The Pluralism Project at Harvard University
Elizabeth Varro
Harvard Divinity School
Mapping the Interfaith Landscape in Minnesota
Mapping the Interfaith Landscape in Minnesota
My research during the summer of 2001 included two phases. The initial phase involved updating profiles in the origin edition of On Common Ground, the Pluralism Project's CD-Rom. The second and more extensive phase focused on the exploration of interfaith groups in Minnesota. Most of these groups were based in or near St. Paul; one group was from St. Cloud, about 80 miles north of the Twin Cities. These organizations are led by some of the most enthusiastic and welcoming people I have ever encountered, all of whom are dedicated to increasing understanding and respect among the members of Minnesota's many faiths. I also spoke with members of the chaplaincy departments of several Twin Cities area hospitals, to find out how they handle the area's increasing diversity.
Interfaith Organizations: Profiles of Interfaith Groups in the Twin CitiesSeptember 11 Update: Responses to the Tragedy in the Twin Cities Interfaith Community
The Center for Interfaith Encounter (CIE)
www.geocities.com/mmnazareth
www.coyotewebart.com/cie (website under construction)
CIE is an interfaith dialogue group in St. Cloud. One of its most in-depth and frequent programs has been the Sacred Texts of World Faiths Series, in which members of various world faiths present some of their most important and accessible texts. Read CIE Profile
The Jay Phillips Center for Jewish-Christian Learning
www.stthomas.edu/jpc
The Jay Philips Center is located at a Catholic university in the heart of St. Paul, and exists in partnership with the Jewish Studies Chair of a Catholic university in St. Cloud. Their Bibliodrama program adapts the Jewish tradition of midrash as a dialogue technique for a Jewish-Christian interfaith audience. Visit their website for an example of this process. Read Jay Phillips Center Profile
The Joint Religious Legislative Coalition (JRLC)
www.jrlc.org
The JRLC creates interfaith policy statements regarding social justice issues. These statements are sent to the governing boards of official Catholic, Protestant, Jewish and Muslim umbrella groups for approval, and are then used to lobby the Minnesota legislature. Read JRLC Profile
Luther Seminary: "Muslims and Lutherans in the Twin Cities" May 19, 2001
www.luthersem.edu
This was the first in an anticipated series of community education conferences to educate Minnesota Lutherans about their many Muslim neighbors, organized by the Lutheran and Muslim communities and the Islamic Studies Program of Luther Seminary. Read Luther Seminary Conference Profile
Mall Area Religious Council (MARC)
www.meaningstore.org
MARC is dedicated to education about the world's faiths within the unique context of the Mall of America. Its member organizations include representatives of the Christian, Baha'i, Buddhist, Eckankar, Muslim, Jewish, and Unitarian Universalist traditions. MARC's theme is "One World Many Faiths." Read MARC Profile
Parliament of the World's Religions, Twin Cities Chapter
This dialogue group currently includes members of Baha'i, Christian, Jewish, Quaker, and Wiccan faiths, as well as people who do not identify with any specific tradition.
Center for Interfaith Encounter (CIE)
PO Box 265
Sauk Rapids, MN 56379
Contact: Dr. Malcolm Nazareth, Director
320-203-9849
www.coyotewebart.com/cie
mmnazareth@cs.com
Dr. Malcolm Nazareth founded the Center for Interfaith Encounter in January 2000. He and his wife Mariani originally started the CIE group to celebrate the final year of the 20th century to counter concerns about Y2K problems and the end of the world. On CIE's first birthday anniversary in January 2001, representatives of 13 different religions came together in St. Cloud, a city in northern Minnesota which is sometimes referred to as "White Cloud" for its apparent lack of diversity. The 150 attendees surpassed everyone's expectations in the diversity they represented. CIE is a very active organization.
The organization sponsors a diverse set of programs. One continuing program is their Sacred Texts of World Faiths series. Faiths covered as of September 2001 included Baha'i, Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, the Sikh faith, Unification, Unitarian Universalist, and Wicca. Each series allows adherents of each faith to present their "best" text, that which is most accessible and informative for an audience without much background in that tradition. The general procedure for the hour-long sessions (generally four per tradition) is: five minutes of chanting in the original language of the text; a thirty-minute presentation by a member of the faith, explaining the history of the tradition and selected texts; fifteen minutes of sharing among the interfaith group; five minutes of silence to ponder and show respect for the text and tradition; and a five minute closing chant, again in the original text language.
