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Religious conflicts are to blame for more than 14- thousands deaths in the Arab-Israeli war. In the U.S., hate crimes totaled 8,000 in 2006 alone. One school program is teaching a new generation lessons of peace and tolerance that could one day end these conflicts and create a more peaceful world.
Just imagine … what if one day these scenes of violence and hatred could be replaced with scenes of understanding and tolerance. One woman has made that her mission -- starting with the next generation.
"If we were to effect any change it was going to be with young people," Louise Sheehy, director for the Multi-faith Education Project in Orlando, Fla., told Ivanhoe.
Five years ago Sheehy founded the program that brings together Christian, Jewish and Muslim middle school kids.
"It's always an eye towards education and then from that education comes understanding, and that's where the peace building comes in," Jennifer Boggs a teacher at Hebrew Day School in Orlando, Fla., told Ivanhoe. Boggs has been involved with the program from the beginning.
Three times a year students from each school come together for an event. The latest event was aimed at giving back to the environment -- something that all cultures share.
“We went to a park not too long ago and we planted trees there,” Huda Awan, a student at the Leaders Prepatory School, told Ivanhoe.
As the students saw new trees go up, they noticed something else happening as well … they were realizing their similarities and forgetting about their differences. Living proof of the lessons they had been learning in school.
“If we only love the people we know that we’re close to every day it really doesn’t have that much lasting effect for the world overall,” James Harper, a teacher Orangewood Christian School, told Ivanhoe.
“I think kids are surprised that a lot of our Koran verses are the same as Bible verses or as verses in the Torah,” Loree El-Mahgoub, a teacher at Leaders Prepatory School, told Ivanhoe.
"What they experience when they're together is a different reality. We're about what's possible, not what's wrong," said Sheehy.
Teachers see skepticism in some parents. "Usually I write to the parents and say as gently as I can, you're just perpetuating the reason we're doing this," said Boggs.
But at the end of the day … perhaps these images are the beginning of the change we all imagine.
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