In the context of Nigeria’s religious diversity and the ongoing concern over conflict with religious and inter-communal dimensions, many actors promote inter-faith dialogue as a means of peace building. At first sight this appears to be a site of broad agreement: there is little outright resistance to interfaith dialogue. However, on closer inspection there is no consensus over what principles should govern appropriate interaction between representatives of different religions. In areas affected by the Boko Haram conflict this takes on a heightened salience, as inter-faith peace building initiatives are being promoted in the context of ongoing insecurity and high levels of intercommunal suspicion. This paper compares how interfaith dialogue is conceived by a donor-funded regional civil society organisation with snapshots of the views of Muslim and Christian religious leaders at the state and local level in Adamawa and Borno. It draws on preliminary interviews and focus groups conducted in Maiduguri, Yola and Mubi in July-August 2017 and publicly available project documentation from the Inter-faith Mediation Council’s USAID-funded TOLERANCE project (started in 2012). The paper explores two areas of potential disagreement. Firstly, does inter-faith peace-building assume neutrality between religions, and how does this interact with the religious hierarchy underlying the political settlement in Borno state? Secondly, is more and deeper inter-faith interaction always better? Or, are there some narratives which understand the potential of inter-faith as limited by appropriate norms of inter-communal interaction? The paper thus brings fresh empirical research from Northern Nigeria into conversation with the core theme of inter-religious encounter in Mustapha and Ehrhardt’s 2017 Creed and Grievance.