posted September 23, 2006 02:58 AM
Rare confluence for three major faiths begins this week
By ANN PEPPER
The Orange County Register
At a time when religious conflict has turned lethal for so many people and shattered their peace and security, a rare confluence of the sacred seasons of the three Abrahamic faiths – Christianity, Islam and Judaism – begins this week.
Scores of Orange County residents – people of all faiths who say they've had enough of division, discord and senseless death in the name of religion – are planning to seize this convergence as a chance to show solidarity, celebrate and defy those who promote hate.
"I don't know about the feast of St. Francis or Ramadan," said Sande Hart, 45, the mother of two teens and an organizer of one of the largest local events, "Sharing Sacred Seasons," set for Oct. 7 in Aliso Viejo.
"For me, it's a real learning experience. But I do know that ignorance breeds hatred. And we want to be a light in the darkness."
Here's what's happening:
•Rosh Hashana, the Jewish new year, begins at sunset Friday leading off Tishri, the month of the High Holy Days.
•Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting and contemplation, begins with the sighting of the new moon on Saturday.
•A few days later on Oct. 4 comes the feast day of perhaps the most popular of Christian saints, St. Francis of Assisi, who was one of the few Christian leaders of his day to oppose the Crusades against Muslims and Jews.
•The birthday of the great Hindu statesman and peacemaker, Mahatma Gandhi, fortuitously also falls during this time, on Oct. 2.
It will be three decades before a similar convergence occurs.
Nationwide, the National Council of Churches, the Islamic Society of North America, the Shalom Center and others are calling on people to seize the moment to build bridges among believers as well as those who don't belong to any faith group.
"Sharing Sacred Seasons" will be a joint effort by members of Temple Beth El in Aliso Viejo, the Orange County Islamic Foundation in Mission Viejo and St. Mary's Episcopal Church in Laguna Beach.
They plan to hold an iftar – breaking the Ramadan fast at sundown – and a Havdalah, marking the end of the Jewish Sabbath, plus music, food and talk.
"Everybody's nervous," said Rabbi Arthur Waskow, whose national organization "The Tent of Abraham, Hagar and Sarah," is in the forefront of the Sharing Sacred Seasons effort.
"Muslims are suspicious. Jews are suspicious of Muslims. And many Jews still have the inherited fear and distrust of Christians. ... Some Christians are very dubious about Islam," he said.
"The very reason for us to do this is the hostility, old and new. Doing this is crucial to the planet and the human race. So we've begun to plant some seeds."
Hart first began meeting with Muslims and others outside her own Jewish faith after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Five years, numbers of shared dinners and a bunch of new friendships later, she believes the time they all spend together is more important now than ever.
"That isn't to say some of their beliefs and opinions are not sometimes the opposite of what I believe. But we do agree where our common values are: Save a life and you save the world. Justice for all. We all fight inhumanity and injustice. We all feed the poor. Our family values are the same. And we all love God."
As their friendships have grown, they've done things like combine Hart's annual "Latke Madness Party" with the breaking of the daily fast during Ramadan.
"We had an iftar latke party," Hart said, laughing.
For Tareef Nashashibi, building friendships with Hart and others started out as a duty to his children. He wanted them to have the same values that he was taught – a belief that at their core, there is no difference between the three religions of Abraham.
"After the first trip to the meetings it stopped being a duty and became a pleasure. We have become friends," said Nashashibi, chairman of the Arab American Committee for the Republican Party of Orange County.
Helping with Sharing Sacred Seasons is his contribution to the effort to persuade politicians to stop using religion as an excuse to kill one another, Nashashibi said.
"Whether we can change political policies, well, we have to grow in numbers," he said. "But we are people who feel enough is enough."
The Rev. Elizabeth Rechter, rector at St. Mary's, also believes the interfaith efforts are critical to peace.
"Every time we do something like this we have an opportunity to invite another person," Rechter said. "It's slow work. One by one by one. But we have to be patient. We are going to bring our kids and we are going to look to them for leadership on this. In fact, they are already less anxious about all this than we are.
"We just can't underestimate the impact this work will have for us in the days ahead."
http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/homepage/abox/article_1279315.php
Lindaland
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posted September 23, 2006 02:58 AM
It's bad...I slept like 2 hours last night...and was dozing off all day but never had the opportunity to sleep.
posted September 23, 2006 03:54 AM
Its that time of the year, when I feel like Gods listening to me in particular more than He would normally or more than He does listen to others LOL. Im so self centered rofl. I love fasting and have been doing it since I was eight (every Ramadan). My level of religiosity has fluctuated, sometimes I dont pray tarawih, sometimes I dont read the Quran for months on end, but its never because of moving away from religion, usually just busy or reading other things or rethinking my philosophy on religion. 
posted September 23, 2006 09:59 AM
posted September 23, 2006 08:17 PM
/Amen as this hopefully and God-willing will be a time for convergence and defying hate.
They get it....
Good to hear something positive for a change. 
posted September 26, 2006 01:21 AM