From the Ecumenical and Interreligious Officer

The Serious Season

The month of August is normally a quiet one: a time for clergy vacations, when a lot of Europeans head away for holiday, the time known in Britain as the “silly season” because of the number of frivolous “news” stories which often emerge. But this year has been far from that: the month of August has been a serious one, at least from the perspective of Ecumenical and Interreligious Relations, for two reasons.

One is that this is the holy month of Ramadan, which began on August 11 and concludes on September 9. This is revered this as the time that Allah revealed the Quran to the Prophet Muhammad, and Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset.

The second is that this Ramadan observance has been shattered this year by the furor surrounding the proposed Islamic Center in Lower Manhattan, Park51, as well as by protests against mosques and Islamic centers in places such as Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and Sheboygan, Wisconsin (among others).

This newsletter is not a place to get into the many and varied elements upon which these controversies touch: issues of freedom of religion, fear of the “other,” concerns about radical Islam, and others. But I have gotten phone calls and emails from people who are asking what the Episcopal Church’s “stance” is on the issue. I believe there are some important resources to help us as we try to engage these questions.

The Statement on Interreligious Relations, endorsed by the 2009 General Convention, is our most recent and official policy statement. This Statement defines dialogue in four points (paragraph 1):

1. dialogue begins when people meet each other
2. dialogue depends upon mutual understanding, mutual respect and mutual trust
3. dialogue makes it possible to share in service to the community
4. dialogue is a medium of authentic witness by all parties and not an opportunity for proselytizing.

Further the statement speaks of three gifts which the Episcopal Church and Anglican tradition offers to interreligious engagement (paragraph 33):

• Our comprehensive way of thinking by which we balance Scripture, reason, and tradition in relationship building;
• Our belief system that centers on the incarnation of God in Christ, and on the Crucified One who leads us to self-emptying, forgiveness, and reconciliation; and
• Our practice of focusing mission in terms of service, companionship, and partnership between people as demonstrative of God's embrace of human life.

In addition, the National Council of Churches Interfaith Relations Commission, where the Episcopal Church is represented, also is working to provide resources and to engage in dialogue with the Muslim community in America. There is a national Christian-Muslim dialogue sponsored by the NCC. The Interfaith Relations Commission has also released a statement calling for respect for our Muslim neighbors during Ramadan, in particular calling on Christians “to promote respect and love of neighbor, and to speak and work against extremist ideas, working with Muslims as appropriate, in order to live out the commandment to love our neighbor, and to promote peace.”

The full text of the NCC Statement may be found here . The Interreligious Relations Statement from General Convention can be found on our website. It is my hope that these resources can inform and guide our responses to our current religious climate as faithful Christians and Episcopalians.

Sincerely,

Tom

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From the General Convention's Statement on Interreligious Relations

 "Christians continue to struggle to find common ground and mutual respect with Jews and Muslims who are fellow
children of Abraham. Whether we intend to or not, we impact and are impacted in return -- powerfully and profoundly--by each other's lives, cultures and beliefs."

"Christianity's Holy Scriptures reveal to us both the invitation and the direction to engage with people of other religions. In Genesis 1:26 we meet the loving God who created all people and all nations, and the awesome majesty of creation bids us humbly acknowledge that the fullness of God's intention is beyond the scope of our limited understanding; God's gracious love is not confined to the Christian community alone. Because of our faith in the incarnation of God in Jesus Christ, we expect to meet God in our neighbor, whom God commands us to love as we love ourselves (Mark 12:29-31)."

"It is not a unity of opinion or a sameness of vision that holds us together. Rather, it is the belief that we are called to walk together in Jesus' path of reconciliation not only through our love for the other, but also through our respect for the legitimacy of the reasoning of the other. Respect for reason empowers us to meet God's unfolding world as active participants in the building of the Kingdom and to greet God's diverse people with appropriate welcome and gracious hospitality."

The full statement may be downloaded here...

 

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WCC News

Loving your neighbour in the Middle East

Deeply embedded in the religions of the Abrahamic tradition in this region, Judaism, Islam and Christianity, is the sense of loving your neighbour as being rooted in the adoration and love of God.

It is in this context that the Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), delivered a sermon on the Good Samaritan this past Sunday, 29 August, at the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Redeemer, located in the old city of Jerusalem. He spoke in the course of a day in which his WCC delegation saw firsthand many of the barriers that separate people.

The parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10 describes the qualities of life as it comes forward in "the great commandment to love your neighbour," Tveit said. The real question is who proved to be a good neighbour in this parable.

 

Read More »

Apply now: Stewards Programme 2011

Young Christians from around the world are invited to apply to the WCC Stewards Programme for one of two hands-on learning experiences at major ecumenical meetings in 2011, the WCC Central Committee meeting, 8-24 February, and the International Ecumenical Peace Convocation, 12-26 May. Applicants must be between the age of 18-30 years.

