IDSA

Tolerance Week

"Tolerance Week" is a week long event of conferences, concerts, and art displays focusing on the richness diversity brings us.

Wednesday,March 1, 2006

Panel

“How religious diversity shapes America "

Speakers: Rev. Emilee Whitehurst, Executive Dir. (AAIM)

Dr. Yetkin Yildirim, Austin Representative IID

Rabbi Kerry Baker, Congregation Kol Halev

Place: UTC 4.122

Dr. Yetkin Yildirim of IID (the Institute of Interfaith Dialog) pointed out that the US had been a melting pot for the people from all over the world and from all backgrounds. He emphasized on the importance of the way people interact and treat each other and how it affects our lives. He also talked about the concept of “neighbor” in Islam and Islamic teachings about how people should treat neighbors. He emphasized the importance of learning about Islam by consulting its main sources, which are the Qur’an and the teachings of Prophet Muhammed (PBUH), not through the media in order to minimize misconceptions and misunderstandings.

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Rev. Emilee Whitehurst, Executive Director of AAIM (Austin Area Interreligious Ministries), told us how religious diversity made Austin a stronger and better place to live. She mentioned that in 1940s, Presbyterian, Lutheran and Methodist churches came together and tried to find common grounds, which led to the foundation of AAIM. She also mentioned about the efforts by about one hundred religious leaders to improve the quality of life in Austin. She pointed out that although bringing people from different religious backgrounds is very challenging, it is vital to find common grounds and improve the quality of life where everybody has access to the basic needs. She gave example of how religious communities came together and worked together to provide for the spiritual needs of the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Rabbi Kerry Baker of Congregation Kol Havel spoke about the US history and immigration. He pointed out that although US has been a country of immigrants, immigration and diversity as a result had not been always welcomed throughout the US history. While the goal of immigration was to become “American” in the past, today’s immigrants want to retain their identity and participate in American life at the same time. He also stated that although diversity was a positive thing, the US had been struggling to deal with differences as a result of diversity because preserving identity was not welcomed by all. Therefore he defined “tolerance” as a rather weak term to overcome these difficulties.