Vatican joins King Abdullah intl center for cultural, religious dialogue

The Vatican joined an international organization for cultural dialogue, founded by Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah, as a founding observer on Thursday.

The King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz International Centre for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue (KAICIID), founded in 2011 and headquartered in Vienna, moves to promote mutual understanding among followers of different religions and cultures.

An official from the Vatican, representing the Holy See and the Catholic Church, joined the group as they convened on Thursday. The forum was attended by Saudi vice minister of foreign affairs, Prince Abdulaziz Bin Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz, as well as delegates from Spain and Austria, also founding members of the group.

http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/11/02/247279.html

Fighting Islamophobia in schools

How can schools promote tolerance and mutual respect, in today’s increasingly diverse, globalized world? Education professionals and policymakers from several European countries and the United States will meet to explore the question of “Globalization, diversity and social cohesion in educational settings” at UNESCO’s Paris headquarters on 5 November.

Fashioning new ways to live together in an age of diversity starts on the benches of schools, as UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova stressed last month in New York, while speaking on education on human rights. “Through education, we can teach children not to hate from the very young age. Through education, we can raise tolerant leaders. Through education, we may establish a lasting culture of peace.”

http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/resources/in-focus-articles/fighting-islamophobia-in-schools/

Islamophobia rally to be held in London

British anti-war campaigners will hold a protest against the rise of Islamophobia in Britain and across Europe in London.

The Stop the War Coalition said the protest will be held at London Muslim Center to raise awareness about the “ugly phenomena” of anti-Muslim hatred.

“Islamophobia or anti-Muslim hatred is reaching worrying heights in Britain and across Europe. This ugly phenomena gained currency in part due to the popular thesis … about an impending clash of civilization between Islam and the West,” the group said.

http://presstv.com/detail/2012/10/31/269805/islamophobia-rally-to-be-held-in-london/

MABDA Report 07/10/2012

Five-Year Anniversary of ‘A Common Word’ Initiative

October 13, 2012 marks the fifth anniversary of the ‘A Common Word’ Open Letter sent by 138 Muslim scholars and leaders to Christian leaders worldwide. In this time, ACW has become the most successful interfaith dialogue in history between Muslims and Christians. This month sees the launch of a new website (acommonword.com), a new booklet (‘ACW: Five Year Anniversary Edition’) and several high-level conferences in the UK and the USA (see website for details).

www.acommonword.com

Saudi Arabia: preparations for interfaith centre completed

Preparations for the Saudi king's centre for interfaith dialogue have been completed in Vienna, Saudi Arabia's Al-Watan reported Friday (October 5th).

The King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz International Centre for Inter-religious and Intercultural Dialogue is scheduled to be inaugurated November 26th, Al-Watan quoted Faisal bin Muammar, advisor to the Saudi Royal Court, as saying.

More than 600 people from all over the world representing Islam and other religions will attend the inauguration, he said.

http://al-shorfa.com/en_GB/articles/meii/newsbriefs/2012/10/06/newsbrief-07

New York Peace Walk: Religious, Interfaith Leaders March To Promote Harmony In The Middle East

In a world fraught with violence, is it too bold to say that peace is possible between people of different religious, national and ethnic backgrounds? One group of religious leaders and peace activists does not think so.

On Oct. 7, 16 leaders adhering to Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim traditions and no tradition in particular, will lead a silent peace walk around Central Park in New York City to show that peace is possible between Israelis, Palestinians, Muslims and Jews in the Middle East.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/04/new-york-peace-walk-religious-interfaith-leaders-promote-middle-east-harmony_n_1938187.html?utm_hp_ref=interfaith

Saudi Arabia: Islamic leaders urge Muslims to engage other faiths

Muslims have all the potential to engage in dialogue with other faith communities and they should do it effectively in order to bring about communal harmony and strengthen global peace and stability, said Professor Zaleha Kamaruddin, rector of International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM).

She made her remarks yesterday while addressing an international symposium on the significance of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah's Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue Initiative. The initiative was organized by the Madinah Islamic University in association with IIUM.

http://abna.ir/data.asp?lang=3&Id=354191

Culture minister makes pitch for interfaith dialogue

UAE Minister of Culture Abdul Rahman Al Owais emphasised on Friday the importance of interfaith dialogue so that the world could understand how Muslims see Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) and how lovingly they speak about him.

