Gaming Your Way to Interfaith Understanding

September 13, 2007

Author: DAVID BRIGGS

Source: Religion News Service

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CLEVELAND -- According to Islam, do humans carry the sins of their ancestors?

What is more important in Judaism -- the self or the community?

What does "70 x 7" refer to in the Bible?

If you answered "no," "the community" and "how often Jesus says we are to forgive each other," you would be ahead in a new board game designed to promote interfaith understanding.

The game, 7th Heaven, tests players' knowledge of Judaism, Islam and Christianity in a way that people from junior high school age and up can enjoy learning about different religious practices, said John Cooper, a mechanical engineer from Lincoln, Neb., who developed the game.

Does the game succeed?

The consensus after a recent contest among four interfaith leaders from Catholic, Protestant, Jewish and Muslim traditions was that 7th Heaven is a useful, if limited and occasionally flawed, way to make interfaith learning fun.