“Inspiring Engagement”
By Ram Mohan, Trustee, Hindu Temple Society of North America, NY
When we work together great things happen. When people of different faiths work together diverse communities get stronger. We at the Hindu Temple in Flushing, NY have been interacting with The Interfaith Center of New York (ICNY) for a long time and know firsthand quite a bit about the work they do. ICNY acts as a “connector” of motivated individuals from diverse faiths who through their active engagement strive for a constructive end.
For example, ICNY is involved in the following activities:
~ At a recent Marshall Meyer Retreat, connecting New York City Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) with faith-based community leaders, to help understand what ACS does for the children in the various communities;
~Bringing together high school students from different faiths for “debate training” as part of their Debate in the Neighborhood program;
~ Providing free lunch as part of their Catholic-Muslim Partnership which has other kinds of social action as well;
~ Holding a Retreat on the subject of Homelessness in New York City;
~ Campaigning against the controversial “stop and frisk” practice of the NYPD;
~ Conducting courses on teaching the “Everyday Life of American Religious Diversity” for K-12 teachers;
~ Running a Christian and Muslim (and more recently Jewish) Women’s Interfaith Dialogue Group;
~ A whole host of other activities that attempt to reach out to the rank and file of the diverse religious groups of New York City.
The work done by ICNY is with respect for individual religious identity, and with the belief that mutually inspiring relationships and interfaith cooperation builds authentic lasting friendships. As a result, opportunities emerge for faith leaders and others to have real conversations about disagreements and differences and each person stands to gain from such interactions.
While dialogue is important, research shows that common action for the common good builds stronger communities.
This is where ICNY’s efforts to foster interfaith cooperation have the potential to create tolerance and acceptance among people of diverse faiths and thus help better communal relations in a diverse society. ICNY’s initiatives are specifically aimed toward taking positive action toward a social issue that strikes a chord in the religious and philosophical beliefs of people.
The Hindu Temple has been active in ICNY matters through its President, Dr. Uma Mysorekar, who is also a Board Member of ICNY. Personally speaking, I am a Hindu and in the American landscape as a group Hindus are relatively recent immigrants. My personal involvement in ICNY representing my temple and my faith has been limited so far but I hope to continue to participate as ICNY expands its activities to include more initiatives with more faiths. As the second and third generation of Hindus or for that matter any group begin to be active in social issues, the power of interfaith coalitions become more and more demonstrable and therefore important, inspiring them to play a greater role in institutions such as the ICNY.
