Interfaith dialogue in
South Orange County is putting words into deeds.
BY PAT MCCAUGHAN
A
house has been built in Mexico for a deserving family, and a joint
Bible-Koran study group is underway among other projects taken up
collaboratively by Mission Viejo Mosque, Temple Beth El in Aliso Viejo, and
St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in Laguna Beach. Filmed as a feature for public
television, the house-building project is an example of the interfaith
impetus that was sparked by two religious leaders—the Rev. Will Crist,
rector of St. Mary’s and Rabbi Allen Krause of Temple Beth El—who acted
immediately after Sept. 11, 2001, to bring their communities together.
The latest effort of this partnership
occurred on Monday, Sept. 9 of this year, when about 500 Muslims, Jews and
Christians gathered at the Mission Viejo Mosque for a “Day of Unity and
Prayer” in remembrance of those who died in last year’s terrorist attacks.
In opening remarks, Dr. Laila Al Marayati
thanked members of other faiths who had reached out to the Muslim community
in sympathy and support.
“We have in our history experienced this
phenomenon repeatedly—stigmatizing the Japanese community during World War
II, the interment camps, we’ve seen it with the Jewish community, with
Native Ameri-cans and African Americans. At some point in time we need to .
. . find a way to not fall into this trap again.”
The mosque board members felt “it was really important to host the event,
given what had happened in the nation,” said Abe Ali, volunteer director of
interfaith activities for the mosque’s outreach program.
“It is extremely important to act in our
immediate locality,” said Ali, an event organizer. Among the local religious
and community leaders attending, Crist and Krause were honored for reaching
out to the mosque, he said. The interfaith dialogue continues to expand. In
addition to its house-building trip in Mexico and study of sacred texts, the
interfaith partnership has launched a women’s faith group, a Jewish and
Muslim comedy night hosted by a local synagogue, a joint Bible-Koran study
group, a seminar on domestic violence and an interfaith Crop Walk effort at
Temple Beth El.
“We really see the memorial event as one of
many things happening the community,” said Ali. “Some were initiated by us.
Others were initiated by the Christian and Jewish communities. There has
been a whole stream of events that have brought everybody closer together.
After Sept. 11, said Ali “it became important
for us to make a statement in our community and let people know that we’re
Americans, we feel the loss like anybody else. A couple hundred Muslims
perished in those events as well—we weren’t exempt from the tragedy.”
“It is a dire necessity to bring our
communities together and there is no better way to do that than to have
everyone work on what has been common to all of us, to break down barriers,”
said Ali.
The goal, he said, is to become “more
successful in setting an example to the larger community so that our good
word and good work ripples . . . wider and wider, throughout Southern
California and as large and as far as it can. That through this work, other
communities either join us or get charged themselves to initiate some of the
work among themselves to bring together mosques, synagogues, churches,
temples. This is how the world will get changed, in the hearts of people,
one person at a time. I would like to see that.” |
See photos on the home page... |