The Center's other programs include Interfaith Couples Encounter, Interfaith Family Picnics, Interfaith Healing Prayer Sessions, and Interfaith Memorial Services. In July, the Center chose to tackle a controversial topic with a panel on Sexual Orientation and World Religions, although this put much stress on the Center's relationship with some members. In August 2001, the Center hosted a program to celebrate the Mississippi River, whose headwaters are found at Itasca State Park in northern Minnesota. The 21st Century Intercultural Celebration of the Mississippi River at Itasca, open to all interested parties, aimed to educate participants about the natural history of the area and the history of the river's significance to the Ojibwe people. The event also celebrated the river's importance as a US national resource and as a natural and cultural site for modern people and included celebrations of water from other religious traditions.
The Center for Interfaith Encounter is a small organization in an unlikely location. Its existence stands as a witness to the diversity that exists even in the most unexpected parts of the United States. CIE is committed to educating all participants and treating all members and traditions with respect.
Interfaith Organization List
Jay Phillips Center for Jewish-Christian Learning
University of St. Thomas
2115 Summit Avenue
St. Paul, MN 55105
(651) 962-5780
www.stthomas.edu/jpc
In 1969, philanthropist Jay Phillips established the Jewish Studies Chair at St. John's University near St. Cloud, MN, the first chair in Jewish Studies to be established at a Christian university. The Center for Jewish-Christian Learning at the University of St. Thomas was established in 1985, also with support from Jay Phillips. The two centers formed a partnership in 1996 at the request of Mr. Phillips, who wanted the dialogue programs of the Center for Jewish-Christian Learning to be expanded into the St. Cloud area. These programs are now offered both in the Twin Cities and in the St. Cloud area. Both Jewish and Catholic communities currently endow the Center.
The Center sponsors various programs to encourage Jewish-Christian dialogue. A major activity of the Center is a series of programs at which Jewish, Catholic and Protestant participants discuss various topics, including how the faiths view Jesus, the Ten Commandments, issues of life and death, spirituality, politics, and the Holocaust. The Center has sponsored a impressive list of speakers, including Elie Wiesel and Lawrence and Harold Kushner. The Center also develops academic courses on topics including Judaism, Jewish ethics, the Holocaust, and Jewish-Christian relations, and sponsors a tour to the Holocaust Museum for undergraduate students. The Center is hoping to expand programs currently offered in churches and synagogues in the Twin Cities, Duluth, and northern Minnesota. The archives of the Proceedings of the Center for Jewish-Christian Learning can be found on the Center's website. This journal was published from 1985-1996; since 1996 the Center has posted most of the essays which have resulted from their programs. The Center has published a book entitled Jews and Christians Speak of Jesus, and hopes to add more publications in the future.
The Center's scholar-in-residence program focuses on a technique called Bibliodrama. This dialogue technique provides safe discussion ground for members of different faiths. A Bibliodrama session focuses on a specific text which the communities share in common, and encourages participants to express their diverse experiences and voices in interpreting that story. The program emphasizes imagination and creativity; the personal and emotional connection created by this approach allows people to learn from each other's diverse perspectives without the tension which can come from discussions about law, doctrine, or theology. Bibliodrama serves as a way to communicate the work of scholars in Jewish-Christian dialogue to the broader community. An example of a Bibliodrama workshop is available on the Center's website.
The Jay Phillips Center for Jewish-Christian Learning is committed to educating both students and the broader community about Jewish-Christian relations. The University of St. Thomas is located in the heart of St. Paul; St. John's University is situated slightly outside of St. Cloud. As a result, the Center is working to increase student participation in programs offered at St. Thomas, where they must compete for the attention of students, and to increase community participation in programs at St. John's, where more travel is required for community members to attend. The Center is committed to developing better understanding and appreciation between the Jewish and Christian faiths in a state in which thriving Jewish, Catholic, and Protestant communities of varying concentrations and diverse ethnic backgrounds regularly interact.
