Memphis Inter-Religious Group
http://MemphisIRG.org
ABOUT MEMPHIS INTER-RELIGIOUS GROUP
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 meetings, click here. Or
telephone us at 327-9735.
We are presently meeting intermittently, with more rotating
of locations and of who organizes the programs. We are
looking forward to discussions of the prophets, of how to work for
peace, of contributions we can make toward interfaith
understanding and cative cooperation in the Memphis area and the
world. One suggestion was that we make an effort to be a
visible interfaith presence at selected events in the Memphis
area. See more on the events page.
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/
FACEBOOK: We have a facebook group, MemphisIRG
If you are on Facebook, look for the Group MemphisIRG or go to
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=107266139292631
This will allow facefook users to have discussions and to get faster
notice of chanegs posted here.
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)
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
page edited 10/15/2011