Philadelphia Dialog Forum (PDF) is a non-profit organization founded by the Turkish-American Muslims of Philadelphia in 2003. Our forum has been governed by the Board of Directors, which is composed of volunteers from academic, industrial and religious institutions.

Our primary goal is to build bridges of understanding, acceptance and trust amongst communities by promoting dialogue between Muslims and non-Muslims, who seek common values, and look to achieve mutual understanding of their differences.

We believe that all faith groups share a common inner core and through dialogue common grounds can be discovered. To this end, we interact with diverse groups and get together with them in different settings.

Fear of the unknown can be overcome by gaining perspective, insight and knowledge about the beliefs and practices of "others". Communication and dialogue will make it possible to prevent misunderstandings and to have respect and gratitude for one another.

To fulfill its mission, PDF partners with other faith-based, civic and social organizations and organize/sponsor educational and cultural activities. Seminars, lectures, festivals, dinners, art performances, trips are some of these activities through which we seek to interact with members of diverse groups and share and appreciate our common values.

• Our differences are our richness. Religions, languages and ethnicities exist so that we come together and learn from, not fight, each other (1).
• The purpose of dialogue is to increase understanding.
• Real dialogue is possible only in the presence of mutual knowledge and acceptance of cultural and religious values (2)
• Dialogue can only occur where there is mutual trust (3)
• The pillars of dialogue are love, tolerance, compassion and forgiving.
• Dialogue is a must today, and the first step in establishing it is forgetting the past, ignoring polemical arguments, and giving precedence to common points, which far outnumber polemical ones. (4)

 (1) The Holy Qur’an, Chapter 49, Verse 13 (O mankind! We created you from a male and female, and made you into nations and tribes, that you may know each other. Verily the most honored of you in the sight of Allah is the one who is most deeply conscious of Him...) Chapter 30, Verse 22 (And among His Signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the variations in your languages and your colors; verily in that are Signs for those who know.)

(2) Lucien F. Cosijns, Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue Guidelines, In Fountain, A Magazine of Critical, Scientific, and Spiritual Thought, Issue 33, January-March 2001, pp. 10-14.

(3) Leonard Swidler, "The Dialogue Decalogue: Ground Rules for Interreligious Dialogue," Journal of Ecumenical Studies 20.1 (1983): 1 – 4.

(4) M. Fethullah Gulen, "Dialogue is a must", http://www.fgulen.org/