Posts Tagged ‘ Inter Faith ’

International Golden Rule Day – 5 April

April 6, 2011
By

Ekklesia, Apr.5, www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/14491

Today has been designated International Golden Rule Day.

The idea is to stop and ask ourselves and our neighbours how our lives might be different if the Golden Rule was lived… individually, in community, in our faith groups and denominations, in the city, the region, the nation, and the world.

The Golden Rule is expressed in the words of Jesus recorded in two of the Gospels as follows: “In everything do to others as you would have them do to you” (Matthew 7.12) and “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” (Luke 6.31).

Many religions and spiritual teachers express this positive reciprocal responsibility in slightly different ways, points out the Rev Bosco Peters from New Zealand, who runs a wide-ranging liturgical resource website at: http://www.liturgy.co.nz/.

There is also a negative way of expressing a similar concept – the so-called “silver rule”: “One should not treat others in ways that one would not like to be treated”.

2009 was the International Year of Reconciliation. Religious Leaders of Ethiopia proclaimed 5 April as the Golden Rule Day.

Ambassador Mussie Hailu was the chair of the Interfaith Peace-building Initiative and the representative of United Religions Initiative to the United Nations Economic Commission of Africa. He had Golden Rule Day endorsed by the United Nations. It is now recognised by numerous organisations around the world.

The back-story is here – http://allafrica.com/stories/200909230374.html

A resource produced by Geoff Lachlan for the Scottish Inter Faith Council in 2009, “Values in Harmony”. This includes comparative versions of the Golden Rule as found in the writings of 11 faith and belief communities and can be downloaded from www.scottishinterfaithcouncil.org/resources/VALUES+IN+HARMONY.pdf

 

Freedom isn’t for sale

March 21, 2011
By

Bob Roberts, Inter Faith Youth Core, Mar.21, www.ifyc.org/content/freedom-isnt-sale

An Evangelical Christian in the Muslim world.

Last week I was in Doha, Qatar for a couple of different gatherings. While there, I had the unique opportunity of meeting some of the young people at the forefront of the revolution taking place all across the Middle East. They were educated, articulate, and incredibly inspiring. The more I listened to them, hung out with them, and asked questions, the more excited I became about the emerging leadership in the Middle East. There are many questions people have about what is happening there – I have many as well – but in the West, we should be incredibly excited about what is taking place.

Read the complete article here.

Going Beyond the Rhetoric: The Muslim Aid-UMCOR Partnership in Sri Lanka

February 20, 2011
By

Amjad Saleem, State of Formation, Feb.18, www.stateofformation.org/2011/02/going-beyond-the-rhetoric-the-muslim-aid-umcor-partnership-in-sri-lanka/

This paper highlights practical examples of dialogue and collaboration between Muslim Aid and UMCOR (United Methodist Committee on Relief) showing how different faith communities make natural allies for the promotion and success of cross border linking and play a part in making humanitarian work more efficient and effective whilst showing that inter-faith cooperation means something practical as well as spiritual.

Download the complete article here.  (pdf)

Muslim and Jewish students forge friendship network

January 24, 2011
By

Harriet Swain, The Guardian, Jan.24, www.guardian.co.uk/education/2011/jan/24/muslim-jewish-students-friendship

At universities around the UK, Muslim and Jewish students are finding common ground, with the help of the Coexistence Trust charity.

Sara Amin-Nejad, an Iranian-born Muslim studying pharmacy at Manchester University, has never experienced any hostility from a Jewish student. But she has never met one either.

That was why she signed up to be part of a new team, being launched tomorrow at the House of Lords, of 18 Muslim and Jewish students working as “campus ambassadors” at 10 universities around the UK to bring people from the two faiths together.

“I thought it would be a really good opportunity to meet new people,” she says. “I’ve never had the chance to speak to a Jewish student before.”

The idea is that the team of students will act as role models for good inter-faith relations. They will receive monthly training sessions in leadership, strategy and conflict resolution and be expected to organise activities on their campuses, such as art and drama projects, and volunteering in the community, that involve Muslims and Jews working together.

“At the moment there is a lot of misunderstanding and miscommunication and a lot of prejudice, and often it is between people who have never met,” Sara says. “Once you show people you can be friends – not just co-exist but be friends – then others will follow.”

Read the complete article here.

Pope Benedict XVI and the Koran

January 12, 2011
By

Peter Brown, The Catholic Thing, Jan. 10, www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2011/elizabethmccoy2002.html

After reading the pope’s famous Regensburg lecture for the umpteenth time, I am ready to conclude that if one were to excise paragraphs 2-4, which concerned Islam, what we have is Benedict boilerplate. Here we find the repetition of themes that pervade Benedict’s writings in his long career. He reminds us of the early “decision” of Christianity to accept dialogue with and critique from philosophy and that Christianity never sought immunity from rational analysis.

