Interfaith Iftars Aim to Bring Communities Together This Ramadan

With Ramadan quickly approaching, when Muslims around the world will fast from sunrise to sunset, Rev. Cynthia Bronson Sweigert has her plate full.

For the second year in a row, the Minnesota-based Episcopal priest is organizing a state-wide effort to bring Christians and people of other faiths into mosques during the Muslim holy month. And if last year’s program is any indication, close to a thousand non-Muslim Minnesotans will be breaking bread with their Muslim neighbors this summer.

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Praying together in Jerusalem unites Christians, Muslims and Jews

Rabbi Nahman of Breslov taught that it is best to pray with the simplicity of a child; talking to God as if He were your best friend.

But what about praying alongside your neighbors as if they were your friends, with the ease of children on the playground? These ideas of simplicity and kinship in prayer are being utilized in Jerusalem on a monthly basis by Praying Together in Jerusalem, a group co-founded by Peta Jones Pellach of the Elijah Interfaith Institute and Russell McDougall, rector at the Tantur Ecumenical Institute.

When asked about the impetus to start Praying Together, Pellach said, “We were having a seminar on envisioning our future last summer, hosted by the Abrahamic Reunion, where many delegates came representing different organizations. We were brainstorming ideas, and it was out of this that Praying Together was born. We came to the conclusion that we really needed to pray side-by-side publicly and visibly.”

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Interfaith event focuses on the environment

More than 60 scholars from around the world will present research papers on the environmental perspectives of different religions during an upcoming conference at Nazareth College in Pittsford.

"Sacred Texts and Human Contexts: Nature and Environment in World Religions" will take place May 23-25 at the college and will feature panel presentations and keynote addresses about nature and the environment as seen through the lens of such religions as Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism.

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