[Vision2020] "Interfaith Amigos" at WSU tonight

[lfalen]

Thanks Nick. One  of these days I intend to read your book on religion.
Roger
-----Original message-----
From: nickgier at roadrunner.com
Date: Mon, 15 Nov 2010 11:53:32 -0800
To: vision2020 at moscow.com
Subject: [Vision2020] "Interfaith Amigos" at WSU tonight

> Good Morning Visionaries,
> 
> The more I learn about these fellows the more I'm looking forward to tonight's event at WSU in CUE 203 at 7 PM.  They will also appear at the Interfaith House (next to the old Bookie) at 9:30 AM on Tuesday.  It is WSU's annual Roger Williams Symposium.
> 
> This is my column topic for the week and below is a draft of what I've written so far.
> 
> Hope to see some of you there tonight.  Call me at 882-9212 if you want to car pool.
> 
> Nick
> 
> 
> THREE AMIGOS AND INTERFAITH HARMONY
> 
> A pastor, a rabbi, and an imam are sitting side-by-side reading from their scripture at the top of their voices. It looks like that worst example of interfaith cooperation, but the “Interfaith Amigos,” as they call themselves, are simply demonstrating how Christianity, Judaism, and Islam have traditionally related to one another. See the three “Channeling the Three Stooges” and their other videos on youtube.com.
> 
> Rabbi Ted Falcon, Sheik Jamal Rahman, and Pastor Don McKenzie have been working together since 9/11, and they have combined humor and deep engagement with their religious traditions, including the parts of which they have personal struggles.  I had the great pleasure and privilege of experiencing them in person at a recent event at Washington State University.
> 
> They began by encouraging their congregations to share Easter, Passover, and Ramadan celebrations.  Tired of seeing the same old faces at their interfaith gatherings, they visited at a Seattle evangelical megachurch.  At first they were impressed with the pastor’s sermon, which included the exhortation that if a gay person get AIDS, “Be like Jesus, be quick help this person.”
> 
> But then the message of unconditional love and acceptance suddenly went south.  Knowing that Rahman was in the audience, the pastor declared: “If you want an angry God, then be a Muslim. If you want to be someone filled with hate, rage, and destruction, be a Muslim.”  McKenzie and Falcon were aghast, but Rahman took the insult as an opportunity to talk to the pastor afterwards and tell him what the Qur’an said about Jesus. Not surprisingly, the pastor admitted knowing very little about Muslims or Islam.
> 
> Another set back occurred when Rahman donated a Qur’an to the altar at Camp Brotherhood, a retreat site north of Seattle that had been used for ecumenical work for 40 years.  The altar displayed an ornate Bible and a Torah scroll, but the board members decided not to place the Qur’an in a consecrated place.  Instead they removed the Bible and the Torah from the altar and displayed all three in a museum-type glass case.
> 
> As McKenzie writes in their book "Getting to the Heart of Interfaith": “We were disappointed, but we accepted this situation as a sign that deeper dialogue was needed; more bridges needed to be built.”
> 
> The most daring and successful event was McKenzie’s invitation to Falcon and Rahman to participate in communion at his Congregational church in Seattle.  His fear was that none of his parishioners would to go to Falcon and Rahman to receive the bread and wine, but many of did.
> 
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