Interfaith Organization List
Joint Religious Legislative Coalition (JRLC)
Interfaith Lobby Group
122 Franklin Avenue West, Suite 315
Minneapolis, MN 55404
(612) 870-3670; Minnesota toll free: 888-870-1402; fax (612) 870-3671
www.jrlc.org
info@jrlc.org
The Joint Religious Legislative Coalition (JRLC) is a non-partisan, interfaith public policy organization. The JRLC began in 1970, when lobbyists for the Minnesota Catholic Conference, the Minnesota Council of Churches, and the Jewish Community Relations Council decided to pool their resources to support their common agendas. Today this initially informal relationship has developed into a formal process which requires the boards of each of these three sponsoring organizations to approve all Coalition position statements. This formal affiliation with official representative groups of the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish communities makes the JRLC's interfaith statements uniquely representative of the positions of its member communities. In 1996, the JRLC invited the American Muslim Council of Minnesota to join the Coalition as an official observing organization. This arrangement allows the AMC to learn the process of the JRLC while meaningfully participating in the organization's discussion and approval process. Both the AMC and JRLC hope that as the Muslim community continues to organize itself for political action, the AMC will be able to achieve full membership status in the Coalition.
The purpose of the Coalition is threefold: first, to lobby the Minnesota legislature on issues of social justice; second, to research social issues that confront the state; and third, to coordinate grassroots support of such JRLC initiatives as affordable housing, access to health care, human rights, farm aid and migrant workers' rights. The JRLC was highly involved in the introduction and passage of legislation against hate crimes in the state of Minnesota, and has written issue papers on topics including corporate responsibility, American Indian issues, ecology, fairness in taxation, the death penalty, human rights and sexual orientation, and term limits. The Coalition's web site includes issue papers, justice alerts, and tools to encourage citizens to express their opinions to the Minnesota legislature.
Brian Rusche, the executive director of the JRLC, notes the importance of the interfaith basis of the JRLC's work: "The realization of human dignity is fullest when it is done in community. The great prophets and Jesus instruct us to build right and just communities, and in the United States, the public policy process is an important place to do this work." Its members hope that the Joint Religious Legislative Coalition may serve as a model of effective, united interfaith action for social justice.
Interfaith Organization List
"Muslims and Lutherans in the Twin Cities" Conference
May 18 and 19, 2001
Luther Seminary, St. Paul, MN
Dr. Mark Swanson, Associate Professor of Islamic Studies and Director of the Islamic Studies Program at Luther Seminary, was a member of the planning committee for a conference held in St. Paul in May 2002, entitled "Muslims and Lutherans in the Twin Cities." He explained that the impetus for the conference came from the Lutheran communities of St. Paul and Minneapolis. They had noticed the presence of many Muslims in their neighborhoods, and realized that they ought to know more about their neighbors. The topic was broached by grassroots participants at the annual meetings of both the St. Paul and Minneapolis ELCA synods. The idea of some kind of study process, including educational events and possibly a handbook designed to teach Lutherans about Islam, was passed overwhelmingly at these meetings.
The first event was brief educational conference held in May 2001. It was publicized in Lutheran churches in St. Paul and Minneapolis, focusing on churches near mosques or in areas with large Muslim populations. About 150 people attended the two-day conference; Swanson estimates that they represented about a dozen congregations. The opening address on Friday evening was given by Dr. Charles Amjad-Ali, a Pakistani Christian, who presented a broad overview of Christian-Muslim relations in a speech entitled "Why is This Important."
Saturday morning began with talks further discussing Christian-Muslim relations and introducing the various strands of Islam present in the Twin Cities area. Then a group of Muslims participated in a panel entitled "What Do We Hope for (and Fear from?) Our Christian Neighbors?" There was then an allotted time for prayer for the Muslims, who invited any interested Christian participants to observe the prayers. A room had been set aside at the seminary for the prayer time. Professor Swanson reported that the reaction to this invitation to prayer was very positive; there was no sense that Christian participants were concerned at Muslim prayer occurring in a Lutheran Seminary. Following the prayer time, there were two workshop sessions; participants could choose one of four workshops in each session. Topics included refugee issues; women's perspectives on Islam; theological issues in Christian-Muslim relations; Jihad; and issues of Christian-Muslim intermarriage. The closing discussion was "Directions for the Future," in which participants discussed what they had learned and what they wanted to do next.
