Presbyterian Church (USA) logo

Ecumenical & Interfaith
News Network - PCUSA

- Linking People, News, Information, and Resources -

x

Interfaith Relations

| Relationships of PC(USA) | Links to interfaith organizations | Link to an interfaith calendar |

x

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

Conference center becomes home to an intentional interfaith community
x

In what it calls the fifth generation of its life, Stony Point Center is becoming home to an intentional interfaith community known as the Community of Living Traditions. Led by its new directors, Rick and Kitty Ufford-Chase (pictured left), planning for this residential community has been motivated by a desire to foster interfaith peacemaking. Together, the residents will work, worship, learn, and provide leadership for workshops and camps. A house for Jewish participants is to be led by Lynn Gottlieb (pictured, far right), the rabbi who founded the Shomer Shalom Institute for Jewish Nonviolence. Another house, for Muslim participants, is led by Rabia Terri Harris (pictured, near right), coordinator of the Muslim Peace Fellowship. A third group will be made up of some of the members of an entity called the Luke 6 Project (A Christian Community for Nonviolence, Justice and Care for Creation). The Stony Point Center, a PC(USA) national conference facility, is located an hour outside New York City.

Congregations relate to "neighbors of non-Christian religious traditions"

Results of a survey of congregations for the year ending December 31, 2007, show that  about half stated they worked with neighbors of non-Christian religious traditions to respond to human needs or undertake other service activities. About a fourth make intentional efforts to build relationships with neighbors of other religious traditions. Only seven percent said they had specific plans to share the gospel with Muslims, Jews, Hindus, and others of other faith traditions in their communities. Look for information beginning at the bottom of page 2 in the report.

TO TOP

New conversations with Muslims begun

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) began national conversations with the Muslim community related to Warith Deen Mohammed, the late influential African-American leader, in October 2008 before his death. The Muslim Journal calls it 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.

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

          Text of PC(USA) brochure on Christians and Muslims

As preparation has been underway for the presentation of a new document on Christian-Muslim relations to the 219th General Assembly (2010), consultations have included both Christians and Muslims in discussion of the issues involved (see above picture).

Chicago Presbyterians and Muslims kick off a year of dialogue

The Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago (CIOGC) has had a relationship with the Presbytery of Chicago — and there have been relationships between individual mosques and church congregations — but now there is an agreed intention for them to expand. On October 25, CIOGC and the presbytery signed a declaration initiating a Year of Muslim-Christian Dialogue for " understanding and relationship . . . friendship and discovery." The signing venue was an event planned in conjunction with the PC(USA)'s Interfaith Listening program. Representatives of presbytery congregations and mosques / Islamic centers in the Chicago area made presentations on their histories, traditions, and experiences. Interfaith Listening speaker Mary Mikhael, president of the Near East School of Theology in Beirut, spoke, emphasizing that the most effective resource for understanding between Muslims and Christians is personal relationships, not books. Zaher Sahloul of CIOGC expressed gratitude for the PC(USA)'s advocacy for peace and stability in the Middle East. The presbytery's executive presbyter is Robert Reynolds and the chair for its interfaith work is Jay Moses (pictured) (see blog for November 8).

TO TOP

x

A "new season" of relationships with Jews requires effort

The PC(USA) stated clerk and key leaders of congregational Judaism issued a joint statement In December 2006 saying that they had turned toward a "new season of dialogue and understanding" and that they had agreed:

  • to bring congregations together for fellowship / study
  • to join in public policy efforts
  • to work to articulate their positions on Israel and Palestine clearly and faithfully
  • to recommend selected Israeli and Palestinian organizations and projects for congregational involvement and support

Reform Judaism's Eric Yoffie said they were not in the same place on Israel, "but the significant differences that generated so much anger . . . have been addressed.”

A list of institutions that might be supported through "positive alternatives for investing in Mid-East peace and development" was developed as a cooperative effort of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the Union for Reform Judaism, the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism and the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation, following the December 2006 agreement. "No endorsement of any of these organizations is intended," according to the PC(USA) release of the list. "However, we do encourage congregations and individuals to look into the work of these groups and to consider supporting and/or visiting them." Note the realistic comment about actual investment activity on the part of PC(USA) national entities made by the Institute for Religion and Democracy's James Berkley: " . . . neither the Board of Pensions nor the Presbyterian Foundation is at all likely to cast aside fiduciary responsibility to venture out into high-risk, low-impact investments."

If a reading of press releases were to be the measure for the quality of relationships between Presbyterian Christians and Jews, they would readily be characterized as constantly shifting.

