Gov. Spencer Cox, Gov. David Beasley and Martin Luther King III Kick Off G20 Interfaith Forum Ask All to Disagree Better

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, former South Carolina Gov. David Beasley and Martin Luther King III urged faith communities to lead the way out of an era of contempt.

SALT LAKE CITY, UT, UNITED STATES, October 16, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — The G20 Interfaith Forum (IF20), the world’s leading organization focused on the intersection of faith and policy, began its first annual Forum held in the United States today with a Disagree Better-sponsored dialogue at the Historic Tabernacle at Temple Square on October 15. Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, former South Carolina Gov. David Beasley and Martin Luther King III urged faith communities to lead the way out of an era of contempt, and the afternoon closed with Jewish and Muslim leaders signing the Jewish–Muslim Declaration of Fraternity in Faith.

Cox, who launched Disagree Better as chair of the National Governors Association in 2023, said his deepest worry is what is happening in homes and neighborhoods. Five years ago, he noted, only 5 percent of Americans had lost a family member or close friend to politics; today that figure is five times higher. Disagreeing better, Cox stressed, is not about giving up your principles, but about being who you are while staying curious and acting with charity and love. “Politicians are not worth it. We are not worth it,” Cox said. “We are not worth losing a single friend or family member — we will let you down every time. So value your friends more than you value the politics.”

Beasley, who led the UN World Food Programme when it received the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize, said his years fighting hunger in the world’s most war-torn places taught him that everyone is our brother and sister. He recalled working to open ports while children in Yemen were dying of starvation.
“Each child is not a statistic or a number. They’re my little brother, my little sister,” Beasley said. “That’s what keeps me positive. Together we can overcome anything and everything we need.”

King built his remarks around the choice at the heart of his father’s final book, Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? What the country is doing now is not sustainable, he said, and it must choose community over chaos. “Communities are sustained by the values they believe in, but they’re also sustained by leadership, particularly faith leadership,” King said. “When faith does what it’s supposed to do instead of pulling people apart, community is advanced.”

That choice is personal for King, whose father was assassinated when he was 10 and whose grandmother was later killed inside her church. “I could have easily chosen to hate,” he said. “But I’m so grateful for what my family taught me: to hate the act, but not the person.”

All three panelists returned to the same point: none of this happens on its own. King said better communities, like strong marriages, have to be worked at; Cox said listening to understand rather than to argue is a choice, and it takes work; and Beasley urged the audience not to get discouraged. As King put it: “We can, we must, and we will do better.”

The session then moved from disagreeing better to building something together. Imam Dr. Talib Shareef and Rabbi Dr. Yakov Nagen, leaders of the Jewish–Muslim Fraternity Project launched at the 2025 IF20 Summit in Cape Town, returned with the Jewish–Muslim Declaration of Fraternity in Faith. Rooted in the sacred sources of both traditions, the Declaration moves beyond tolerance and coexistence toward a relationship in which each community honors and elevates the other.

Shareef said their collaboration had reinforced one core conviction. “We aren’t here to coexist,” Shareef said. “We’re here to co-elevate.” Nagen said that real differences between the two faiths should deepen their fraternity rather than diminish it and gave the audience homework: find a friend from another tradition. “Let us not just ask, ‘Can I tolerate you?’ but, ‘What can I learn from you?’” Nagen said. After reading and signing the Declaration, Shareef and Nagen invited attendees to add their own signatures in the days ahead.

The Forum continues October 16–17 at the University of Utah under the theme “Resilient Hope, Shared Future,” including a follow-up session on the Declaration, “The Abrahamic Family: Shared Values, Deep Roots, Joint Action.” The full program is available at g20interfaith.org/2026-forum-program.
Speakers included:

• Sarah Jane Weaver (Moderator) — Editor of the Deseret News and the first woman to hold the role since the paper’s founding in 1850. She previously spent nearly three decades at the Church News, leading it as editor from 2017 and expanding its reach through translation, video and podcasting.
• Gov. Spencer J. Cox — Governor of Utah. As chair of the National Governors Association, he launched Disagree Better in 2023, an effort to model healthy conflict in public life that has since become an independent nonprofit. He has served as governor since 2021.
• Gov. David Beasley — Leader of Breaking Bread Together, a national effort built on the idea that connection begins with a shared meal, and Governor of South Carolina from 1995 to 1999. As Executive Director of the UN World Food Programme from 2017 to 2023, he led the agency through the period in which it received the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize.
• Martin Luther King III — Humanitarian, civic leader and Ambassador for Global Human Rights. The eldest son of Dr. Martin The eldest son of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King, he has spent decades advancing his parents’ legacy of nonviolent social change, including as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and president and CEO of The King Center.
• Imam Dr. Talib M. Shareef — President of the International Coalition for Peace and Reconciliation and President and Imam of Masjid Muhammad, The Nation’s Mosque, in Washington, D.C.
• Rabbi Dr. Yakov Nagen — President of the Jerusalem Interfaith Center. He directs Ohr Torah Stone’s Blickle Institute for Interfaith Dialogue, teaches at Yeshivat Otniel and has written ten books on Jewish spirituality, Talmud and interfaith relations. He is a leader of the Jewish–Muslim Fraternity Project.

Marianna Richardson
G20 Interfaith Forum
+ +1 801-692-1442
Visit us on social media:
LinkedIn
Facebook
X

Media gallery