The mission of Partners in Dialogue is to promote understanding and cooperation between the faith groups in South Carolina. This includes, but is not limited to, the sponsorship of educational activities which cultivate respect for the faith traditions and communities in South Carolina.

The goals of the organization are both personal and public. The dialogue model has proved to be very helpful in serving the personal goal of Partners: to facilitate personal growth and deepen the experience of spirituality. To give but one example, many have found that by learning more about the devotional practices of bakhti yoga within Hinduism they have been able to enrich their spiritual practices as Christians, Jews, or Muslims.

As a coalition of diverse faith groups, Partners in Dialogue has worked hard to identify the core spiritual and ethical values shared by all the groups. Such common ground serves the public goal of Partners: to build and nurture community in a society which is unfortunately divided by race, culture, religion, and ethnicity.

The word “dialogue” in our name points to the manner of our interaction. Dialogue is engagement with the other with the goal of understanding the other so well that it becomes possible to describe accurately the other's views. We have been guided by the ten commandments of interfaith conversation known as the Dialogue Decalogue. This set of guidelines was framed by Professor Leonard Swidler at Temple University. It has been published in the Journal of Ecumenical Studies 20:1 (1984).