Dear Friend,

More than 100 years after the first Parliament of the World's Religions in 1893, approximately 9,000 faith  leaders, scholars of religion and interested participants gathered on the shores of Lake Michigan at the McCormick Conference Center. Part trade fair, part academic conference, and part interfaith festival, this year’s Parliament had something for everyone.

The theme was “A Call to Conscience: Defending Freedom and Human Rights” and the first panel I attended was just that. At the International Religious Freedom Roundtable, we heard reports from around the world-- Pakistan, Panama, and most urgently from the northeast Indian state Manipur. A Christian member of the Kuki tribal community gave an eyewitness account of atrocities committed against religious minorities in her home state by mobs influenced by an extreme form of Hindu Nationalism. To learn more about what is happening in Manipur, click here. 

ICNY was well-represented at the Parliament. I was honored to speak with Daisy Khan on a panel on "Women’s Interfaith Delegation on Peace and Education to Afghanistan" and to participate in the panel “Christian-Muslim Dialogue on Eco-justice, International Peace, and Elimination of Discrimination,” organized by Mary Yelnick of Pax Christi. ICNY's Director of programs Dr. Henry Goldschmidt spoke on two panels focused on K-12 religious diversity education, "Separation of Church and State: Meeting the Challenge of Teaching Religion in US Public Schools" and "Models for Teaching Educators How to Teach Religion and the Global Ethic."

As rich as these formal dialogues were, for me the Parliament was most memorable for its unplanned moments: chance encounters with neighbors from Midtown Manhattan, conversations with a stranger about Middle East politics over a lunch-time Langar meal, and much more. The Parliament was both a homecoming and an adventure. 

The Rev. Dr. Chloe Breyer

ICNY Executive Director

ICNY PROGRAMS & EVENTS

Interfaith Civic Leadership Academy 

Applications from Faith Leaders Due by October 22nd 

Throughout New York, diverse faith leaders are creating positive change for their own communities and the city as a whole.  With support from the Robert Sterling Clark Foundation and Trinity Church Wall Street, ICNY’s Interfaith Civic Leadership Academy gives them the tools they need to make a difference.

Our ICLA fellows are diverse clergy members, lay leaders, and faith-based activists working to improve the lives of New Yorkers.  In a series of evening workshops, they build relationships across faith lines while learning effective strategies for community leadership, organizing, and advocacy.  They then use these skills to create community projects that contribute to the civic life of New York.  Each fellow receives $500 in grant funding for their community project, as well as a $500 personal stipend to honor their commitment to the program.

We hope you’ll apply to join the next Leadership Academy, or share this opportunity with colleagues and community members!  Applications are due by Sunday, October 22.  For more information and an application visit interfaithcenter.org/icla.  Questions?  Contact hanadi@interfaithcenter.org. 

Welcome to the ICNY Team

Our New Racial Justice Advocacy Fellow

Welcome our new Racial Justice Advocacy Fellow, Shanaz Deen. Shanaz holds a BA from Princeton University and an MA from Union Theological Seminary in Islam and Interreligious Engagement. She has over five years of experience in humanitarian work, interfaith organizing, and migration policy, working for Princeton’s Religion and Forced Migration Initiative, the International Rescue Committee, and UN Women. As a freelance photographer, Shanaz documents social movements, protests, and nuanced expressions of lived religion through documentary and portrait photography. She is eager to use her skills in research and visual storytelling to advocate for a more equitable and compassionate society.

NYC Needs Your House of Worship

Since last summer, over 44,000 asylum seekers have arrived on their own or been transported to New York City without regard for their wellbeing. Hundreds continue to arrive each week. The NYC shelter system, hotels and alternative housing sites have been overwhelmed as asylum seekers try to find safe shelter while awaiting immigration court proceedings. While most are single men, single women and families with children are also arriving. Many of these fellow global citizens in crisis have fled unimaginable conditions in their country of origin and then experienced an arduous journey on their way to New York City.

The city has been providing hotels, homeless shelters, and other mass care spaces as housing on a temporary basis. We are proposing to fund congregations, of any faith tradition, to provide temporary small group shelter housing to single adult male and female asylees. The program would provide shelter for the next 12-24 months while all of us continue to call on the state and Federal government to help address this need for more permanent housing.

We are seeking houses of worship in all faith traditions that can meet the practical requirements outlined in the flyer above.  In exchange for your hospitality, congregations will be paid a monthly fee -- to cover all required operating expenses related to meeting each asylees' basic human needs and to offset space use costs.

Click the buttons below if your house of worship can help.

OTHER EVENTS & ANNOUNCMENTS

We Deserve a Fossil Free Future 

Join the March to End Fossil Fuels 

The United Nations is calling on world leaders to take real steps to lead us off fossil fuels to protect people and the planet. On September 20th in New York, the UN Climate Ambition Summit will gather world leaders to commit to phasing out fossil fuels. 

Thousands of us will take to the streets before the summit to demand President Biden take bold action to end fossil fuels. Click the buttons below to RSVP to join the march/for more information. 

Compassion Challenge

Global Interfaith Compassion Challenge 

Services for Migrants 

Golden Door Project 

Multifaith Sacred Music Festival

Devotion: Faith as Refuge 

ICNY is thrilled to be an anchor partner of the new Perelman Performing Arts Center, a major cultural institution in the heart of Lower Manhattan, and a testament to the power of the arts to unite and inspire diverse New Yorkers.

Please join us at PAC NYC on September 20 at 8:00 pm, for a celebration of faith and spiritual traditions expressed through the power of music.  Featuring soaring Gospel anthems, lively klezmer melodies, percussive Yoruba religious music, hypnotic Gnawa rhythms, and more, this evening gathers internationally acclaimed artists from diverse faith backgrounds for an uplifting tribute to art and song as a source of refuge and hope.  Performers will include:

Arun Ramamurthy & Trina Basu, ft. Samarth Nagarkar

The Choir of Trinity Church Wall Street and Trinity Youth Chorus

ÌFÉ

Innov Gnawa

The Klezmatics

Damien Sneed and Chorale Le Chateau

Tanya Tagaq

Tickets for this show and the entire “Refuge” concert series are Pay-What-You-Wish, ranging from $15 to $120 per ticket.  All are welcome!

© 2022 The Interfaith Center of New York

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