Founded by Christians in 1874 and also blessed for over 50 years with a vibrantly active Jewish community as well as other non-Christian religions, Chautauqua from its beginning has described itself as a place whose vision was to recognize the oneness of humanity under one God who is worshipped and honored universally under many names and titles.

Now in its fourteenth year, the Abrahamic Program, which has sought to teach about the relationship of Judaism and Christianity to Islam, is growing with the world into a fuller expression as it expands into relationship with the other great religions of the world – a natural direction that will take on fuller expansion as the years unfold – with the envisioned goal that Chautauqua will become a center for the world’s great religions.

“The Chautauqua Institution is better positioned than most congregations or communities to play a significant part in the religious education of the North American culture, and does so in its own setting of religious pluralism. It is ideally suited to demonstrate what it means to live in and respond to contemporary religious pluralism.”
Excerpt from report by
Lilly Endowment Inc. Advisory Group,
September 1997