How does one love thy neighbor in 2026?
For the interfaith community in Milwaukee, sharing stories over a communal meal makes the process easy.
On the last Wednesday of every month, the Interfaith Conference of Greater Milwaukee hosts the Amazing Faiths Dinner Dialogue. It’s here where people of all religions, denominations and backgrounds are invited to break literal and figurative bread.
Cultivating the conversation
“It’s really one of our most important grassroots programs because we are trying to build connections between people of different faith backgrounds,” said Ahmed Quereshi, executive director of the Interfaith Conference of Greater Milwaukee.
Quereshi, a member of the Islamic Society of Milwaukee, was appointed executive director of the Interfaith Conference in April 2023.
Active since the 1970s, it wasn’t until right after 9/11 that the Muslim community was invited to join Interfaith, according to Quereshi. He said the events of 9/11 sparked the group to become significantly more diverse.
“It was felt that there was a need to reach out and have better connections with religious leaders in the local community as well,” Quereshi said.
That marketplace of ideas and diversity lives on through the Amazing Faith Dinner Dialogue.
But first, we feast
For the last 15 years, people of varying faiths in the greater Milwaukee area have sat down to converse and connect. For a while, the dinners took place in people’s homes, limiting the number of people who could attend.
Today, the growing appetite for interfaith connection has moved the dinners to large church halls, with over 50 attendees on some nights. Even though the event has expanded, it still features cozy tables of no more than seven people, which gives members a chance to connect with those around them.
As conversations begin, predisposed walls start to fade.
“When you sit down at a table with people, you realize that somebody put up those barriers,” said Monica Gramling, who said this was her seventh or eighth time attending the dinner. “I never leave one of these dinners without feeling more connected to the other people in the world.”
Quereshi said the importance of the event ties back to his early days and family values.
“It was always more important about how you treated your neighbor rather than whether your neighbor checked all your boxes,” he said.
Quereshi serves as one of the moderators for his discussion group. Each of the eight tables that span the church hall has its own moderator. It’s the moderator’s job to keep time and the flow of conversation going.
One of the ways they achieve this is by handing the first participant a unique question. Sometimes it’s faith-related, sometimes not. Examples include “Have you ever been the recipient of unconditional love?” and “What do you believe happens after death?”
The prompts reader is the only respondent. It isn’t until the person is finished responding that the moderator hands out the next question. According to Quereshi, this practice of listening rather than thinking about one’s own response promotes appreciative inquiry and listening.
Modern-day interfaith importance
In the world’s current state of conflict, interfaith conversation may be more vital than ever, said Irfan Omar, a longtime Amazing Faiths attendee.
“There’s a lot of perversion of interfaith dialogue taking place right now,” said Omar, a professor of peace studies and theology at Marquette University.
“We have to actually emphasize authentic interfaith relationships where people can talk about spirituality and faith and even challenges that it presents to us. These are the venues where we can do that.”
For many, a shared meal and a conversation end up being more impactful than what first meets the eye.
“There isn’t as much difference as we want to believe there is. We want to believe we’re the only ones with the right answer, and that isn’t true,” Gramling said after the latest dinner.
The Amazing Faiths Dinner Dialogue’s next event is July 29 at Deer Creek Senior Village in New Berlin. Click here for more information.
Jonathan Aguilar is a visual journalist at Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service who is supported through a partnership between CatchLight Local and Report for America.
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