Speaking shortly after opening the UAE’s Burda Award exhibition at the Dolma Pasha Museum in Istanbul, the minister of culture, youth and community development also said that the gallery of collections owned by the Award reflects an ideology and a civilised cultural style for interfaith dialogue.

http://gulftoday.ae/portal/9c365154-48c7-4592-af99-2f423a0b30f6.aspx

Holy See to address international interfaith conference in Istanbul

Muslim and Christian perspectives on the Arab Spring and peace in the Middle East are the theme of an international interfaith conference in Istanbul, Turkey September 7-8. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will deliver the opening address of the conference, held under the auspices of the Turkish Religious Foundation Center for Islamic Studies and the Marmara University Institute for Middle Eastern Studies.

The Conference aims to “bring together eminent regional figures such as scholars, intellectuals, community and religious leaders from across the Middle East and North Africa with a view to enhancing interfaith dialogue for the preservation of peaceful co-existence among all communities from various religious, sectarian and ethnic backgrounds, against the backdrop of the recent political developments in the region.”

http://www.news.va/en/news/holy-see-to-address-international-interfaith-confe?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=catholiclisa

Muslims, Jews gather in Paris for interfaith parley

Moshe Kantor, the president of the European Jewish Congress, told Jewish and Muslim leaders on Tuesday that “an attack on one of us is an attack on all of us,” referring to recent rulings in Europe against circumcision and ritual slaughter.

Speaking at the opening session of the Second Gathering of European Jewish and Muslim Leaders in Paris, Kantor added that such attacks were against “all people of faith,” and contradicted not only the principle of free expression but also the very basis of modern European society.

http://www.jpost.com/JewishWorld/JewishNews/Article.aspx?id=284198

History of food, not politics, unites Jews and Arabs

Every week for the past five months, a group of Arab and Jewish women from neighboring towns near Haifa, Israel have come together to cook. Each week, they meet in a different woman’s home, discovering their commonalities and differences by sharing recipes, culinary traditions and childhood memories.

These weekly meetings take place through an initiative called Cooking for Peace, one of many projects initiated by the Givat Haviva Education Center. Cooking for Peace is part of its new holistic model for peace education called Shared Communities, which was developed in response to profound changes within Jewish and Arab societies in Israel in the past decade and has provided a new way to bridge deep divides.

http://www.commongroundnews.org/article.php?id=31969&lan=en&sp=0

 Kenyan Muslims, Christians Vow To Prevent Violence

Kenyan clerics across the religious divide vowed Tuesday to not allow sectarian violence to erupt following attacks on churches over the weekend that killed at least 15 people.

The Inter-Religious Council of Kenya said Muslims will form vigilante groups alongside Christians to guard churches in Kenya's North Eastern Province, where the latest attacks occurred.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/03/kenyan-muslims-christians_n_1645823.html?utm_hp_ref=interfaith

Interfaith meeting between Muslims and Catholics hold in Vatican

According to a Vatican statement, the Vatican's top inter-faith dialogue official, Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran and the president of the International Islamic Forum for Dialogue, Hamid bin Ahmad Al-Rifaie, chaired the meeting. Tauran is president of the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue.

Participants at the meeting "exchanged views about the relations between Christians and Muslim in the current situation of the world", according to the statement.

http://abna.ir/data.asp?lang=3&id=328569

Religious war imminent in Nigeria -World religious leaders warn

The 12-member joint delegation was led by World Council of Churches (WCC) General Secretary, Olav Fyske Tveit, of Norway and Jordanian Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad, chairman of the board of the Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought.

The delegation, while tracing the causes of the crisis, stated in the report that clashes between Nigerian Christians and Muslims had led to the death of hundreds of people this year alone. “But although the violence is the worst between members of the two faiths since the Bosnian war of 1992-1995, the root causes go far beyond religion.

http://tribune.com.ng/index.php/front-page-news/44055-religious-war-imminent-in-nigeria-world-religious-leaders-warn-gunmen-kill-mother-4-children-in-bauchi-

Leader says get over fear of Muslims

A Baptist minister and interfaith leader says it is time for Americans to get over their fear of Islam and get on with the assimilation of Muslims into their neighborhoods.

