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May 2006 E-Bulletin

May 17, 2006

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Contemplating Cairo

My personal notes of Archbishop Fitzgerald’s stimulating talk are available for anyone interested.  I am awaiting permission to publish them on the website, but meantime, if you would like a copy, e-mail me your request.

Kirk considers divesting Israeli stocks

One of the issues to be discussed at next week’s General Assembly of the Church of Scotland has led to criticism from the Council of Christians and Jews and from Anglicans for Israel.  Proposals from the Church and Society Council to sell investments in Israeli companies are seen by some as a sign of supporting militant Islam.  Full story at http://www.ejpress.org/article/8097

Continuing dialogue between Christians and Jews

Following last month’s most successful study day led by Rabbi Nancy Morris, a number of participants were keen to make sure that the dialogue did not end there. 

One suggestion was to try to do something similar to a regular encounter that has happened for the past 27 years in California where a Presbyterian church has been invited to a Temple for a Shabbat service annually and some Jewish folk (actually quite a large number of them) come to the Church's regular Sunday service, and then through the following week there are times for evening discussions. The  balance, where both congregations play host over the week, helps foster mutual appreciation of each other's traditions in a lovely reciprocal  manner. In the California exchange detailed above, the Minister and Rabbi swapped pulpits, but Rabbi Morris felt that Scotland might not be ready for that yet, do you agree? 

As discussions continue, I will report in future E-journals about how things are progressing.  Let me know of any new inter faith ventures that you are involved in or would like to publicise more widely.  Sometimes folk just need to hear that something has worked elsewhere to jolt them into trying a similar approach.

Looking after one another: The safety and security of our faith communities

The Inter Faith Network has published a brief guide to assist faith community organisations to respond to times of inter-community tensions and attacks. Single free copies can be obtained by sending an A4 SAE to Inter Faith Network, 8A Lower Grosvenor Place, London, SW1W 0EN or can be downloaded from http://www.interfaith.org.uk/publications/lookingafteroneanother.pdf

Advance Notice for October and November 2006

THE GERALD WEISFELD LECTURES 2006: Islam and Inter-Faith Relations

Organized by The Centre for Inter-Faith Studies and The Centre for the Study of Islam, University of Glasgow

9 October
1. Islam in a World of Diverse Faiths - Jacques Waardenburg, (Switzerland)
2. Islam in a World of Diverse Faiths - Mahmut Aydin, (Turkey)

16 October
3. A Muslim View of Judaism - Muhammad Kalisch, (Germany)
4. A Jewish View of Islam - Alon Goshen-Gottstein,(Israel)

30 October
5. A Muslim View of Hinduism - Asghar Ali Engineer, (India)
6. A Hindu View of Islam - Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad, (UK-India)

6 November
7. A Muslim View of Buddhism - Majid Tehranian, (USA)
8. A Buddhist View of Islam - Alexander Berzin, (Germany)

13 November
9. A Muslim View of Christianity - Ataullah Siddiqui, (UK)
10. A Christian View of Islam - David Kerr, (Sweden)

Timetable
5.00 -5.15 Welcome
5.15 - 6.00 Lecture 1
6.00 - 6.15 Break
6.15 - 7.00 Lecture 2
7.00 - 7.15 Break
7.15 - 7.35 Mutual Responses of the two lecturers
7.35 - 8.00 Plenary discussion

More details can be found on the Glasgow University website.