Ecumenical & Interfaith
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What's Happening Where We Live?

Vermont school district adds Jewish, Muslim holidays to school calendar

Burlington, Vermont, has added Eid al-Fitr and Yom Kippur to its list of school holidays. Its school board found a few other school districts have done this, notably Philadelphia. Reactions included sarcasm and the complaint that minimal attention goes to Christian celebrations. An "even better solution" was suggested: "exempt students from being counted from being absent for a (small number) of religious holidays per year." In New York City, when Eid ul-Fitr or Eid ul-Adha falls on a school day, Muslims have asked that the day be declared a school holiday so that children do not have to make a choice between participating in class/educational opportunities and celebrating the religious holiday. Estimates on the number of Muslim public school students in the city vary between 1 in 8 to 1 in 10 pupils.

Jewish intermarriage is viewed variously

When an interreligious couple with one Jewish member wants to marry, who will officiate? Reform Judaism opposes the practice but allows each rabbi to decide. The Conservative and Orthodox movements bar rabbis from presiding at interfaith weddings. The Reconstructionist movement also opposes officiating but gives rabbis individual discretion. A Reform Jewish task force on intermarriage has recently said that their movement should encourage mixed-faith couples to be active in Jewish life. They spoke of creating blessings for ceremonies that involve a non-Jewish spouse. The web site for Reform Judaism has a section on interfaith families.

Necessity marks the beginning of a local Utah interfaith body

The necessity of providing "religious support" at the 2002 Olympic Winter Games, as required by the Olympic Charter, led to the formation of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee (SLOC) Interfaith Roundtable. Forty-five faith leaders from over 22 faiths "collaborated to provide chaplain support for athletes, a directory of faiths in Utah, interfaith web pages, and newfound interfaith respect in Utah," in the words of the Winter 2010 NAINews. The Salt Lake Interfaith Roundtable has met monthly ever since, "in the spirit of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games" and will now be host to the 2010 NAIN Connect conference of the North American Interfaith Network.

Georgia faith leaders have Summit on Domestic Violence

The coordinators of the Georgia Commission on Domestic Violence Fatality Review Project and the Georgia Coalition Against Domestic Violence were the planners of a Summit on Domestic Violence that enhanced the ability of a multifaith group of religious leaders to respond to the issue. An exercise used during the summit examined Christian, Jewish, and Muslim scriptures for ways they could be used as roadblocks to confronting family violence or as resources for victims. See the National Declaration by Religious and Spiritual Leaders to Address Violence Against Women, a sign-on statement.

Louisiana interfaith clergy group issues statement on public civility

A group of about two dozen local Louisiana clergy — priests, ministers, rabbis, and an imam — have drafted and circulated a "Faith Statement on Public Discourse." Its basis is the shared Christian, Jewish, and Islamic understanding that “since we regard all human beings as God’s children . . . we regard an offense against our neighbor as an offense to God.”  The statement calls people to display respect for those with whom they disagree and to debate issues rather than demonizing opponents; not to misrepresent opponents’ views and not to circulate e-mail messages that humiliate others.  

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Synod of Northeast approves covenant to adopt Lund principle

An ecumenical overture to the 2010 General Assembly from the Synod of the Northeast was approved at the same time the Synod adopted an ecumenical resolution for its own life. The idea began with an action of the Vermont Ecumenical Council and Bible Society, which is within the bounds of the Synod. The Synod's resolution approves "A Covenant to Adopt and Implement the Lund Principle" with an attached codicil. The "Lund principle" affirms that churches should act together except where they are compelled to act separately.  Following the Synod's action, the Synod stated clerk invited the its presbyteries to consider adopting the covenant and codicil or some other appropriate response to the Lund principle. Read about the "Lund principle" in "The Church: God's Gift to the World," page 25, bottom of left column.

Southern California church-mosque study program organized

Gwynne Guibord (pictured), an Episcopal priest in Southern California, told a recent gathering that both Christians and Muslims speak of "caring about neighbor" in different ways. "So how can any of us with any religious integrity say that we that we would even be comfortable with having harm come another's way?" she asked. Guibord is one of the developers of "Standing Together," a structured set of materials developed collaboratively by several Christian and Muslim denominations / organizations in Los Angeles and Orange County, California. Its goals are to bring Muslim and Christian neighbors together to know one another as people, to engage one another about their beliefs and practices, and to lay a foundation for future projects they might decide to undertake together. Information on how a mosque or church can become involved is available by e-mail.

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Must a condominium allow mezuzahs?

