Based in Jerusalem, the IEA has 29 ongoing groups.  Stolov says that they are not an interfaith organisation in the regular sense.  For IEA, interfaith dialog is a tool that they use to build better relationships between people.

Stolov talks about how when the encounters began seven years ago at the height of the intifada, the Jews involved had never met had never met Muslims before, and vice versa – they only information they had about each other was via the media, whose chief message was that the other group only wanted to kill them. By the end of the encounter weekend, many strong friendships had been formed.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Chair of the Muslim Charities Foundation, Dr Hany El Banna and the Head of the Movement for Reform Judaism, Rabbi Dr Tony Bayfield, are calling on people of all faiths to give generously to the Faiths Working Together Appeal to help rebuild shattered lives in Gaza.

“I hope that all people of faith – and all of goodwill – will support this initiative by giving generously and by using all available websites and other resources to contribute and to spread the word.” – Dr Rowan Williams

“I warmly support this initiative as a model for cooperation between the Abrahamic faiths and welcome the practical concern for all the victims of the conflict, regardless of faith or nationality.“ –Rabbi Dr Tony Bayfield, Head of the Movement for Reform Judaism.

Donations will be collected by Christian Aid and then used by Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, Christian Aid and Islamic Relief to fund their relief, reconstruction and post emergency work.

To donate, visit:   http://www.faithsworkingtogether.org/donate/

It was a very moving ceremony and demonstrated the ability for many people from different faiths, ethnicities and political viewpoints to come together and pray for a common purpose.

Speakers included:

• Tiopira Rauna (LDS, Secretary of the Wellington Regional Interfaith Network)
• Dr Margaret Mayman (Reverand of St Andrew’s on the Terrace)
• Rev Godfrey Nicholson (Vicar of St Peter’s on Willis)
• Sultan Eusuf (Chief Officer, Federation of Islamic Associations)
• Rabbi Johanna Hershenson (Wellington Progressive Jewish Congregation)
• Ratilal Champaneri (President, NZ Indian Central Association)
• Carrie Coddington (Past Secretary, Baha’i Kapiti Network)
• Melanie Gregg and Lime (Soka Gakkai NZ)

You can download or listen to an audio recording (35 minutes, 16 MB):

About twenty people came to the well-publicised meeting, billed as a planning session for Christian-Muslim co-operation.  I was invited to attend the meeting, and jumped at the opportunity for several reasons:

• The Wellington Council for Christians and Jews is exploring ways of taking a more “Abrahamic” focus
• I have great respect for planning – too many initiatives are approached in an ad-hoc manner
• I had corresponded previously with Aarif Rasheed, who has been very inclusive, welcoming, and supportive

I was the only Jew present, in fact I got the impression that I might have been the first Jew that some of the participants had met in person.  There were only a couple of Christians present, so nearly all of the participants were Muslim

The Big Idea behind the project is to get people of different faiths together with a common purpose and shared goal resulting in public good with and positive outcomes for the environment.  The Onehunga Bay wetland has been degraded over the years to the point where it covers only roughly 80 square metres, and the project’s aim is to restore it to cover about 4 hectares.  That’s an ambitious goal by anyone’s measure, and will have a knock-on effect improving the water quality in the surrounding estuary and bay.

Hopefully the good people of Auckland will be able to demonstrate to the world that people from different faiths can join hands and work together for positive outcomes for their cities and the environment as a whole.

For me, it was great to see a group of focussed Muslims reaching out and taking the lead in an environmental project.  It’s an example that the rest of us would do well to follow.

If you know anyone who might like to get involved, contact RMDT.

“The dialogue, called for by King Abdullah after he won the backing of Sunni and Shi’ite clerics at a meeting in Mecca this month, will be held on July 16-18 by the Saudi-based World Muslim League, the Saudi Press Agency said.”

The dialogue will cover life in human societies, international cooperation, human rights, and issues of security, peace and living together in the world.

Iran’s former president Rafsanjani said that the meeting would also cover Western influence in the Muslim world, including issue around Iraq and Palestine.

Let’s pray for the ability of the attendees to listen as well as talk …

Dave