wfn.org | May 20 webcast highlights Interfaith disaster response

[PCUSA NEWS <PCUSA.NEWS@ecunet.org>]

Note #7151 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

08-May-2002
02168

May 20 webcast highlights Interfaith disaster response

Program seeks to improve understanding of Muslims 

by Jerry L. Van Marter

NEW YORK CITY - In an effort to ease suspicions about Muslims in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Church World Service (CWS) is sponsoring a webcast May 20 entitled "Hearing the Muslim Community: Preparing for Interfaith Disaster Response."

The live webcast will run from 2:00 - 4:00 p.m. on www.FaithandValues.com. 

Between five and six million Muslims live in the United States. Tension and fear have escalated since the September attacks on the World Trade Center here and the Pentagon in Washington. 

"As we've responded to 9/11, one of the things we've come to understand more fully is that effective disaster relief has to be about more than just meeting physical needs," said Rick Augsburger, director of the CWS Emergency Response Program. "It's about helping the community to come together and strengthen itself as community. An event like 9/11 challenges our ability to work together in a very fundamental way."

The webcast - originating in Detroit - will begin with a panel discussion of these issues. American Muslims will speak about their experiences after the attacks, then panelists will consider next steps in building interfaith bridges. How does the Muslim community want to be understood? How can Christians work with Muslims in the U.S. to bridge what appears to be a growing divide? How can these faith groups work together in times of disaster to strengthen and build better communities?

Panelists include:

* The Rev. Dr. Charles Mabee, an Old Testament professor at Ecumenical Theological Seminary in Detroit and author of Reading Sacred Texts through American Eyes and Reimagining America.  

* Victor Begg, president of the Unity Center Mosque, Bloomfield Hills, MI, and vice?chair of the state's Council of Islamic Organizations.

* Imam Hassan Qazwini, a native of Iraq and religious leader of the Islamic Center of America in Detroit.  

* Abdul Hakim Jackson, associate professor of Arabic and Islamic studies at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. 

Broadcast journalist Arthur Cribbs Jr. will moderate the panel. Cribbs, a former executive director of the United Church of Christ's Office of Communication, is now pastor of the Christian Fellowship Congregational Church in San Diego and the President of Pacific Media Ministries in San Diego.
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