A federal appeals court ruled last year that fair-housing laws do not extend to permitting residents to place mezuzahs on door frames. Meanwhile, in 2009 the New York state district attorney investigated a complaint about a similar issue and said, "This country guarantees every individual the right to express his or her religious beliefs." In a Chicago case, a court ruling has revived a fair housing suit by condominium owners against their condo association. At issue in that case is evidence that points to the possibility of intentional discrimination and selective enforcement of rules that prohibit any objects being placed outside unit doors in condominium hallways.

Jewish community asleep concerning K-12 textbook bias, institute says

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According to Gary Tobin and Dennis Ybarra, the Jewish community has been asleep concerning the level of bias about them taught in schools. Ybarra says that Muslim groups have influenced the ways school books depict Islam and “the Jewish community and others who are not represented need a seat at the table with publishing houses.” See “The Trouble With Textbooks: Distorting History and Religion” (ISBN #10-0739130943, ISBN #13-978-0739130940), based on a study launched by the California-based Institute for Jewish and Community Research.

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United Methodists and Muslims initiate mutual work

 
In northern Illinois, the local United Methodist bishop and the chair of the Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago signed a Declaration of Relationship "grounded in our mutual love and God and dedication to the ethical core of our faiths.” The parties agreed to mutual dialogue and work for social justice. Each informs the other about situations that would affect it, and they meet annually to reaffirm the commitment.

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Long Island council head examines relationships and their limits

Should Latter-day Saints be in our council? Should we relate to Ahmadiyya Muslims when another mosque tells us they disapprove? In the vexed struggle over where to draw limits in an organization, some set of guidelines seems necessary, but what should they be? Thomas Goodhue (pictured), executive director of the Long Island Council of Churches, has addressed attitudinal aspects of the question from the perspective of broken relationships: what do we do after a split or a schism? (though his article, "My Heretics and Yours," still leaves organizational questions to be answered by careful procedural decisions, hopefully made in advance). Goodhue's guidelines? All too briefly:

• Be humble. (Avoid a judgmental attitude.)
• Remember your roots.("Nearly all our denomination began in division.")
• Listen carefully before jumping to conclusions. (More than once, schism has resulted from misunderstanding.)
• Try to remember that heterodoxy is not heresy. (Others may be "odd," but not a "sect.")
• Go visit even if you disagree.
• Don't pretend an offshoot represents the wider community.
• Be honest. ("We all believe the same thing" is not true.)
• Be honest with yourself.

The article can be found in NAINews (Summer 2007).

Best practices articulated for interfaith efforts in a Christian institution

In presentations to the 2009 Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC) and the 2009 Appalachian Studies Association conferences, Katie Basham, assistant chaplain at Berea College, and Courtney Brooks, a Berea graduate, talked about interfaith work at the college. They presented to IFYC suggestions about best practices:

1. Know your institution. Articulate how interfaith cooperation is a necessary extension of its history and guiding principles. Know your religious tradition and how it understands interfaith cooperation.

2. Begin with natural partnerships. Build bridges with religious institutions, service-learning groups, international study groups.

3. Engage in "healing and unlearning." Confront difficult situations of the past. Use counseling, support, advocacy. Berea College, in Appalachia, has a variety of Christian student organizations and also a Buddhist and a Muslim student association.

Top ten occasions for ecumenical celebration are listed

When the Graymoor Ecumenical and Interfaith Institute created a list of the top occasions for ecumenical celebrations in 2008, it included the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (January 18-25) and World Day of Prayer (the first Friday in March) but also two civically-oriented dates –  the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. (the third Monday in January) and World Aids Day (December 1) – and the liturgical occasions of Ash Wednesday and Lent, Palm Sunday, Good Friday, Easter, Pentecost; and All Souls Day.

Interfaith movement is going deeper, centering on the local

"[T}here has been a profound shift [in interfaith relations] away from Christian denominational leaders plotting theological agreements and organizations in conference rooms in New York . . . [to] emphasis on local, congregational initiatives," an Episcopal priest told the Washington Post recently. A newspaper article reports more "deep" involvement that favors intimate group projects and community service over the anonymity and safety of lectures or joint annual worship services. One example is a Presbyterian and a Jewish congregation that, after years of shared Thanksgiving services, needed a series of intense meetings three years ago following a dispute related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Now a small group of Presbyterians and Jews, augmented by some Muslims, meets regularly and shares projects as well as discussion. Still hanging over the article's general overview is the question: Is dialogue about political issues or faith?

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