Following the PC(USA)'s 218th General Assembly (2008), nine Jewish organizations welcomed the Assembly's action in adopting an overture from National Capital Presbytery that asks Presbyterians to be “nonpartisan advocates for peace who do not “over-identify with . . . Israelis or Palestinians" but "identify with the need for peacemaking voices." The action says, "We will avoid taking broad stands that simplify a very complex situation into a caricature of reality where one side clearly is at fault and the other side is clearly the victim."

Nonetheless, the American Jewish Committee (AJC) said it was not happy with the same General Assembly's endorsement of the Amman Call of the World Council of Churches.

In recent years, Presbyterian and Jewish leaders have encountered a series of mutual  hopes and

disappointments. In a December 2006 joint statement, then stated clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick and key Jewish leaders agreed to enter a new period of engagement with one another. Gary Greenebaum of the AJC said they would set a serious theological agenda because "if we just deal with politics, we’ll never get too far.” Indeed, Presbyterian-Jewish dialogue consultations looked at three key issues needing attention -- land, covenant, and evangelism. Nevertheless, the Jewish daily Forward of January 30, 2008 declared that Jewish relations with the PC(USA) were strained following "remarks by church officials criticizing Israel." Jewish leaders complained that “the anti-Israel tone of your statement calls into serious question whether the season of mutual understanding we welcomed . . . has yet arrived.” Again in June 2008 a joint Jewish statement said, "The season for which we continue to hope has indeed not yet arrived." Mark Pelavin of the Reform movement's interreligious office said, “We’re frustrated and angry, but that doesn’t mean we will walk away.”

A resource for joint congregational study and discussion, Open Doors, Open Minds, was prepared by the Union for Reform Judaism, and Presbyterians will find additional help for such a study in the Presbyterian Supplement created as a companion piece. See the Open Doors, Open Minds Follow-up Programming suggestions on the Reform Judaism web site

The Association of Presbyterian Christian Educators (APCE), at its 2010 conference, heard Presbyterian pastor Michael Lindvall describe some of what he has learned about Judaism. First, he expressed appreciation for Judaism's tradition of storytelling and Jews' dedication to "doing" Judaism—to expressing belief through practices such as Shabbat observance, keeping kosher, celebrating bat and bar mitzahs. Secondly, he pointed to "faithful questioning" that understands faith does not mean having no questions.

TO TOPx

x

Presbyterians in mission relate to people of other faiths

Do you want to follow the work of Presbyterian mission around the world in interfaith efforts? Here are some sample people and institutions:
* Rebecca Young at the Jakarta Theological Seminary in Indonesia, facilitates interreligious discussions and working with students who want to learn about other religions in order to be equipped to dialogue

* Bernie Adeney-Risakotta, serves as director of the innovative Indonesian Consortium on Religious Studies, and Farsijana Adeney-Risakotta works with the Indonesian Women's Coalition, a primarily Muslim group

* At the Institute for Religion, Culture and Peace at Payap University, Chiang Mai, Thailand, John Butt, though officially retired as a PC(USA) mission worker, is senior advisor

* Peter Armacost , president of Forman Christian College in Lahore, Pakistan, points to the college's goals both to create a model of interfaith harmony and to serve Pakistan's Christian community

"It is not our duty to judge, but to witness . . ."

Presbyterians at the third annual Presbyterian Global Fellowship conference in August 2008 heard John Azumah of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana -- a scholar in Christian-Muslim relations born into a Muslim family -- tell them, “It is not our duty to judge, but to witness, to tell truthfully what we have seen. If only we can just mind our own business, then the Holy Spirit will do the rest of it.” He said witness involves knowing Muslims as individuals, engaging with them in love and respect, sharing personal testimonies of faith, then "waiting on the Lord" -- the last of these being very hard for North Americans, he observed.

TO TOP

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.

cpwr small2

 

Council for a
Parliament of the World's Religions

 

North American Interfaith Network (NAIN)

 

Religions for Peace, U.S.A.

 

United Religions Initiative (URI)

 

Interfaith Youth Core

 

National Conference for Community

and Justice (NCCJ)

TO TOP

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

At Religions for Peace, U.S.A. web site (see also its resources list for organizational links)

At the North American Interfaith Network web site

An interfaith calendar for 2010, 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

Seeking Unity, Building Community: a blog of the personal reflections of the PC(USA) staff for both ecumenical and interfaith relations

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

© 2006 Ecumenical & Interfaith Network - PCUSA

Material contained on the pages of this site are displayed for the use of persons seeking information regarding the Presbyterian Church USA, and other religious bodies, related to Ecumenical and Interfaith topics. The content of these pages and pages linked to this site, do not necessarily represent the Presbyterian Church, USA or of other governing bodies related to the PCUSA.

 
© EIF-PCUSA.ORG
All Rights Reservedl

Link to Web Design Services by Masquelier Online.com

Download Acrobat Reader