The United States’ Midwest region of a coalition of faith organizations, the United Religions Initiative, URI will hold a 2-day interfaith conference to address identity-based violence through bridge-building and social impact on Saturday, November 4, and Sunday November 5, 2023, at the Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, 5475 Brand Road, Dublin, Ohio, and the Turkish American Society of Ohio (TASO), 2885 W Granville Road, Columbus, Ohio respectively.
The United Religions Initiative, URI is a global grassroots interfaith network that cultivates peace and justice by engaging people to bridge religious and cultural differences and work together for the good of their communities and the world.
“Through this gathering, we hope to support Cooperation Circles like SAIL in their ability to larger events for collaboration, so the Midwest continues to lead by example and grow their collaboration with others on the regional and national stage,” said Imran Malik, member of the organizing committee and Safe Alliance of Interfaith Leader (SAIL).
“Across the United States, hate crimes are being reported by minority communities at an alarming rate. Various communities of diverse religious, ethnic, cultural, and gender/sexual orientation-based backgrounds are seeing a surge in crimes that are driven by hatred, bigotry, political rhetoric, and miscommunication efforts.”
“Interfaith communities are focusing their efforts to push back against those efforts through bridge-building and social impact.”
The conference statement stated that “Safe Alliance of Interfaith Leaders (SAIL) and Abraham’s Tent present a URI North America-sponsored gathering of Cooperation Circles and interfaith communities in the Midwest, with support from the Shoulder to Shoulder Campaign called Addressing Identity-Based Violence.”
Meanwhile, Imran Malik and Barb Anderson of SAIL and Rev. Patras Rehmat and Hussnain Malik of Abraham’s Tent, the local champions driving this first regional conference to Central Ohio told New Americans magazine that they are “committed to make this an annual signature event for our greater Columbus area communities.”
This Bioregional event (a geographic-specific gathering of CCs and local communities) will feature:
- Spaces for networking and relationship building,
- Concurrent workshops hosted by local organizations and Cooperation Circles,
- All-participant sessions led by the Shoulder-to-Shoulder Campaign and URI,
- Registration: $10 (Larger donations are welcomed for good causes!)
Payment can be made through Venmo/Cashapp to @Interfaithman, or cash on the day of the event.
Event Details:
- Saturday, November 4th, 11:00 AM – 4:00 PM:
Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, 5475 Brand Rd. Dublin, OH
- Sunday, November 5th, 12:30 PM – 7:00 PM:
Turkish American Society of Ohio (TASO), 2885 W Granville Rd., Columbus, OH
Members of the Organizing Committee include:
Imran Malik and Barbara Anderson (SAIL), Rev. Patras Rehmat and Hussnain Malik (Abraham’s Tent), Alihan Caliskan and David Ozey (Turkish American Society of Ohio), Rev. Tim Wrenn (Prince of Peace Lutheran Church), Fr. Jason Emerson and Dr. Ben Trotter (St. Patrick’s Episcopal Church) and Dr. Jen Kilps (Minnesota Multifaith Network).
Others include Dr. JS Jindal, Nithya Thirtharupa Ananda, Linda Karr, and Kay Jones Labosky (Worthington Interfaith Neighbors), Rev. Jim Zippay (National Church Residence), and Deba Uwadiae (New Americans Magazine).
For more information, please contact Imran Malik (614-209-8742), Regional Coordinator for URI North America: tsharma@uri.org
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