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<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Verdana>What you describe is an ironic comedy wrought by
competing fantasies none of whose truth is testable.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Verdana></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Verdana>w.</FONT></DIV>
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style="BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="FONT: 10pt arial; BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=nickgier@roadrunner.com
href="mailto:nickgier@roadrunner.com">nickgier@roadrunner.com</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=vision2020@moscow.com
href="mailto:vision2020@moscow.com">vision2020@moscow.com</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Monday, November 15, 2010 10:53
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> [Vision2020] "Interfaith Amigos"
at WSU tonight</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>Good Morning Visionaries,<BR><BR>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.<BR><BR>This is my column topic for the week and below is a draft of
what I've written so far.<BR><BR>Hope to see some of you there tonight.
Call me at 882-9212 if you want to car pool.<BR><BR>Nick<BR><BR><BR>THREE
AMIGOS AND INTERFAITH HARMONY<BR><BR>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.<BR><BR>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.<BR><BR>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.”<BR><BR>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.<BR><BR>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.<BR><BR>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.”<BR><BR>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.<BR><BR>=======================================================<BR> List
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