Learn more about Maleeha Choudhry, a young Muslim leader who is doing her part to change the conversation about Islam and Muslims through "Coffee, Cake, and Islam" interfaith gatherings. According to Choudhry, she does this work to help break down barriers and build bridges, saying, "To just walk up to a Muslim...that's not something that's easy for [many] Americans to do... So having this platform is really amazing because [it helps us] see that we have common ground." Read more (KCTS9) ...
Photo Exhibition Celebrates Diversity, Builds Bridges
A new photography exhibition, titled "I am Mohammed," features portraits of 14 people who all have one thing in common: They all bear the world's most common name—Mohammed (using one spelling or another). According to curator Narmeen Haider, the exhibition is meant to both celebrate the diversity within the Muslim community, with photos of Mohammeds hailing from Alaska to Afghanistan, and to help build bridges between Muslims and non-Muslims. "In your head," Haider says, "a Muslim looks so ...
See Yourself in Others
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
