Youth Seminar on World Religions

The Youth Seminar on World Religions (YSWR) is a "spiritual pilgrimage." Each summer international and interreligious groups of 150 students and professors travel around the world together, visiting important religious cities and studying at those locations the traditions of Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Unificationism. The tours include such places as Egypt, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Nepal, the People's Republic of China, South Korea, the United States and Turkey. The student participants observe religious rituals and hear lectures and panel discussions by religious leaders and scholars. They see religions in their modern social, cultural, political and economic contexts, and engage in dialogue among themselves and with the local religious communities about the spiritual traditions and cultures they are experiencing.