wfn.org | Churches Plan Interfaith Openhouses to Commemorate Sept. 11

["Nat'l Council of Churches" <nccc_usa@ncccusa.org>]

National Council of Churches
NCC8/20/02
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CHURCHES PLAN INTERFAITH OPENHOUSES TO COMMEMORATE SEPT. 11

August 20, 2002, NEW YORK CITY - Churches in Tulsa, Okla.; San Diego,
Calif., Setauket, Long Island, N.Y., and Bridgewater, Va., are among those
planning interfaith open houses welcoming their Muslim neighbors for
refreshments and reflections a year after the tragic events of Sept. 11,
2001.

The open houses respond to a call from the National Council of Churches,
which is offering resources for the events through its Open Doors:
Interfaith Hospitality Project.
The resources are available on the NCCs Web site (www.ncccusa.org) --
specifically, at www.ncccusa.org/interfaith/openhouse-intro.html -- and
include "Steps in Planning and Holding an Open House," "Help to Find Muslims
Living Near You," "The Experience of One Congregation in Christian-Muslim
Dialogue," "After the Open House - Going Forward Together," "Basic Facts
About Islam, and Resources" and "Hospitality."
After the Sept.11 attacks, hundreds of Islamic centers and mosques across
the United States held open houses, inviting their neighbors of other faiths
in to grieve together and build bridges of understanding, commented the Rev.
Dr. Jay Rock, Interfaith Relations Director for the National Council of
Churches.
"For many Christians, it was their first occasion to enter a mosque and talk
with a Muslim," he said.  "Muslims for their part wanted their neighbors of
other faiths to understand who they really were - not terrorists, but
peace-loving, PTA-going, regular Americans who came here from all parts of
the world."
Now the National Council of Churches is urging Christian congregations to
hold interfaith open houses on or around Sept. 11, 2002, thus commemorating
the first anniversary of the attacks by extending hospitality to their
Muslim neighbors.  Among churches planning interfaith open houses are:
* The Tulsa (Okla.) Network of Churches Uniting in Christ, an informal
network of a dozen congregations whose parent bodies are among the nine
denominations that are part of Churches Uniting in Christ (CUIC).  Some
congregations will invite a representative from a mosque or the Tulsa
Islamic Society to speak in worship or a Sunday church school class.  Others
will hold an open house on the Sunday prior to the 11th, Sept. 8, sharing
refreshments and conversations about how life has changed in the past year.
For further information, contact Russell L. Bennett, Fellowship
Congregational Church, 918-747-7777, or John Imbler, Phillips Theological
Seminary, 918-610-8303.
* Atonement Lutheran Church, San Diego, Calif., and Abu-Bakr Mosque (Islamic
Center of San Diego), which will hold a combined open house from 9 a.m. to
2 p.m. on Sept. 8.  Members from both congregations will have an opportunity
to observe one anothers worship, hear a presentation and ask questions
about one anothers faith.  There also will be time for informal
conversation over refreshments.  On Sept. 11, the church and mosque will
participate in the Clairmont area Interfaith Associations A Time of
Remembrance and Hope, set for 7 p.m. at the Marston Junior High School
Auditorium.  For further information, call the Rev. James Jerpseth at
858-278-5556.
* An interfaith group is planning an Interfaith Conversations event from
2:30-5 p.m. Oct. 27, 2002, to be held at the Bridgewater Church of the
Brethren, Bridgewater, Va.  We wanted to do something that would draw our
religious communities together in this time when seeds of fear and mistrust
are being sown.  Our chief functioning objective is to build interfaith
solidarity/community, says organizer David Metzler.  Well have time for
discussing a common issue or two - not a highly charged issue; more likely,
Parenting in Our Secular Society and/or Role of Women in Contemporary
Societies.  Contact David Metzler, dmetzler@bridgewater.edu, 540-828-2126.
* The Caroline Church of Brookhaven, Setauket, Long Island, N.Y., which
reports plans to hold an interfaith open house on Sept. 11. Contact Fr. R.D.
Visconti at 631-941-4245.
The NCCs Interfaith Relations Commission designed the "Open Doors" project
as "a very simple and grassroots way" for churches to continue to build good
communication between Christians and Muslims in local communities, said Dr.
Barbara Brown Zikmund of Rockville, Md., co-chair of the NCCs Interfaith
Relations Commission.
"After the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, churches across the nation
spontaneously opened their doors for people to come in to pray," Dr. Rock
said. "There was an upsurge of people seeking out religious institutions as
a place to reorient themselves. Also during those days, responsible leaders
reminded us that it was a group of Islamist terrorists, and not Islam nor
ordinary American Muslims, that had attacked the World Trade Center and the
Pentagon.
"As we looked ahead to the first anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, we
thought, wouldnt it be great to have our congregations open their doors
once again, this time specifically to their Muslim neighbors?," he said. "In
some cases theyll be reciprocating for open houses already held, in others
it will be a new overture."
The "Open Doors" project was developed in consultation with major U.S.
Muslim organizations and is being promoted through the NCCs 36 Protestant,
Orthodox and Anglican member communions. The idea and materials also are
being made available through state, regional and local ecumenical and
interfaith councils, which can help local congregations coordinate their
open houses as community-wide events.
Congregations also may be in direct contact with either Jay Rock:
jrock@ncccusa.org or Jane Smith at Hartford Seminarys Macdonald Center for
the Study of Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations: jismith@hartsem.edu.
-end-