Welcome!

The Interfaith Relations Office seeks to support those in the church who are interested in, concerned about or engaged in building interfaith relationships. As Presbyterians learn about religious diversity, we reflect theologically on our relations with neighbors of other faiths. We also seek avenues for cooperation, or look for education resources and practical models for bringing communities together. We hope you will find helpful information and resources on this Web site.

Apply now to host a Christian-Muslim team from Pakistan

This year the Interfaith Listening Program will bring a Christian and a Muslim from Pakistan to the United States for visits in churches, colleges and communities around the United States. The team members will be the Rev. Dr. Maqsood Kamil, executive secretary of the Presbyterian Church of Pakistan, and Mr. Khuram Dastgir Khan, elected member of Pakistan’s National Parliament from the Muslim League Party. They will be available from September 26–October 20, 2008. Presbytery groups interested in hosting the team should apply by June 15, 2008.

If you would like to host the team, download this application form or contact Jay T. Rock in the Office of Interfaith Relations.

A call for vigilance against anti-Jewish bias

Presbyterians have repudiated anti-Semitism and rejected anti-Jewish teaching. We can celebrate the extent to which we have been able to rid our teaching, preaching and actions of such prejudice. However, conversations with Jews in the last several years have reminded us of the need to guard against anti-Semitism and anti-Jewish motifs and stereotypes as these find expression in speech and writing about Israel, the Palestinian people, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Vigilance Against Anti-Jewish Bias, prepared by the Interfaith Relations Office of the PC(USA), describes some of the issues and the caution Presbyterians can exercise in response. Downloand and print this document.

Encounter with Ethiopia: a travel-study seminar

In cooperation with the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus, the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program, the Interfaith Relations Office and Presbyterian World Mission Africa Office invite you to travel and study in Ethiopia on November 5-15, 2008.

We will meet the people and learn about the ministries of this partner church, especially its work in peacemaking.  We will explore the culture of Ethiopia and gain some taste and understanding of the dynamics among its religions and peoples.  Participants will join Mekane Yesus seminary students in an Interfaith relations seminar, meet leaders of the Islamic Supreme Council of Ethiopia, share a meal with PC(USA) mission personnel and visit with those engaged in specific peacemaking projects in Addis Ababa and in Jimma (where the coffee bean was first cultivated and where coffee is still proudly produced!). Staff: Debby Vial, Presbyterian Peacemaking Program; Jay Rock, Interfaith Relations Office; and Michael Weller, PC(USA) Regional Liaison in the Horn of Africa.  Cost: $1,400, including all lodging and meals, but NOT including airfare from your home to Ethiopia (c. $1,600) and visa expense (c. $100).  For more information, please contact Debby Vial at (888) 728-7228 5702 or Bryan Reiff.

Loving our Buddhist and Muslim Neighbors

Terry Muck, professor of world religions at Asbury Seminary in Wilmore, Ky., asks, “How can we live faithfully as Christians in a world of many religions?” His article in Presbyterians Today is a useful resource and might be a good conversation starter.

Finding faith without fanatacism: a new resource

Rabbi Brad Hirschfield, president of the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, has written a stimulating new book, You Don’t Have to Be Wrong for Me to Be Right.  Through sharing his own personal story and accounts of other encounters, Rabbi Hirschfield, an Orthodox rabbi, explains how he came to be a bridge-builder and issues a stirring invitation to a way of embracing diversity while staying rooted in our own religious traditions.  Best of all, Brad is able and willing to travel to your church or community to talk about the topic of his book or to engage in an interfaith dialogue event. For more information, please contact Rabbi Hirschfield.

Other resources of note

• A new initiative to engage Muslims and Christians in the United States to build understanding and explore ways to work together on issues of common concern got underway at the end of Febuary, 2008.
• The Pew Forum Survey of the U.S. Religious Landscape details the size and demographic profiles of religious groups in the United States and finds that religious affiliation here is extremely fluid.
• Reuniting the Children of Abraham provides the tools for one way of bringing Christians, Muslim and Jews together, based on an extraordinary initiative among teens in the metro-Detroit area.
• Presbyterian Packet on Religious Stereotyping may help in responding to new instances of anti-Semitism and anti-Muslim bias.
• The invitation from Muslims to Christians to join in a common pursuit of love of God and love of neighbor, A Common Word Between us and You and the Stated Clerk’s response.
• Audio of the panel presentation on Faithful Living Among Muslims: Christian Witness in Remarkably Different Settings.

Why get involved with people of other faiths?

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has offered guidance about relations with neighbors who are Muslims, Jews, Hindus or followers of other faiths, in a variety of documents, and from a number of persepctives. We have assembled most of these policy and study resources here in an introduction to the thinking of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) on interfaith relations and related issues.