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 ...
The Power of Interfaith Encounters
Read this thoughtful reflection on the Sojourners blog about how interfaith encounters can help us change our perceptions and become better advocates for one another. As the author states, it was not until she attended a Muslim prayer service at her university that she realized how needed a Muslim prayer room was, saying: "It wasn't until I went to jumah that I even considered how easy it had been for me to be a Christian student all these years. I realized how much public space my Christianity ...
A Lesson in Religious Freedom
Read this engaging piece by Hiba Siddiqi for Religion News, in which she talks about how her high school's Muslim prayer room was an expression of the religious freedoms Americans value, respect, and fight for, and how the presence of the prayer room in her school served to normalize the Muslim members of the school community. As she explains: "I used to tell people that exposure to a thing results in the normalization of that thing, but I now realize that the only way to transcend lines of ...
American Muslims: Running for Local Office
Recent studies and surveys have shown that the American Muslim community is a very civically engaged demographic, particularly concerned with issues of social justice. Now, an emerging group of American Muslims has decided to run for office in their local communities. At the link below, read more about some aspiring—and inspiring—American Muslims who ran in local elections in the Chicago area. Read more (The Atlantic) ...
