Community Events

“Welcoming the Stranger” and “Christian Privilage”: A Jewish Transplant’s Take on Making Minnesota Home

This session is part six of a six part series running through the 2018-2019 academic year titled Encountering Religious and Cultural Traditions: A Series Fostering Religious Literacy and Interreligious Understanding. In this special concluding session, theater artist Dylan Fresco will perform two solo pieces and facilitate a group reflection process.

Free and open to the public

Talking to People with Opposing Views

Presenter/Facilitator: Nicole Ektnitphong

Ah, those tough conversations with family, friends, neighbors, and workmates with whom you have strong differences on crucial issues! With the current mood of U.S. society so divisive, these differences can loom large in our hearts and result in active discord or uncomfortable silences.

Join us to look into some of the exploration underway in creating constructive discourse and corresponding actions. Nicole Ektnitphong, one of mn350.org’s passionate organizers, will share helpful insights from a national research project investigating effective ways to activate people to get involved in climate change.

Nicole will talk about generative ways to discuss differences with others and, drawing from personal experience, focus on talking across race lines. We’ll hear about your successes in these kinds of endeavors and break into small groups to practice some of the suggestions and role-play some challenging conversations.

Nicole Ektnitphong served as the Deep Canvass Director at MN350 and is a social justice movement trainer and community organizer with roots in Thailand and Laos. She combines participant-centered education, body-based wisdom, and experience as an organizer. Nicole’s community organizing work includes youth of color in her hometown of Worthington, MN, the Divestment Student Network, the broader climate justice movement, Tamales y Bicicletas, Asians for Black Lives, Voices for Racial Justice, and Training for Change.

Crucifixion in Christianity and Islam

Bob Brenneman, Christian presenter, Saoudy A. Saoudy, Muslim presenter

South Metro Interfaith Community Meeting: Responding with Humanity in the Heat of the Moment: Nonviolent Communication on the Street

We know that harassment happens–whether because of someone’s weight, sexual orientation, color, religion, or something else–but we often don’t know what to say. Fear of doing it wrong, of judgement, of being ineffective keeps us from responding in intense situations. In this workshop we will practice–using short, focused, guided role-plays–responding with humanity when we are upset.

All are welcome. Questions? Contact Paula (pnordhem@yahoo.com) or Pam (wpdj@usfamily.net).

Was Jesus a Model for Muhammad?

Georgetown Visiting Researcher Younus Mirza will challenge notions that narratives about Jesus and Mary in the Qur’an are always in opposition to those of Christianity. Scholarship on ‘Christian’ narratives in the Qur’an often emphasize how the Qur’anic Jesus is different than the Christian Jesus. In Islam, Jesus is seen as a prophet, whereas in Christianity, Jesus is seen as the Son of God. However, recent scholarship sheds light on the fact that Muhammad and his followers identified with Jesus and Mary, and that the Qur’an encourages the believing community to be like Jesus’ disciples. While there are no doubt verses that are critical of the Trinity and of the view that Jesus is divine, there are other narratives that suggest that the early Muslim community saw Christian figures as sources of inspiration.

Interfaith Action Annual Assembly: “Who Will Be in the Pews in 2040?”

Featuring the Award-Winning Journalist Ray Suarez

Meet & Greet with Ray Suarez: 5 pm ($175)
Buffet Dinner: 5:45 pm ($50)
Keynote Address: 7:15 pm ($10)