October 2011

Doctrine Divides, Action Unites

 
 

Contents

 ۩ Home Page
 ۩ School of Peace
 ۩ Faith and Peace Archives
 ۩ Photos and events
 ۩ Who are we

e-mail : interfaithcoop@gmail.com 


 Interfaith Cooperation Begins with Tackling Life’s Adversities
Jahan Ara Begum
The Indian city of Hyderabad has periodically witnessed communal violence between its Hindu and Muslim citizens since the country’s independence in 1947. An organization in the city that has attempted to bring members of both communities together on a daily basis is the Henry Martyn Institute (HMI). The communal tensions that rapidly increased in the 1990s after the demolition of the Babri Mosque in the town of Ayodhya in December 1992 prompted the initiation of HMI’s interfaith community development work in the areas of the city that had been sensitive to communal clashes.
The author, the coordinator of HMI’s community development team, shares the stories in this article of two struggling families who have been assisted with their problems through their everyday interaction with people from the other faith community. [Read more]
 

 A Reflection on Violence and Tools for Realizing Justpeace
So Nasier
A School of Peace (SOP) alumni in Cambodia shares his thoughts about steps that need to be taken to foster justpeace in conflicts that afflict our local communities and nations. [Read more]
 

 Religiously Motivated Violence Is Not Religious
Inayah Rohmaniyah
The author, an academic at a university in Indonesia, explains that violence in the name of Islam is not based on a proper reading of the Qur’an nor an accurate understanding of the faith, including the teachings of such Islamic religious movements as Salafism and Wahhabism. [Read more]
 

  Poisoned Minds Fuelling the Massacre of Shias in Pakistan
Saba Imtiaz
In an article published by the Jinnah Institute, another attack on members of the Shia community in Pakistan prompts the author to question the longstanding link between the perpetrators and the State. [Read more]
 

 Another Priest Killed in the Philippines
Religious Discernment Group
Fr. Fausto Tentorio, a Catholic priest, became the latest victim of extrajudicial killings in the Philippines—a widespread phenomenon that began under the country’s former president, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, in 2001 and that has sadly continued under the current president, Benigno Aquino III, since he took office in June 2010. Fr. Tentorio now joins a long list of Christian priests, pastors and lay people in the Philippines who have been crucified by a bullet instead of a cross for trying to live out their faith. This list includes Bishop Alberto Ramento, Fr. William Tadena and Brother Benjamin Bayles of the Philippine Independent Church; the Rev. Isaias Sta. Rosa of the Methodist Church; and 18 members of the United Church of the Philippines, among whom are the Rev. Edison Lapuz, the Rev. Raul Domingo, the Rev. Andy Pawican, the Rev. Felomino Catambis, Noel Capulong and Joel Baclao. [Read more]
 

 Israelis and Palestinians Refusing to Be Enemies
Haggai Matar
The title of this article reflects a “central theme in the fight for peace and democracy” in the Middle East, notes this Israeli author, who himself refused to serve in his country’s armed forces 10 years ago because of his strong disagreement with the occupation of Palestine. In this article, he also highlights a recent movement for social justice in Israel that extends the notion of security to include education, employment and housing for both Arabs and Jews, but he cautions that this new movement will most likely face the same difficult choice he did a decade ago. [Read more]
 

 Former Palestinian Prisoners—Future Peacemakers?
Robi Damelin
In spite of the loss of her son to a sniper’s bullet, an Israeli mother shares her belief in this article about the possibility of more than 1,000 new Palestinian peacemakers on the occasion of their release from prison in exchange for the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in October. [Read more]
 

  Lebanese Women Fight Revolution through Football
Juul Petersen
Some women in Lebanon, the author explains, are beginning to challenge social norms in their country that retard gender equality. The arena for this social revolution is the football pitch. [Read more]
 

 A Prayer for the Times of 9/11
Rev. Dr. Sylvia Casberg
This pastor shares her reflections of where she was and what she was doing in Denver, Colorado, when the tragedy of Sept. 11 in 2001 disrupted the lives of people in the United States and its aftermath of those around the world. In response, she offered this prayer whose poignancy has not diminished with the passage of this past decade. [Read more]

 A Song Whose Title Is ‘No More’!
Bhagwan Maaji, Meghnath, Sunil Minj and Vinod Kumar
This song captures the feelings of India’s Adivasis, or indigenous people, to what those outside of their community and spirituality view as development. The title was added by the editor. [Read more]
 

 Understanding the Hajj
With the hajj, the annual pilgrimage of Muslims to Mecca in Saudi Arabia taking place in November, this web site—<http://www.iqrasense.com/hajj/hajj-pilgrimage-rituals-of-hajj.html>—offers information about the history, rituals and other details of this pillar of Islam.