First Annual Crestone Interfaith Summit • Village Traveler

First Annual · August 4–11, 2025

Crestone Interfaith Summit

Peace, Unity, and Collective Work in the San Luis Valley — a gathering of traditions, hearts, and voices committed to healing the world together.

August 4 – 11, 2025

8 days · 7 nights · Crestone, Colorado

Accommodations

Vajra Vidya Retreat Center, Crestone, CO

Altitude

8,000 ft · Sangre de Cristo Mountains

Peace Walk

A joyful procession through the town of Crestone uniting participants of all faiths — a visible declaration of solidarity, harmony, and shared commitment to peace. Children, elders, monastics, and seekers walk together under one banner.

Peace Concert

A celebration of music as medicine — featuring global rhythms, devotional songs, kirtan, and sacred sound from diverse traditions. Artists from multiple faith backgrounds come together to demonstrate how music transcends every boundary.

Community gathering in Crestone with diverse spiritual participants celebrating together

Interfaith Summit

Multi-day summit programming including workshops, roundtable discussions, and interfaith tours across Crestone's sacred sites — a living laboratory for cooperation, shared wisdom, and collective visioning for our world.

Summit Activities

The heart of the gathering — four days of meaningful programming designed to deepen understanding, bridge traditions, and inspire collective action.

Workshops

Immersive sessions covering meditation and mindfulness, sacred sound practices, storytelling across traditions, and practical tools for interfaith cooperation and community building.

Round Table Discussions

Intimate dialogues where leaders and practitioners from Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Indigenous traditions, Judaism, and Rastafari share wisdom, explore common ground, and engage in deep listening.

Interfaith Tour of Crestone

Guided visits to Crestone's remarkable constellation of sacred sites: Tashi Gomang Stupa, Yeshe Khorlo, Haidakhandi Universal Ashram, Carmel of the Holy Spirit, Crestone Ziggurat, and the Zen Center.

Seva Project

Hands-on community service rooted in the spirit of giving. Participants work together on meaningful local projects — tending the land, supporting community needs, and leaving Crestone better than they found it.

The Peace Walk Tradition

Village Traveler has led World Peace Walks across sacred sites in India. Now we bring this tradition home to Crestone, CO.

World Peace Walk group at Panchasila Public School Bodhgaya with monks and children

World Peace Walk at the Mahabodhi Temple gate in Bodhgaya with monks carrying banners

World Peace Walk march through the streets with Buddhist monks and spiritual leaders

The Tradition of Peaceful Revolution in America

The Crestone Interfaith Summit draws from a profound American legacy — one that has inspired movements for justice and liberation around the world.

Henry David Thoreau & Civil Disobedience

In 1849, Henry David Thoreau published "Civil Disobedience," a revolutionary essay arguing that individuals have a moral duty to resist unjust laws through nonviolent means. Written after Thoreau spent a night in jail for refusing to pay taxes that supported slavery and the Mexican-American War, this work planted seeds that would bloom across the globe.

Mahatma Gandhi discovered Thoreau's essay in South Africa in 1907, calling it "masterly." It became foundational to his philosophy of satyagraha (truth-force) that would liberate India. Martin Luther King Jr. first read it as a student at Morehouse College, later writing that he was "fascinated by the idea of refusing to cooperate with an evil system." Malcolm X evolved toward similar principles of righteous resistance in his final years, recognizing the power of moral authority over violence.

"Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison." — Henry David Thoreau

Wovoka, the Paiute prophet who founded the Ghost Dance movement, painted with a golden halo

Wovoka & the Ghost Dance Movement

In 1889, a Paiute prophet named Wovoka (also known as Jack Wilson) experienced a powerful vision during a solar eclipse. He saw a world renewed — where the ancestors would return, the buffalo would roam again, and all peoples would live in peace. This vision sparked the Ghost Dance movement, a spiritual practice that spread rapidly among Indigenous nations across the American West.

The Ghost Dance was not a call to violence but to spiritual renewal and peaceful resistance. Wovoka taught that through prayer, dance, and righteous living, a new world would emerge. The movement represented Indigenous peoples' profound hope for restoration and their refusal to surrender their spiritual identity despite devastating oppression. Tragically, the U.S. government's fear of this peaceful movement led to the Wounded Knee Massacre of 1890.

"When the sun died, I went up to heaven and saw God and all the people who had died a long time ago. God told me to come back and tell my people they must be good and love one another." — Wovoka

Historical illustration of the Ghost Dance ceremony with Native Americans gathered in a circle on the plains

The Ghost Dance ceremony — a vision of renewal, restoration, and peace

The Crestone Interfaith Summit honors these traditions of peaceful revolution. From Thoreau's cabin at Walden Pond to the Great Plains Ghost Dances, from Gandhi's salt marches to King's freedom rides — we gather in Crestone to continue this sacred work of transformation through love, prayer, and collective action.

Long-Term, Large-Impact Collective Work

The summit is not just an event — it is the beginning of an ongoing movement. Guided by the Crestone Charter of Peace, participants will co-create a shared vision and commit to sustained collective action rooted in four pillars:

Vision A shared map of where we are going together

Action Concrete steps that begin during and after the summit

Unity Celebrating our diversity as our greatest strength

Sustainability Long-term commitments to Crestone and the world

"A community coming together — Healing the heart, uniting the world."

Accommodations

Vajra Vidya Retreat Center

All participants will be hosted at the breathtaking Vajra Vidya Retreat Center, nestled in the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. This Tibetan Buddhist retreat center provides a serene, sacred environment perfectly aligned with the spirit of the summit.

Accommodations are provided for the full 8-day event — August 4 through August 11 — allowing participants to be fully present without logistical concerns.

Crestone, Colorado · 8,000 ft elevation

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Join the First Annual Crestone Interfaith Summit

Space is limited to ensure an intimate, meaningful experience. Register now to secure your place at this historic gathering of traditions, hearts, and voices.