 2018, and as a facilitator in 2021 and 2022.

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