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Dear Friends of the IFLC,
It is customary in this great country of ours, at this time of year when we gather with family and friends to celebrate our respective holiday traditions, to solicit help for organizations whose values, missions, and work reflect our own.
But this year is different, and so the two of us, a Muslim and a Jew, interfaith colleagues and both proud Board Members of the InterFaith Leadership Council of Metropolitan Detroit (IFLC), would like to express gratitude for your past support and to request that when you are making your year-end gift, you donate to the IFLC.
Most years, it would be normal to list the past year’s accomplishments: which include (a) organizing seven Bridging to Belonging cohorts, bringing together small members of diverse backgrounds to engage in respectful dialogue around the values we hold, (b) hosting 380 Metropolitan Detroit seventh graders throughout the school year in our Religious Diversity Journeys initiative, where the students learn about five major religions and build bridges of understanding and community, and (c) producing five episodes of our Detroit Faith and Works podcast series, exploring the role of religion in America, featuring panels of religious leaders and members of the IFLC community. But this year is different.
Most years, we would remind you of the benefits of interfaith work, namely, the enhanced strength of our community when we trust our neighbors, the displacement of hate when we advance relationships with those of different backgrounds and faiths, and how at the IFLC, we instruct program participants in the value of civil discourse and how to achieve it. But this year is different.
Most years, it would suffice to remind you that we share core values. Jews embrace the teaching of tikkun olam, “repairing the world.” Muslims teach that God made us different so that we might learn from one another. Christians strive to protect vulnerable communities, and Buddhists, Hindus, Sikhs and virtually all of our great religious traditions practice harmonious living. But this year is different.
Conflict in Israel and Gaza has reverberated in the most unfortunate ways throughout the world and in this country, as groups espousing differing and often conflicting narratives are personally impacted by the tragedies we have witnessed in the past two months. Around the world and in this country, Islamophobic acts directed at Muslims have spiked sharply, while antisemitism has risen to unprecedented levels. Contrary to basic instincts to silo with those “on our own team,” at the IFLC, our interfaith experience informs us that it is more important than ever that we reach out to the other to express support for common decency and humanity.
Speaking personally, as a Muslim and as a Jew, our communications with one another are challenging because each of us possesses strong views that in some instances conflict. But what may be equally important is where we agree. We agree that living in this country, we have little, if any, power over our co-religionists overseas. We both abhor the loss of innocent life and the pain inflicted on innocents, and we both advocate for the dignity of all people in that region. Most importantly, we acknowledge that the interfaith work we pursue and our relationships forged in easier times enable us, in times such as these, to reach out to the other, to express our sincere empathy for the other’s pain, and to give one another his necessary space, with the knowledge that there will be a tomorrow where we will continue together on the path of interfaith understanding. Just as Abraham opened his tent to the stranger, we will continue to welcome one another into our lives.
To be sure, these are most troubling times, but while many organizations are unable or unwilling to discern a path to addressing these challenges, at the IFLC, we will continue to meet these challenges head-on, and work to strengthen our wonderfully diverse Greater Metropolitan Detroit community. Please consider giving generously to support the IFLC, so that we might continue this impactful and important work. May the Holiday Season bring you blessings and peace.
Dr. Walid Harb
IFLC Board Member
Bryant M. Frank
IFLC Board Member
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