Ecumenical & Interfaith
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Interfaith Relations

Left, poster for an interfaith fair in Bellevue, Washington;
right, a Jewish and a Muslim woman walk together in Seattle, Washington

| Current news | Relationships of PC(USA) | Presbyterians in mission | Links to interfaith organizations |

Peacemaking Program circulates 2011 International Peacemakers

The Presbyterian Peacemaking Program has announced the list of International Peacemakers who will be circulating throughout PC(USA) congregations and institutions from September 23 to October 18, 2011. Among these leaders from partner churches around the world are several whose life circumstances have given them special insights about relating to people of other faiths. Dr. Emad Ramzy Philobbos (pictured near left), a geologist, is involved in the Forum of Inter-cultural Dialogue run by the Coptic Evangelical Organization for Social Services (known as CEOSS). CEOSS has long served people of Egypt irrespective of their religious affiliation and works directly in promoting a culture of dialogue. Fr. Nabil Haddad (pictured far left), a Melkite (Catholic) priest from Jordan, has dedicated his life to promoting coexistence among people of varying religions. He is participated in the work arising from The Common Word, a Muslim document calling for mutual understanding. See a YouTube video about Haddad.

Relationships of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

PC(USA) is member of Odyssey Networks interfaith media group

Beginning in 1987 with an attempt to demonstrate integrity in religious broadcasting, Odyssey Networks and its antecedents have responded to the particular needs of the moment in broadcast media. Today it is described as "America's largest multifaith coalition." It tells " the stories of people of faith working together for the common good, promoting understanding among people of different faith traditions or even no faith tradition." It now includes a mobile telephone platform, a Call on Faith smartphone application. Refer to its web site for news of programming on its various platforms and its blogs.

Stony Point hosts programs with opportunities for interfaith involvement

The current mission statement of the Stony Point Center, a conference center of the PC(USA), reads: "Stony Point Center, modeling the love of Jesus, welcomes people of all faiths and nations to discern, discover, learn and lead. Together, bold dreamers experience the movement of God's Spirit to create pathways to peace, nonviolence and justice." The facility is located an hour outside New York City.

(1) Carrying out this mission has included the establishment of an intentional multifaith residential Community of Living Traditions (CLT) with leadership from the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim traditions who are motivated by a desire to foster interfaith peacemaking. CLT invites interested persons to apply for residency for periods from 3 months to 2 years. For members of the community who will be volunteers at the center, application dates are not fixed. They will receive housing, meals, basic health insurance, and a small stipend. A young adult summer internship program operates in the summer. CLT has begun a weekly blog "that addresses faith-based perspectives on waging nonviolence." Look in the right-hand column to find the blog archive. Leaders of the CLT programs include Gottlieb, Muslim chaplain Rabia Terri Harris, and Kitty Ufford-Chase, who with former PC(USA) moderator Rick Ufford-Chase is one of its co-directors.

(2) A second initiative is called Volunteers in Global Service (VGS) and has grown out of the former Bi-National Service program. The new VGS is designed for people who have already had experience in international, intercultural, and ecumenical life. It seeks to find situations around the world where qualified volunteers can contribute their service to make a difference. The situations are expected to involve some combination of three components: involvement in interfaith cooperation, a struggle for peace and justice, and commitment to nonviolence. VGS will work in partnership with the Stony Point Center, which is now inviting involvement in the program. Bruce Rigdon (pictured) has been selected as the VGS chair.

General Assembly asks for more work on Christian-Jewish document

The 219th General Assembly asked that broadened consultation on a document concerning Christian-Jewish relations be undertaken by the Office of Theology and Worship before 2012. In so doing, it did not accept Christians and Jews: People of God, a paper it had received. A Presbyterian News story written in March 2010 speaks to some of the issues the paper presented. Although the document was described as a theological--not a political--statement, Roger Gench is quoted as commented that “when the paper addresses the land, it merges into politics, which is problematic for Jews and Presbyterians.” A book edited by Joseph Small and Gil Rosenthal, Let Us Reason Together: Conversations between Christians and Jews (ISBN #10- 1571532110 and #13-978-1571532114) gives a record of the dialogues between Presbyterians and Jews that led up to the proposed paper. An earlier Christians and Jews- People of God: Church Issues is available from the PC(USA) church store online (item #7042005004).

Further work on Christian-Muslim relations requested by General Assembly

In conjunction with adopting Toward an Understanding of Christian-Muslim Relations, the 219th General Assembly called for the development of a fuller study articulating a theological understanding of Islam and Christian-Muslim relations for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), to be presented for consideration of the 221st General Assembly (2014). This process is to include broad consultation that would involve representatives of the national Middle Eastern Presbyterian Caucus and PC(USA) partner churches in majority Muslim countries.