Dr. Swanson was very pleased with the conference's success. The community indicated a desire to continue the process of education, and the desire to produce a handbook to help Lutherans understand Islam was confirmed. Swanson believes that in general, Christian-Muslim relations in the Twin Cities are very good, despite some exceptions, such as the arson of a mosque in St. Paul. It is an important sign that the Lutheran churches, of their own accord, not only acknowledged the Muslim presence in their areas, but also acknowledged how little they knew about their new neighbors and lobbied for education in that area. Continuation of this grassroots education has the potential vastly to improve interfaith relations, as everyday Lutherans learn to understand the faith of the Muslims whom they encounter in parking lots, on the street, and in the workplace.
Table of Contents Interfaith Organization List
Mall Area Religious Council (MARC)
Interfaith Council
305 E. 77th Street
Richfield, MN 55423
(952) 851-0788
www.meaningstore.org
Just outside of a store full of bird seed, in full view of the birch bird houses and signs touting the ability of the Yankee Flipper to throw marauding squirrels out of your bird feeder, stands an inconspicuous signboard with the heading "Where to Worship!" The four-foot high structure holds informational cards for various area religious congregations--Baptist, Buddhist, Baha'i, and more. This board, located in front of the Wild Bird Store at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota, is the physical presence of the Mall Area Religious Council (MARC), a group based in the religious communities around the mall. MARC describes itself as "a gathering of world religion congregations who have chosen to move beyond tolerance and into the realm of mutual respect." With neighbors including Al's Farm Toys, the Hat Zone, and the Mall's huge indoor amusement park, Camp Snoopy, the signboard represents one of the Council's goals: to bring a sense of values to the sphere of commerce, as represented by the Mall of America and its 520 stores.
How did we end up with a sign listing the addresses and worship times of reading rooms, mosques, churches and meditation centers next to the screaming people riding the Camp Snoopy rollercoaster and backlit by the natural light filtering in through the frosted sunroof over the park? MARC began in 1987, when Catholics, Lutherans, Presbyterians and others in the neighborhood of the proposed Mall of America began conversing about what this huge addition to their neighborhood would mean for their congregations and communities. The council was originally made up of only these Christian congregations, and struggled to find its purpose in its early days. The Council served the Mall during the construction phase by making their members available to workers in case of accidents at the construction site. It also served as a liaison between the Mall of America and its soon-to-be neighbors, alleviating fears and dispelling misinformation in the community.
Shortly after the mall opened, MARC held an ecumenical worship service in the rotunda of the mall. Between 1,000 and 2,000 people attended the event, sparking the interest of many congregations in the Twin Cities. As congregations began asking mall management to allow them to use space for worship, it became clear to the management that this was a trend they would have to deal with. Manager John Wheeler informed MARC of the mall's new policy on worship space: worship services would not be allowed unless they were interfaith.
Initially MARC, as a Christian council, began looking for space in individual stores. But as it became clear how difficult it would be to find such space, the members began thinking about the management's decision about interfaith groups. Soon, MARC's member congregations decided that the council should become interfaith. Their purpose has shifted from offering ecumenical Christian worship to encouraging understanding among all faiths, with the ultimate goal of establishing the Meaning Store Interfaith Global Center. The center would be one of the Mall of America's hundreds of tenants. The current design includes a public space with items representative of many different religions available for purchase, and with free access to educational materials about various religious traditions. The bulk of the center would be an interfaith meditation room, open to anyone of any faith, for use by the public as well as by employees at the Mall of America and its tenant stores. The space would also include a dialogue room, supplying a quiet space for discussion. Negotiations are ongoing with the Mall to develop this site. The Mall of America has expressed interest in establishing the Meaning Store as an alternative to building two very small meditation rooms to accommodate the prayer needs of their Muslim employees. MARC is currently engaging in discussion with faith leaders from communities around the Twin Cities in order to ascertain if such a meditation space would serve the needs of the greater Twin Cities area.
