Conference to Explore Interfaith Dialogue Formation, Locally and Globally
Episcopal News Service. September 14, 2004 [091404-1-A]
With the theme "Charged to do what is Right and Just," the Episcopal Church's Interfaith Education Initiative Conference will take place September 30 - October 2 at the Washington National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.
Produced in partnership with the College of Preachers, the National Cathedral and the Interfaith Education Initiative (IEI), the conference brings together a network of individuals who are actively engaged in interfaith dialogue at the local level. Three teams comprised of Christians, Jews and Muslims will share with participants the nuts and bolts of relating to each other in their three respective communities: Abilene, Texas; Dearborn, Michigan; and Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
But even as the conference looks at interfaith dialogue formation on the local level, the global aspect of that dialogue will also be explored. Dr. Wesley Ariarajah and Clare Amos will address the theme of the conference from an international perspective.
Ariarajah, a Methodist minister from Sri Lanka, served both in the pastoral ministry of the church and as lecturer in the History of Religions and New Testament in the common Protestant seminary of the churches in Sri Lanka. In 1981 he was invited to join the staff of the World Council of Churches, where he led the Council's Interfaith Dialogue for over ten years. From 1992 he served as the Deputy General Secretary of the WCC. He joined the faculty of the Drew University School of Theology and its Graduate School as Professor of Ecumenical Theology in September 1997.
Clare Amos has been Convenor/Coordinator of the Anglican Communion's Network for Inter Faith Concerns (NIFCON) since August 2001. NIFCON was founded in 1994 with the support of the UK's Church Mission Society (CMS) and the United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (USPG), and the Lambeth Conference 1998 recognized NIFCON as a way of sharing news, information, ideas and resources among provinces of the Anglican Communion. NIFCON was also charged to monitor Muslim-Christian relations and to report regularly to the Anglican Consultative Council.
Keynote speaker will be Dr. Diana Eck, a noted authority on religious pluralism in the United States. She is professor of Comparative Religion and Indian Studies at Harvard University and is Master of Lowell House and Director of the Pluralism Project. As a Christian, she has also been involved in the United Methodist Church, the World Council of Churches, and the life of Harvard Divinity School. Her book Encountering God: A Spiritual Journey from Bozeman to Banaras won the prestigious Grawemeyer Book Award. In 1998, President Clinton awarded her the National Humanities Medal for the work of the Pluralism Project in the investigation of America's religious diversity.
Other speakers include the Rev. Charles Gibbs of the United Religions Initiative; Clarke Lobenstein of the InterFaith Conference of Metropolitan Washington (D.C.); and Dr. C. Welton Gaddy of the Interfaith Alliance. Dr. Shanta Premawardhana, Associate General Secretary for Interfaith Relations of the National Council of Churches, will be the closing speaker.
The three-day conference ends with a service of celebration and commitment.
The Interfaith Education Initiative (IEI) was established in response to the tragedy of September 11, 2001, and the resulting fear, anger and suspicion that followed. IEI was created to promote the awareness of Episcopalians to religious plurality in the United States, to improve relations and to establish dialogue with people of other faiths. The Interfaith Education Initiative is a joint project of Episcopal Relief and Development (ERD) and the Episcopal Church's Office of Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations (OEIR).
For more information call 1-800-334-7626, ext. 6312, or visit www.interfaitheducationinitiative.org.