This is what I call Interfaith

Muslimwoman

Muslimwoman

Coexistence insha'Allah
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A couple of stories I thought noteworthy ... it may be a drop in the ocean but from small acorns .... !!:

"In an attempt to improve relations between the peoples of Palestine and Israel, members of Canada's Muslim, Jewish and Christian communities have joined hands to host an inter-faith tour to different holy sites in Jerusalem this September.

The one-week trip to entiled "In the Path of Abraham: A Jewish, Muslim, Christian Experience in the Holy Land" has been scheduled for 4-10 September 2011.

According to organizers, during the inter-faith tour, some 99 people - 33 members each from Jews, Muslims and Christians communities - "will experience the holy land from each others' perspectives with honesty and dignity."

Canadian Muslims, Jews & Christians Plan 100-Strong Interfaith Tour of Jerusalem | IslamToday - English

Wish I was going :cool:

.

Jewish, Christian and Buddhist leaders in France have joined their Muslim counterparts to demand that President Nicholas Sarkozy should call off a contentious debate on Islam planned for next week.


A joint declaration was put forward by France's chief rabbi Gilles Bernheim, the heads of the Roman Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox churches of France, the president of the Conseil Français du Culte Musulman, Mohammed Moussaoui, and the head of the Buddhists' union of France, Olivier Wang-Genh.


The declaration, written by the Conférence des responsables de culte en France said that, while debate was usually a healthy sign, it questioned the wisdom of the governing UMP discussing it solely among their ranks. The statements said the debate could add "to the confusion in the troubled period we are traversing."


French Jews, Christians & Buddhists Appeal to Sarkozy to Cancel National Islam Debates | Defend the Prophet
 
Praise God

there is a prophecy about this in Isaiah I think I will see if I can dig it out tommorow.
 
Well if it's a long range plan then I should, insh'Allah be back in Egypt and a couch will always be warm in our home for you. They may not be holy lands but we've got some fab pyramids lol.
 
found another good interfaith story.

There is an air of nervous excitement inside the brightly lit main hall of Luton's Carnival Arts Centre. Thirty children, all year 5 pupils at William Austin junior school in Luton, sit in neat rows, wearing the regulation black tie with white, yellow and blue stripes. Apart from one boy, who is black, they are all Asian.
In an adjoining room are 30 more schoolchildren, all wearing red ties with silver stripes. These children are pupils at St Joseph's, a Catholic junior school located close to William Austin, but where the vast majority of the pupils are white.
This morning the children are meeting as part of a pioneering initiative aimed at linking up schools with diverse communities. The children have been building up to this moment since last September, sending letters and photographs to one another about themselves and their hobbies. Today, they will meet face-to-face for the first time.

................................

Loved this comment:

summed up by Hassan's thoughts on his new friend from St Joseph's. "The only difference is, we were born in different countries. He was born in Ireland. And I was born in England.'

Catholic and Muslim pupils find they have a lot in common | Defend the Prophet
 
Hey Muslimwoman —

To celebrate Easter, our (Catholic) Church teams up with other Christian denominations for a procession thru the streets ending with a services that rotates between the various participant churches.

I'm wondering whether I should suggest we broaden the scope so that Christian churches join with Muslim, Jewish and other faith communities to mark particular days according to their respective calendars.

The media make great play of Pope Benedict's offending other faith traditions, but he himself continually calls for all religions that stand by the principle of the intrinsic dignity of the human person, the right to religious expression, and so on, to join together against the dehumanising effects of a secularism that reduces human life to a technical object to be manipulated as the individual and the society see fit.

I have in mind not so much a religious message, as a more generic idea of the 'person' as something to be valued, and that 'humanity' is not a product to be bartered in the global marketplace (so open to humanist ideas as well) — so as something contra to the media and the mass-market person-as-consumer image which shapes the minds and aspirations of our young people.

Just a thought ...

If God wills,

Thomas
 
A local synagogue I occasionally attend is attached to a Presbytarian church, they as a team have approached a local mosque. The three groups celebrate and participate publicly in each other holiday seasons.

Our church once a year on the evening starting our world day of prayer invites 12 different religions to come speak in an interfaith service. Every year we get 8-10 representatives, either lay people or ordained... During each holiday season for various religions our youth groups, elementary and secondary school aged are introduced on some level to the tradition and celebration.

We've also had two weekend retreats with our 11-13 year olds on exploring various traditions, both the parents and students enjoyed it muchly.

The place to start is in your own house of worship...reaching out and finding other beliefs to join with, exchange with. Find that suggestion box and suggest. Our church is a 'permission giving' church. In that they don't take suggestions as to what someone else should do, they openly encourage suggestions that say, "I would like to start XXXX. I will find X number of people to work with me and form a group to run it. I would like to have permission to utilize our space, and our media to promote and run this, and I will provide the ad information and raise the funds to make it happen." These kind of 'suggestions' are readily accepted.

We take part in the Season for Nonviolence, and as Lent is ending, next Sunday we will be gathering clothes to donate for "Cloak Sunday and after that I will be leading a group 'Counting the Omer'....
 
Muslimwoman said:
summed up by Hassan's thoughts on his new friend from St Joseph's. "The only difference is, we were born in different countries. He was born in Ireland. And I was born in England.'