Conversations with Muslim group underway

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) began national conversations with Muslims related to Warith Deen Mohammed, the late influential African-American leader, in October 2008 before his death. The Muslim Journal has called the group the "largest constituent of Muslims in America." There had been sporadic relationships with this community over the past 17 years. Presbyterians were a key component in a locally-based consultation between African-American Christians and Muslims in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1992, a gathering intended to contribute to national understandings. Former PC(USA) moderator Fahed Abu-Akel addressed the group's annual convention during his term of service. Most recently, PC(USA) staff have visited conventions. See the goals of the conversations, as they were finally formulated.

PC(USA) interfaith office has not yet completed its search process

Contacts with the PC(USA) interfaith office are currently being handled by Charles Wiley, coordinator for the General Assembly Mission Council's office of theology and worship, in the absence of a new staff person. The completion of a search process for a new incumbent has not yet been announced. Wiley was quoted extensively in a Presbyterian News story in September 2010, in which he said the office would continue to help Presbyterians build relationships with people of other faiths. "Our focus increasingly is on how to communicate with the other," says Wiley. "One of the forms of witness is to engage all our neighbors with respect."

MORE:
Ecumenical initiatives with Muslims in the U.S. in which the PC(USA) participates

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Presbyterians and their partners in mission relate to people of other faiths

F. Adeney Risakotta, D. Braaksma, A.M. Say Pa, P. Armacost, N. Kassab

Do you want to follow the work of Presbyterian mission around the world in interfaith efforts? Here are some sample people and some institutions with which Presbyterians partner:

* Bernie and Farsijana Adeney Risakotta serve in Indonesia, where he helped establish the innovative Indonesian Consortium for Religious Studies and where she works with the Indonesian Women's Coalition, a primarily Muslim group. See their December 2010 letter.

* Charlotte Blackburn is excited to also be assigned to Duta Wacana Christian University in Indonesia, a school open to all faiths which seeks to foster positive interfaith relationships.

* Debbie Braaksma is now the area coordinator for Africa for the World Mission of the PC(USA) after nearly five years of life in Africa, where she worked with Muslims in community development projects. She says, "This experience helped us to formulate our view of Christian holistic witness to Muslims, which includes sensitive sharing of one’s faith and living in dialogue together.”

* From a congregation of PC(USA) partner Synod of the Nile in Egypt, an elder, Ehab el Kharrat, shares recognition for his AIDS/HIV work with a Muslim woman. (p. 6) Egypt's CEOSS (the Coptic Evangelical Organization for Social Services) is known globally for its community development work. Its Forum for Intercultural Dialogue brings together religious leaders, both Christian and Muslim, in Egypt and beyond.

* PC(USA) missionaries in Egypt are witnessing rapid change following the end of the Mubarak era. As change began, they prayed that Muslims and Christians " would have the wisdom and integrity to overcome distrust of one another and seek common goals together."

* Forman Christian College in Lahore, Pakistan, after being nationalized, was returned to the PC(USA) in 2003 and now seeks to maintain its heritage embodied in its motto, "By love, serve one another." The college teaches courses in both Islam and Christianity. The rector is Peter Armacost, formerly the president of Eckerd College, a Presbyterian-related institution in Florida.

* At the 2010 New Wilmington mission conference, Dr. Freddy Elbaiady, director of the Salam Medical Center near Cairo, Egypt, spoke about serving health care needs of Egypt's poorest, both Christians and Muslims. He emphasized the importance of acting out God's love, especially in a country where Christians do not speak about their faith.

* Princeton Seminary honored Anna May Say Pa of Myanmar as a distinguished alumna in March. She is the former principal of the Myanmar Institute of Theology. She has given attention to the mission of the churches in a Buddhist context and has engaged in ecumenical work through both the World Council of Churches and the Christian Conference of Asia.

* Princeton Seminary graduate Najla Kassab, the Christian education staffer for   the Evangelical Church of Syria-Lebanon, has highlighted the role of reconciliation and dialogue, rather than violence, at this time in the Middle East's history. This is a specific task of the churches in the broader society.

Links to interfaith organizations

Click on logo to go to organization's web site. Click on name to go to news on this web site.

	Council for a Parliament of the World's Religions		North American Interfaith Network (NAIN)
	Religions for Peace (WCRP)		United Religions Initiative (URI)
	Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC)		National Conference for Community and Justice (NCCJ)

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Links to more interfaith organizations on other web sites:
At the Charter for Compassion web site

At the North American Interfaith Network web site

A multifaith calendar for 2011, showing dates for observances of various religions

On this web site:
Interfaith Principles: a statement adopted by the PC(USA) General Assembly

A Model Statement of Interfaith Commitment: a locally-prepared statement

On the PC(USA) web site:

Interfaith Relations: information and news from the PC(USA) office of interfaith relations

Interfaith Toolkit: resources for reflection and how-to-do suggestions

A Theological Understanding of the Relationship between Christians and Jews: a PC(USA) statement (1987)

Christians and Jews: the text of a brochure summarizing PC(USA) understandings 

  Christians and Muslims: the text of a brochure summarizing PC(USA) understandingsu