 

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EIR Updates

U.S. ecumenical group seeks to build stronger relationships with Latin America

An ecumenical group from the United States met with Colombian church representatives on Aug. 22 to discuss issues of internally displaced people as well as the relationship between the two regions.

 

 

The meeting was hosted by Consejo Latino-Americano de Iglesias, or Latin American Council of Churches. Its staff presented extensive information about the complex social problems in Colombia and ways that the organization hopes to respond.

 

 

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News in the Field

Bishop calls for 'civil, respectful discussion' concerning lower Manhattan Islamic center

The dispute over the planned Islamic community center and mosque in lower Manhattan should be seen as "an opportunity for a civil, rational, loving, respectful discussion," Diocese of New York Bishop Mark S. Sisk has said drawing on similar comments from Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York.

 

"The plan to build this center is, without doubt, an emotionally highly charged issue," Sisk said in an Aug. 24 letter to the Episcopal New York diocese. "But as a nation with tolerance and religious freedom at its very foundation, we must not let our emotions lead us into the error of persecuting or condemning an entire religion for the sins of its most misguided adherents."

 

 

Read More...

Archbishop Williams: Dialogue is a means of 'God-given discovery'

 Both our faiths of course are missionary faiths. We believe that the truth we have been given by God is a truth that can transform any and every human life in any and every human situation. Precisely because we have that in common, it's not always easy to find a space that we can inhabit together. And yet it's just that passion for a universal truth, and for the human equality and inter-connectedness that goes with it, which makes us recognize in one another the same impulse, and the same seriousness.

 

That too is part of what grounds and makes sense of the dialogue we want to pursue. Each of us, in proportion to how serious we are about our faith, longs for others to share it. But the point about the dialogue is that we are (so to speak) bracketing for a moment the desire that someone else should share and fully identify with us, and taking the time necessary to explore and discover one another in the hope that something of God and our selves is discovered in that moment.

 

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Pope to meet archbishop of Canterbury, join ecumenical service at Westminster Abbey

When Pope Benedict XVI visits the United Kingdom in mid-September, his itinerary will include a meeting with Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and an ecumenical service at Westminster Abbey according to the official schedule published on Aug. 18 by the Vatican.


The four-day visit will begin in Scotland on Sept. 16 when the pope will meet Queen Elizabeth II at Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh and celebrate Mass at Bellahouston Park in Glasgow.

 

On Sept. 17, the pope will visit Williams at Lambeth Palace, the archbishop's London residence and office, before attending a 6:15 p.m. service of Evening Prayer at Westminster Abbey.

 

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CWS News

CWS emergency appeal: Pakistan 2010 floods

 The torrential rains and flooding that have affected Pakistan in recent weeks continue, with at an estimated 1,600 dead and 14 million affected. Some 1.5 million people are now homeless.

 

The floods which began in the northern parts of country have spread to four provinces covering over 132,000 square kilometers, or about 82,000 square miles. (Pakistan's total square miles: 340,132.)

 

Contributions to support the emergency needs in Pakistan may be made online or by phone (800.297.1516), or may be sent to your denomination or to Church World Service, P.O. Box 968, Elkhart, IN 46515, Attention: Pakistan floods.

 

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2010 Conferences

Edinburgh 2010

 

Watch the recording of the closing ceremony which took place at the Edinburgh Assembly Hall, on June 6, 2010.

 

more here...

NCC News

The NCC reiterates its condemnation of church's plans to burn the Qur'an

 The Rev. Dr. Michael Kinnamon, general secretary of the National Council of Churches, said the council had chosen to repeat its statement in response to "many requests from persons of good will who wish to make it abundantly clear to the international community that millions of Americans reject the anti-Muslim expressions of some communities who seem to be reacting out of fear and a misunderstanding of the true nature of Islam."

 

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Cordoba House and Mosque at Ground Zero is a gesture of neighborliness and healing

 No one knows how many Muslims died on 9/11, but they number in the hundreds. One was Salman Hamdani, a 23-year-old New York City police cadet, emergency medical technician and medical student. When Salman disappeared on September 11, law enforcement officials who knew of his Islamic faith sought him out among his family to question him about the attacks. His family lived with the onus of suspicion for six months until Salman’s body was identified. He was found near the North Tower with his EMT bag beside him, situated where he could help people in need.

 

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Resources following up on General Convention's ecumenical and inter-religious work

Next Steps in Full Communion with the Moravian Church

Read More »

An Overview of the Interreligious Relations Statement of the Episcopal Church

Read More »

An Overview of the Ecumenical Agreement with the Presbyterian Church, USA

Read More »




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