Catholic and Muslim pupils find they have a lot in common | Defend the Prophet
Click to expand...
Yes, over the years I have questioned the notion of blind patriotism, the looking down your nose at folks who were born in other countries and pride in your own due to the vagaries of the 'lucky sperm club'. The same applies to color of skin, religion, gender, religion....this trillion cells is the benefit of out of millions of sperm and dozens of eggs happening to meet in a dark alley....and from that I am somehow better, or by proximity should join with others of similar fate?????
 
Thomas said:
I'm wondering whether I should suggest we broaden the scope so that Christian churches join with Muslim, Jewish and other faith communities to mark particular days according to their respective calendars.
Click to expand...

Salam Thomas

I love your idea. It could build bridges and perhaps promote some understanding of each others faiths between humans. We are all so blinded by what we think is another persons reality that it is sometimes shocking to find out how wrong that belief is.

I for one would love to attend such a day. Not a debate day or a I'm right and you're wrong day. Just a day where people who worship God in their own way and try to reach Him spiritually can come together and regocnise we are all trying to achieve the same thing.

Perhaps I am a dreamer but I would love to stand side by side with other faith members and pray, everyone mixed together .. all at the same time in our own way. Not caring how anyone around me is praying, just concentrate on my prayer and the fact that HUMANITY is praying to Allah (swt). ... got a lump in my throat just typing that, soppy old thing that I am. :eek:
 
wil said:
A local synagogue I occasionally attend is attached to a Presbytarian church, they as a team have approached a local mosque. The three groups celebrate and participate publicly in each other holiday seasons.
Click to expand...

WOW I love it. In Egypt the Coptic Christians in my town put up huge banners during Ramadan to help us celebrate and because we are fasting they usually do not eat or drink in public places to help us with the fast. Then at Christmas Muslims take sweets and cakes to their Christian neighbours.

No it's not all sweetness and cuddles all of the time but there is a genuine respect for each others faith in my town (can't sopeak for other towns but I have no reason to believe them to be any different).

There was a recent talk by Baba Shenouda on youtube and my husband sat last night and listened to every word, his respect for the man was obvious. Co-existence is within our grasp, we just need to want it.

wil said:
Our church once a year on the evening starting our world day of prayer invites 12 different religions to come speak in an interfaith service.
Click to expand...

I have always said Wil I would not come to the US in protest of their foreign policy but this I would come to if I had the means to do so.

I do hope Muslims attend?
 
Thomas said:
I'm wondering whether I should suggest we broaden the scope so that Christian churches join with Muslim, Jewish and other faith communities to mark particular days according to their respective calendars.

Thomas
Click to expand...

would you broaden that to include satanic churches ?
 
Muslimwoman said:
There was a recent talk by Baba Shenouda on youtube and my husband sat last night and listened to every word, his respect for the man was obvious. Co-existence is within our grasp, we just need to want it.
Click to expand...
I'll have to track that down ... I've downloaded nearly everything off the Coptic Church website to augment my own theology library.

There was a Muslim spokesperson talking on BBC Radio 4 a while ago ... such common sense! And such insight into the distinction between the religious imperative and the cultural (Nothing in Islam requires you to change your name to an Arabic one if you convert to Islam).

On my website (Contemplating the Christian Mysteries) I've got 'bustan al-rohbaan' (The Monk's Garden) — The Paradise of the Desert Fathers as we call it in English.

In my own circle of influence, I'm working and praying for a full union between the RC and the Orthodox Patriarchates — my sister was married in a RC Church and a Greek Orthodox Church (her husband is Greek) — it's such nonsense really, as half the time you have to be a theologian to even begin to understand what the differences actually are!

For a man walking out of the desert, water is water, whatever cup it comes in.

I sometimes think that because we're not persecuted, we have the time to be 'fussy' about things that really don't matter.

I spoke to a man who was Catholic, who used to visit a clandestine seminary in East Berlin during the Cold War. The constant very real threat of a bullet in the back of the neck changes your outlook on life — certainly shifts your priorities.

As soon as we think we're safe, we lose sight of the essential, and we are at the greatest (spiritual) risk.

God bless

Thomas
 
Muslimwoman said:
I do hope Muslims attend?
Click to expand...
We've had some interesting Imams. Very few people attend, it is a shame, but the various speakers, love coming and talking to each other afterword...the conversations are priceless...and a number of them have started corresponding between each other due to it.

One year we did 12 weeks of conversation....each week a different religion was represented whereby they could give us an hour and a half of discussion and Q&A about their thoughts.
 
Thomas said:
I'll have to track that down ... I've downloaded nearly everything off the Coptic Church website to augment my own theology library.
Click to expand...

They will be in Arabic but am happy to ask him to find links for you. Will email him now .. do you have someone who can translate for you, as his English is good but not good enough for translation.

Thomas said:
There was a Muslim spokesperson talking on BBC Radio 4 a while ago ... such common sense!
Click to expand...

It's what we all need more of in faith communities Thomas, a little less arrogance and a lot more common sense.

Thomas said:
On my website (Contemplating the Christian Mysteries) I've got 'bustan al-rohbaan' (The Monk's Garden) — The Paradise of the Desert Fathers as we call it in English.
Click to expand...

Fabulous. Everyone should read that and learn from it ... including myself :eek:

wil said:
We've had some interesting Imams. Very few people attend, it is a shame, but the various speakers, love coming and talking to each other afterword...the conversations are priceless...and a number of them have started corresponding between each other due to it.
Click to expand...

you should video and upload them, the world needs interfaith dialogue!!
 
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