A new short film at the Tribeca Film Festival, titled "See Yourself in Others," aims to bring people together across a number of social divides, including religious. The film employs a series of mirror boxes, inviting the characters—and the viewers—to literally, and figuratively, see themselves in other people. According to director Jared Knecht, "The mirror boxes were a fun idea to make that experience literal. It provoked a curious interaction with the hope to literally see ...
Making Urban Sacred: Imam Feisal at UPenn
Imam Feisal took part in an interreligious panel as part of the Boardman Public Symposium at the University of Pennsylvania on April 20, 2017. The panel also included Venerable Rath Muni, Buddhist monk, Wat Preah Rangsey; A. Robert Jaegar, President of Partners for Sacred Places; and Sophia Rabliauskas, indigenous cultural sovereignty activist. The theme of the conversation was "Making Urban Sacred: Religion, Migration, and Contested spaces in the City." Event Media Press In advance of ...
Interfaith Groups Unite against Hate
A new interfaith initiative in southern Florida aims to combat rising hate crimes with community solidarity. The new program, called the Interfaith Rapid Response to Hate, will combat hate and bias crimes in a variety of ways, including removing spray paint, placing ads of solidarity in newspapers, and raising money to repair damages. According to Rabbi Bradd Boxman of Congregation Kol Tikvah in Parkland, Florida, the local interfaith community is already very well-engaged with each other, and ...
Cordoba House Isra Mi’raj 2017
On Sunday April 23, 2017, the children of Cordoba House Sunday School commemorated the Isra and Mi'raj (or the night journey of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) from Mecca to Jerusalem) through a production demonstrating the deep mystical significance of the occasion. The children narrated and enacted the angels in various levels of the heavens standing, bowing, and prostrating to God. These movements came to be known as Salah, or the five times daily prayers, that Muslims perform today. The students ...
Aiming for Religious Pluralism
In this op-ed in Rice University's Rice Thresher publication, a group of interfaith students expresses why the university—and all institutions and communities—must aim not for religious tolerance, but for religious pluralism. As they say: "We have all heard we should be religiously tolerant of others, but tolerance only scrapes the surface... Religious pluralism goes beyond tolerance and facilitates, facilitating the implementation of a critical approach. It allows us to see past the ...
