New Alliance of Virtue Collaboration

Dr. Judith Simmer-Brown was recruited to serve on an interreligious team of ten people, contracted by the government of United Arab Emirates, to develop a handbook on virtues in six world religions, authored by six scholar-practitioners. She represents Buddhism and has been working for fifteen months on this project, designed to promote interreligious understanding internationally, especially in Muslim countries. While most of the meetings are on zoom, in September the team met in Washington, D.C., in conjunction with the International Day of Peace, in order to connect in person with the visionary leader of the project, Shaykh Abdallah bin Bayyah of Morocco, and the director, Dr. William Vendley of Fetzer Institute. They presented their work at the Abu Dhabi Peace Forum to an audience of NGO professionals, Muslim and interfaith leaders, and peace advocates. The team’s work will culminate in a book entitled The Alliance of Virtue for Sacred Flourishing, due out in 2026.