Moving from Interfaith Dialogue to Common Action

Faiths working together can be a formula for successful positive action rather than a recipe for disaster.

If you were to believe everything that you read in the mainstream media, then the idea of seeing members of seven different faith traditions sitting around the same table, sharing lunch and enjoying meaningful dialogue, could seem like something out of dreamland.  For aren’t we told that religious folk are an antagonist bunch of out-of-touch bickerers, busily arguing about their respective truth claims and doing little of value?

http://www.the-platform.org.uk/2012/04/06/moving-from-interfaith-dialogue-to-common-action/

Brainstorming Session on Intercultural Dialogue and Education. UNESCO/World Public Forum “Dialogue of Civilizations

The World Public Forum “Dialogue of Civilizations”, with which UNESCO has signed a Memorandum of Understanding, has solicited the technical assistance of UNESCO to organize a two-and-a-half-day brainstorming session to discuss educational methods and contents on intercultural dialogue and cultural diversity in the primary and secondary school systems.

http://iite.unesco.org/news/639079/

British government moves to tackle Islamophobia

Months after Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, the Conservative Party chairman argued that Islamophobia has “passed the dinner-table test” and had become socially acceptable in Britain, the UK Government has established a cross-government working group to tackle anti-Muslim hatred.

The Group is chaired by the Department for Communities and Local Government (CLG) and will have representatives from across government including the Cabinet Office, the Department for Education, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Home Office and the Ministry of Justice. This scribe understands that the group will include leading UK academics, Dr Chris Allen from Birmingham University and Dr Matthew Goodwin from Nottingham University.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-13-13713-British-government-moves-to-tackle-Islamophobia

One Million Hijabs For Shaima Alawadi: Women Wear Hijabs In Support Of Slain Iraqi Woman:

Jean Younis won’t be wearing an Easter bonnet at church this Sunday. Instead, the office manager at Bonita Valley Adventist Church in National City, Calif., will don an Islamic headscarf to support the family and friends of Shaima Alawadi, the Iraqi immigrant and mother of five who died March 24, three days after being beaten in her home in El Cajon, Calif.

"I do expect a reaction, but that's the point. It needs to be discussed," said Younis, 59, who predicted that most church members would be supportive or respectfully inquisitive.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/02/one-million-hijabs-for-shaima-alawadi_n_1398177.html?ref=islam