Tag: interfaith relations


  • The TE’A Project

    I just attended a phenomenal performance by The TE’A Project which uses interactive theatre to inspire audiences to cross the barriers of race, class, culture and religion in America’s communities. It combines story collection, theatrical performance, and facilitated dialogue in a process that makes it possible for us to engage imaginatively with the barriers of social and cultural differences that divide us.

    The performance I watched was called “Under the Veil” – Being Muslim (and non-Muslim) in America, Post 9/11.” It was based on stories collected from individuals living in New York and explored the theme of being young and Muslim in America today. It was excellent. Check out the schedule of performances to catch this phenomenal show!

    The website also includes videos and streaming television about their project. Learn more at:  http://teaproject.com

  • Curiosity over Assumptions: Interfaith Meets a New Generation

    By Mallory Huggins

    On Speaking of Faith, a weekly public radio program, Krista Tippett focuses on “religion, meaning, ethics, and ideas.” This week, she talked with two women who illustrate the power of interfaith collaboration. Here’s an excerpt from the blog post about the women:

    The Power of Listening and Engaging with the “Other”
    By Krista Tippett

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    Malka and Aziza work with emerging leaders from different spheres of life and from both of their traditions. They make a core commitment “not to be enemies.” And that, of course, is the kind of lofty statement that can be hard to put into practice against the backdrop of reality. The ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the dynamics of the post-9/11 world, the rise of Iran as a regional power — these are just a few of the developments that infuse and shape relationships between Jews and Muslims everywhere.

    To read the whole article, …

  • DAMASCUS 14TH CENTURY: AN ASTOUNDING INTERFAITH PRECEDENT FROM A TIME OF SORROW

    This from Roi Ben Yehuda, written for marcgopin.com

    Dear Professor Gopin,

    I am reading about the Jerusalem Initiative in your book Holy War, Holy Peace, and I was reminded of a gem I once found researching for a paper on the impact that the black plague (1348-1351) had on the Jews. It comes from the pen of Ibn Batutta, the 14th century Muslim scholar and traveler.

    In his book, entitled “Ibn Battuta Travels in Asia and Africa 1325-1354”, the author provides an account of the Middle East during the plague. For those of us interested in the “Black Death”, Ibn Batutta’s account is a precious primary source. But there is one passage that really blew my mind. After documenting all the horrible destruction of the plague, Ibn Battuta describes how the community (i.e. Muslims, Christians, and Jews) responded to the disaster.

    He writes:

    “I saw a remarkable instance

  • A New Baptist Approach to Muslims?

    This article highlights the important role of Richard Land, one of the most famous conservative religious spokesmen in the country, in the development of the report on U.S.-Muslim Engagement. A responsible approach to United States foreign policy has to include a bipartisan approach. That is why our project reached out to moderate evangelicals in an effort to create a new basis of multi-faith relations at a global scale.…

  • ELECTION OBSESSIONS: TARGETING MUSLIMS TO GAIN VOTES

    I signed the following statement, along with dozens of Jewish, Christian and Muslim American leaders, that condemns a film released in order to incite hatred against Muslims across the United States as a way of shifting election votes. This is sadly reminiscent of what I wrote about yesterday, in Indian elections. Democracy’s soft underbelly is racism, populism and fascism. It is advantageous to discover people’s fears and build a voting base on that foundation. The only way forward is to unite against this and expose it. This is completely separate from an honest discussion between civilizations and religions when there are deep wounds, injuries and grievances to talk about. This is about the uses of hatred to garner votes.

    Statement from American Religious Leaders in Response to Mass Distribution of ‘Obsession’
    October 06, 2008

    We, the undersigned religious leaders, representing a wide spectrum of theological beliefs and political persuasions,

  • Does the U.S. Bipartisan Group’s Report on Engaging the Islamic World Favor Obama?

    The recent U.S. report on Muslim engagement was crafted carefully by a very bipartisan group in which I played a role, but this article argues that it strongly favors Obama’s foreign policy.

    U.S.: Bipartisan Group Urges Deeper Diplomacy with Muslim World

    WASHINGTON, Sep 24 (IPS) – In an implicit indictment of President George W. Bush’s “global war on terror” and the hawkish pronouncements by Republican candidate John McCain, a bipartisan group of nearly three dozen U.S. leaders called here Wednesday for Bush’s successor to place much greater emphasis on high-level diplomacy — including direct engagement with Iran and Syria — in dealing with the Middle East and the Muslim world.

    In a 152-page report, the group, which included former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and Bush’s former Deputy Secretary of State and McCain adviser Richard Armitage, also called for any new administration to work “intensively for immediate de-escalation of the

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