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Contribution short abstract

Everyday religion plays a crucial role in advancing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by shaping how individuals and communities interpret, prioritise, and act on sustainability challenges within their lived contexts.

Contribution long abstract

This article examines the role of everyday religion in advancing the Sustainable Development Goals in shaping how individuals and communities interpret, prioritise, and act on sustainability challenges within their lived contexts drawing. It draws on Fadi Daou’s dialogic approach which recognises that religion is not confined to institutional belief systems but is deeply embedded in daily practices, values, and communal relationships that influence behaviours and social norms. Rather than treating religion as a fixed institutional actor or a normative obstacle to development, the analysis foregrounds religion as embedded in daily routines, moral reasoning, and social relations that shape how communities engage with issues such as inequality, environmental sustainability, gender justice, and peaceful coexistence. Building on concepts of lived and everyday religion the article argues that faith-informed practices often intersect with SDG priorities in informal yet consequential ways — through care networks, ethical commitments, and community-based action. Dialogue is presented as a critical mechanism for translating these everyday religious resources into inclusive and context-sensitive contributions to sustainable development. The article draws on insights from Dialogue Futures platform that I launched 12 months ago, a dialogical space that bring together religious actors, secular civil society, and policy stakeholders to enable mutual learning, reduce epistemic hierarchies, and foster shared ownership of sustainability agendas. The article further situates everyday religion within broader debates on localisation of the SDGs, arguing that attention to lived religious dynamics helps overcome technocratic and top-down approaches to development.