In today's world religion is in the center of many local and international conflicts. The exact role of religion, whether it is the source of problem or its solution, seems still be under debate. For a larger cultural impact, the dialogue needs to reach beyond religious doctrines to religious stories. The religious stories in a tradition influence not only the actively religious but other members of the culture. This project proposes organizing a conference where members of different religions and experts in conflict resolution will share traditional stories and lessons drawn from the stories about conflict resolution in their own traditions. The primary goal is to provide policy makers with a new tool and a new perspective for conflict intervention. Future plans are to develop these materials for children.

 The conference is going to focus on the similarities and differences of each religion's approach to conflict resolution and the analysis of each approach in light of modern conflict resolution theory. The specific goals of this project may be listed as follows:

• Provide those who are familiar with "secular" conflict resolution theory a perspective into religion-based conflict resolution, show the differences, and similarities so that they are equipped with better knowledge for peace building

• Emphasize how each religion encourages resolution of outstanding conflicts with followers of the same religion as well as with followers of other religions

• Inform followers of each religion an insight into other religions, show them the similarities and common grounds

• Provide religious leaders, who are involved in conflict resolution, an overview of modern conflict resolution theory

• Explore the impact of religious traditions in a culture beyond those actively involved in religion and relate these traditions to conflict resolution