And by the time the Quran appeared on the academic horizon in the late twentieth century as a yet largely unexplored frontier, the paradigm for religious study had shifted drastically.   The Muslim faith could be studied under the rubric of “Islamic studies,” “comparative religion,” or as a socio-political phenomenon. The purpose of these approaches was fostering understanding and the dispelling of Western misconceptions and stereotypes – desirable goals, of course. But Benedict’s real complaint is that Western academics have punted on the more fundamental question of whether Islamic beliefs are actually true – thinking it to be above their pay grade. He wants this question asked so that truth seeking remains the goal of inter-faith dialogue.

Implicit in Regensburg is Benedict’s big bet is that Western-style reason summed up in the Eternal Logos will prevail – even among non-Western religious traditions like Islam. By this time next century, if a lot of Muslims have embraced the Eternal Logos made flesh, we’ll know that he was right!

Read the full story here.

The Islamification of Britain: record numbers embrace Muslim faith

January 5, 2011
By

Jerome Taylor and Sarah Morrison, The Independent, Jan.4, www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/the-islamification-of-britain-record-numbers-embrace-muslim-faith-2175178.html

The number of Britons choosing to become Muslims has nearly doubled in the past decade, according to one of the most comprehensive attempts to estimate how many people have embraced Islam.

Following the global spread of violent Islamism, British Muslims have faced more scrutiny, criticism and analysis than any other religious community. Yet, despite the often negative portrayal of Islam, thousands of Britons are adopting the religion every year.

Asked why people were converting in such large numbers Fiyaz Mughal, director of the inter-faith think-tank Faith Matters, replied: “I think there is definitely a relationship between conversions being on the increase and the prominence of Islam in the public domain. People are interested in finding out what Islam is all about and when they do that they go in different directions. Most shrug their shoulders and return to their lives but some will inevitably end up liking what they discover and will convert.”

Read the full story.

African inter-faith leader calls for protest over Ivory Coast poll

December 14, 2010
By

Frederick Nzwili of ENInews, Ekklesia, Dec.14, www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/13773

The president of an African Inter-faith peace group has called on religious leaders to protest over Ivory Coast’s presidential election dispute, in which two politicians have been sworn in as head of State.

The Rev Ishmael Noko, former Lutheran World Federation General Secretary, said on 9 December 2010, Ivory Coast’s people are being forced to accept an intolerable political situation, as incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo continues to cling to power after losing to opposition candidate, Alassane Ouattara.

“Today the Ivorian people find themselves forced to accept an unacceptable political environment of one country, two Presidents,” said Noko, who is president of the Inter-faith Action for Peace in Africa, in a letter made available to ENInews.

“The democratic will of the people of Ivory Coast is clear …. Therefore further attempts to manipulate their expressed will should not be allowed by any standard of political measurement.

Read the full article here.

Inter-faith council condemns West Bank mosque burning

October 9, 2010
By

Ekklesia, Oct. 8, www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/13284

The Council of the Religious Institutions of the Holy Land (CRIHL) has expressed “grave concern” over the 3 October burning by militant Israeli settlers of a mosque in the West Bank village of Beit Fajar near Bethlehem - writes Judith Sudilovsky.

“The CRIHL strongly condemns these and similar acts of vandalism and arson which have taken place in the past year,” said the council in a 5 October statement.

It added, the council, “calls upon people from all faiths – Christians, Jews and Muslims – Palestinians and Israelis – to refrain from any assault on places of religious significance and not to resort to extremism and the exploitation of religion for a political and territorial gain.”

Read the full story.

Mosque gives £52,000 for URC inspired centre

August 12, 2010
By

Ekklesia, Aug.9, www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/12807

A Manchester mosque has given £52,000 to help develop a United Reformed Church inspired community centre.  The Rev Ed Cox, church leader, said: “The investment symbolises the strength of inter-faith relationships in our community. The relationship between the church and the mosque began with plans to develop a joint youth club which, we hope, will now come to fruition when the centre opens later this year.”

Levenshulme Inspire will see a prominent URC building on Stockport Road saved from neglect, and transformed into a multi-use centre for the local community.  The money given by the Woodfield Avenue Bohra community was promised by the community’s international leader, Mohammed Burhanuddin when he visited. It makes the mosque one of the biggest investors in the project.

Full story.

Cardinal Keith’s kitchen heaven

June 21, 2010
By

Christine Lavelle in Deadline Press and Picture Agency, Jun.16, deadlinescotland.wordpress.com/2010/06/16/16145-3064/

Scotland’s Catholic leader rolled up his sleeves and donned a tabard today as he helped out in a Sikh cafe kitchen today. Cardinal Keith O’Brien stopped in at Edinburgh’s Punjab’n Raosi Café – which translates as the Punjabi Women’s Kitchen – in a bid to unite faiths.

He mustered up some chapattis before tucking into a haggis pakora with the staff.

Workers at the Leith Walk shop said they hoped his visit would shake off “common perceptions of Sikhs as being anti-social.”

Speaking while settling down to some Indian food, the Cardinal said: “It is vitally important that we look after inter-faith relationships like this, because it is not a relationship unless people actually meet.  How do you get to know your neighbours if you do not knock on any doors?”