Establishing the Meaning Store is a large task, requiring the building of many relationships as well as the acquisition of funds. While pursuing the Meaning Store idea, MARC wanted to engage visitors to the Mall of America in a more immediate way. To this end, MARC runs various programs including an annual informational session called "Holy Days and Holidays Around the World," at which MARC uses space at the Mall to present information about world religions. MARC also holds other annual events, including the Elder Expo and the Youth Expo, and various interfaith presentations.
From October 2000 to February 2001, MARC ran a short-term kiosk in the Mall of America. The theme of the OASIS kiosk was "One World Many Faiths," and Mall visitors felt that this was a safe place to explore different aspects of faith. The kiosk offered some merchandise for purchase, but also offered free access to informational material on various world religions, and conversations with carefully selected volunteers who were ready and able to discuss the challenges and rewards of moving "beyond tolerance and into the realm of mutual respect." The success of the kiosk, and especially MARC's ability to staff the kiosk entirely with volunteers, 7 days a week for more than 8 hours a day for 5 months, helped to convince the mall of MARC's commitment to its work and of the community's interest in this resource.
The Mall of America draws 43-45 million people each year, more than Disney World, Graceland, and the Grand Canyon combined. John Chell, one of the founding members of MARC, says of the Mall of America, "It's truly an international center. So that's why an international, interfaith global center would be so appropriate for this location." The Mall Area Religious Council is working to encourage the development of a Twin Cities community which joins with MARC in the belief that "Being in the presence of person of a world religion other than one's own can have a transforming effect. In moments of personal contact, each may come to better appreciate their own unique spiritual tradition." The members of the Mall Area Religious Council will continue to meet the challenges of encouraging interfaith endeavors, motivated by a deep belief that, as John Chell says, "If you can get people to that table in interfaith work, there's no limit to what can be done."
Interfaith Organization List
On September 11, 2002, a terrorist attack in New York resulted in the deaths of thousands. The innocent Americans killed in this attack were of various faiths, and the broader victims include everyone who considers America home, regardless of ethnicity or religious tradition. That awful day propelled the discussion of religion into the American public square. From new heights of fear of unfamiliar practices to a new awareness of the variety of religious communities in the United States, people all over the country who had no previous knowledge of the religious diversity in the U.S. were suddenly made aware of the presence of those who had lived alongside them for decades.
The confusion, fear, and hope which have followed September 11 have sometimes strained interfaith relationships,and have sometimes been vital to the community education and communication which can lead to communal healing. Four of the six interfaith organizations discussed above evolved out of interfaith friendships and common issues of concern, and many members of different interfaith groups have close ties with one another. This basic "relational" nature of the interfaith movement has been vital to the success of various interfaith activities after September 11. As interfaith relations have become a primary concern nationwide, the dedication to communication and relationship which is the basis of the interfaith community has continued to serve America well.
-- Interfaith organizations have been called upon to advise those who have suddenly realized the importance of learning to understand and respect other faiths, particularly Islam.
-- The Mall of America hastened the building of an interfaith meditation room, in part to accommodate the needs of their numerous Muslim employees. The room was dedicated on February 28, 2002. It includes foot-washing stalls, a place to store shoes and prayer rugs, a painted compass indicating the direction of Mecca, and a poster relating the ways in which 13 different religions express "The Golden Rule." Information on the meditation room can be found at www.meaningstore.org/Moreprayerroom.htm.
-- A new Mosque in Bloomington (a suburb of the Twin Cities) has been holding open houses each Sunday, and has received over 100 visitors each week.
-- On September 14, a group of leaders from various faiths in the Twin Cities area held an Interfaith Press Conference and produced a press release condemning the attacks. This new group has decided to continue to hold regular meetings.
-- On September 16, the state of Minnesota held an interfaith memorial service for the victims of the terrorist attacks. Over 40,000 people attended this service. (For more information, including press releases, official statements, and photographs, please visit www.mnchurches.org).
The interfaith movement has gradually been gaining speed over the last 20 to 30 years. Rather than being strained by these difficult times, many of the relationships created through these endeavors are now treasured more than ever. It is becoming clear that our nation's religious communities can no longer afford to live separate lives, and frightened and saddened individuals are finding support in communities of mutual understanding and respect. The Interfaith News Conference's press release affirms that
"Division breeds anxiety, fear, hatred, and violence. Unity cultivates humility, compassion, hope, and vitality. We stand together for unity, faith, and life."
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