wfn.org | [ACNS] Conference to explore interfaith dialogue formation,

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

Daybook, from Episcopal News Service

September 14, 2004 - Tuesday: To Note

Conference to explore interfaith dialogue formation, locally and globally

[ENS, New York] With the theme "Charged to do what is Right and Just," the
Episcopal Church's Interfaith Education Initiative Conference will take
place September 30 - October 2 at the Washington National Cathedral in
Washington, D.C.

Produced in partnership with the College of Preachers, the National
Cathedral and the Interfaith Education Initiative (IEI), the conference
brings together a network of individuals who are actively engaged in
interfaith dialogue at the local level. Three teams comprised of Christians,
Jews and Muslims will share with participants the nuts and bolts of relating
to each other in their three respective communities: Abilene, Texas;
Dearborn, Michigan; and Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

But even as the conference looks at interfaith dialogue formation on the
local level, the global aspect of that dialogue will also be explored. Dr.
Wesley Ariarajah and Clare Amos will address the theme of the conference
from an international perspective.

Ariarajah, a Methodist minister from Sri Lanka, served both in the pastoral
ministry of the church and as lecturer in the History of Religions and New
Testament in the common Protestant seminary of the churches in Sri Lanka. In
1981 he was invited to join the staff of the World Council of Churches,
where he led the Council's Interfaith Dialogue for over ten years. From 1992
he served as the Deputy General Secretary of the WCC. He joined the faculty
of the Drew University School of Theology and its Graduate School as
Professor of Ecumenical Theology in September 1997.

Clare Amos has been Convenor/Coordinator of the Anglican Communion's Network
for Inter Faith Concerns (NIFCON) since August 2001. NIFCON was founded in
1994 with the support of the UK's Church Mission Society (CMS) and the
United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (USPG), and the Lambeth
Conference 1998 recognized NIFCON as a way of sharing news, information,
ideas and resources among provinces of the Anglican Communion. NIFCON was
also charged to monitor Muslim-Christian relations and to report regularly
to the Anglican Consultative Council.

Keynote speaker will be Dr. Diana Eck, a noted authority on religious
pluralism in the United States. She is professor of Comparative Religion and
Indian Studies at Harvard University and is Master of Lowell House and
Director of the Pluralism Project. As a Christian, she has also been
involved in the United Methodist Church, the World Council of Churches, and
the life of Harvard Divinity School. Her book Encountering God: A Spiritual
Journey from Bozeman to Banaras won the prestigious Grawemeyer Book Award.
In 1998, President Clinton awarded her the National Humanities Medal for the
work of the Pluralism Project in the investigation of America's religious
diversity.

Other speakers include the Rev. Charles Gibbs of the United Religions
Initiative; Clarke Lobenstein of the InterFaith Conference of Metropolitan
Washington (D.C.); and Dr. C. Welton Gaddy of the Interfaith Alliance. Dr.
Shanta Premawardhana, Associate General Secretary for Interfaith Relations
of the National Council of Churches, will be the closing speaker.

The three-day conference ends with a service of celebration and commitment.

The Interfaith Education Initiative (IEI) was established in response to the
tragedy of September 11, 2001, and the resulting fear, anger and suspicion
that followed. IEI was created to promote the awareness of Episcopalians to
religious plurality in the United States, to improve relations and to
establish dialogue with people of other faiths. The Interfaith Education
Initiative is a joint project of Episcopal Relief and Development (ERD) and
the Episcopal Church's Office of Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations (OEIR).

For more information call 1-800-334-7626, ext. 6312, or visit
www.interfaitheducationinitiative.org for further information.