“As a society we simply have to stop judging all Muslims by extremists and allowing extremists to manipulate Islam for their political purposes when that’s not what Islam is about,” Welton Gaddy, head of the Interfaith Alliance, said July 7 on his weekly State of Belief radio program.

http://www.abpnews.com/culture/social-issues/item/7595-leader-says-get-over-fear-of-muslims

Interfaith event to support Muslims in St. Anthony for building an Islamic center

Three churches in St. Anthony plan to hold an interfaith gathering Sunday between Christian and Muslim leaders in response to anti-Islamic comments made at a City Council meeting during which board members rejected a proposed Islamic center.

Members of Nativity Lutheran Church, Faith United Methodist Church and St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church organized the event in an effort to show that not all citizens in the small bedroom community north of Minneapolis are against Muslims worshiping there.

http://www.startribune.com/local/161389585.html

Interfaith Consultation Planned in Jerusalem

UPF will hold an Interfaith Consultation for Peace and Development in the Middle East in Jerusalem from August 25 to 28. High-level religious leaders, scholars, and  interfaith activists from throughout the world will be in attendance, including people of faith who hold positions in government, the media, the private sector, and civil society.

A special segment of the program will be dedicated to building upon and honoring the spirit of the 2012 celebration at the United Nations of the World Interfaith Harmony Week that had as its theme, “Common Ground for the Common Good.” A wide range of interfaith organizations and faith-based organizations, along with diplomats and UN officials, participated in support of the initiative taken up by the Office of the President of the General Assembly.

http://www.upf.org/upf-news/141-africa-middle-east/4562-interfaith-consultation-planned-in-jerusalem

Israeli activists and Palestinian children share the beach

There’s laughter and a happy mix of voices, chatting away in Hebrew and Arabic. It’s yom yam, Hebrew for beach day.

Every summer, a group of Israeli women organise beach trips for Palestinian kids from towns and villages across the West Bank. For most children, it is their first time to visit the beach and swim in the dark blue Mediterranean waters.

Back home, some families can see the sea from their balconies, but cannot go there due to Israeli travel restrictions. During the second intifada in the early 2000s, Israel applied stringent travel restrictions on Palestinians wishing to cross from the West Bank into Israel for security reasons. Many travel limitations are still in place, separating Palestinians and Israelis from each other.

http://www.commongroundnews.org/article.php?id=31627&lan=en&sp=0

 Fight Islamophobia, OIC Urges World

Amid hostile sentiments against Muslim minorities in several Western countries, the world's largest Muslim group has called for concerted effort to stop growing campaigns against Muslims and their faith around the globe.

"Islamophobia is on the rise," Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, chairman of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), said in a statement on Saturday, May 5.

http://www.onislam.net/english/news/global/456922-fight-islamophobia-oic-urges-world.html

Five Central New Yorkers honoured for efforts in Middle East dialogue group

The 30th annual Interfaith Leadership Awards Dinner next week will honor five Central New Yorkers who are building bridges of understanding between different cultures and religions.

Organizers from Interfaith Works of Central New York said the honorees deserve recognition for each of their own distinguished careers — in academia, medicine, business and law.

But the five honorees were chosen for their willingness to take part in “courageous conversations,” which reach across stereotypes and the divides of culture, class and color, individually and collectively, through the Syracuse-Area Middle East Dialogue Group.

http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2012/05/five_central_new_yorkers_honor.html

Winnetka Presbyterian Church and Muslim center start partnership

Members of a Winnetka church and a Morton Grove mosque want to learn more about each other’s faith and know each other better as friends.

When Dilnaz Waraich met Kathy McNair, the two Winnetka residents learned they share a common interest in building bridges between different faiths.

Rev. McNair is a specialized minister at the Winnetka Presbyterian Church and organizer of the Council for a Parliament of the World’s Religions’ Sharing Sacred Spaces Project. According to the council’s website, the goal of the program is to widen participation in interreligious activity” in the Chicago area.

http://mortongrove.suntimes.com/news/12311941-418/winnetka-presbyterian-church-and-muslim-center-start-partnership.html