Memphis Inter-Religious Group
http://MemphisIRG.org
ABOUT MEMPHIS INTER-RELIGIOUS GROUP
updated
March 4 2019
About 2006, a group of people from
Temple Israel, Balmoral Presbyterian Church, and Masjid As-Salam in Memphis, Tennessee
began to meet together, just to get to know one another
better. Out of this has grown the Memphis Inter-Religious
Group, a group of ordinary members rather than religious leaders
of these houses of worship and others, seeking to better
relationships between faiths. Visits back and forth and social
events have led to increasing confidence in working
together. These contacts have had real benefits for the
community. Following one local dispute, we were able to get
differing groups to work together to bring a satisfactory
resolution. One local leader said, "what could have been a real
catastrophe turned out to be a major success story for interfaith
cooperation."
We have discussed genuinely difficult questons. Could any of
us have imagined, that before a street demonstration protesting the
Israeli bombing and invasion of Gaza, some Muslims would have asked
some Jews, "Can you look at our proposed signs and leaflets, to be
sure that they are anti-Israeli but not anti-Jewish?" While
this was not necessarily a comfortable assignment for the Jews, it
was such a remarkable interaction that we almost wish we could
announce it from the rooftops.
If you are interested in contacting the organizers or being invited
to (rare) meetings, click here.
Note: If you have a bulletin board or other place where you
can post some of these events, we'd appreciate it. We'll like
it even more if you tell us where you are posting it and give
feedback for what you'd like on the poster. If you'd like a
one-page printable pdf of events, or some other arrangement, contact
me, e-mail admin@memphisirg.org.
I try to get things onto this page as soon as I can; check it pretty
regularly.
October 2013: The Memphis Commercial Appeal had a very nice
long article about the Ordmans, we have a copy of the text here at
http://memphisirg.org/Commercial_Appeal_Meet_the_Ordmans
August 2011: The people at 30mosques.com have
reorganized their website. The piece about Heartsong Church is now
at
http://30mosques.com/archive2010/2010/09/outtakes-the-memphis-islamic-center-and-their-neighbors/
and the love letter to the Ordmans is now at
http://30mosques.com/archive2010/2010/09/day-27-the-muslims-in-memphis-part-1/
Some upcoming events- CLICK HERE
A book list - books we have found helpful in
understanding other traditions. What do other groups use in their
Sunday Schools or equivalents?
LINKS
Masjid
As-Salam
Muslim
Student Association, Univ of Memphis (I need more
information...)
Balmoral
Presbyterian Church Chaplain, Rhodes
College (is there a better place to list here?)
Temple
Israel
Hillel
(Student organization, University of Memphis)
Memphis
Jewish Federation (has
links
to other Jewish groups and agencies)
Muslims in Memphis (an umbrella organization)
Memphis Islamic Center
(among other things, good on-line videos)
Jewish Historical
Society of Memphis and the Mid-South (sponsors
interesting lectures.)
Workers Interfaith Network: https://www.facebook.com/winmemphis/
See many more links to houses of worship on our ADDRESSES page.
Click here.
There are quite a few interesting classes, meetings, support groups
at the Jewish Community Center.
See the listing at http://www.jccmemphis.org/jfs/classes-and-support-groups/
There
is no way I can list here all the interesting"regular"events
of The Church Health Center. If you have not checked
it for awhile, read their events list at
https://churchhealth.org/events/
A recent e-mail from them is found here
There is
a nice list of "50 free things to do in Memphis" athttp://ilovememphisblog.com/2017/06/50-free-things-to-do-in-memphis/
The list of events at the Ben Hooks Institute, U of Memphis,
is online at http://www.memphis.edu/benhooks/events/
MICAH is the Memphis Interfaith Coalition for Action and Hope.
Their events list is at
https://www.micahmemphis.org/calendar
Some other resources:
Please give us your opinion on whether we should have here pointers
to other religious groups,
perhaps some of the lesser-known ones, in the Memphis area.
E.g., did you know there was a Sikh group in Memphis? http://www.midsouthsikhsabha.org/6928/13901.html
We have Vietnamese Buddhists - for example http://www.buddhamemphis.com/
and Tibetan Buddhists very active in the local Peace movement - http://www.pemakarpo.org/
Some Reference Material (for discussions)
3/2010 A recent article about activist Eboo Patel
3/2010 A summary of and pointer to A Common Word
3/2010 Reading
the
Old Testament with Palestinian Eyes. (Remarks by Eunice Ordman
on a paper by Frederic Bush)
See also the material appearing on our Facebook page, MIRG, at
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=107266139292631
5/2018 An interesting discussion of how German
physicians came to cooperate with the Nazis.
click here for the
report.
5/2018 An interesting Roman Catholic prayer, with
references to the environment:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XRkeuJc-yRvCod3jepwgPjrUmJXQLGpn/view
3/2019 Some comments on the traditional (anti-homosexual)
position taken by the United Methodist Church
https://mailchi.mp/uchicago/sightings-215709?e=2b47b5c639
page edited slightly but links not checked March 4 2019