1. Executive Director's Updates
• 9/11 Unity Walk 2008
• The Pope's to Visit U.S. Religious Leaders
• International Day of Peace Vigil to be Held this Fall
• Days of Interfaith Youth Service
• Nature and Spirit Event on the Environment
• The Saudi King Calls for Interfaith Dialog
• Join Religions for Peace in the Struggle to Ban Cluster Bombs
2. We Are All Connected
   • Religious Leaders Help Fight Global Poverty By Focusing on Women and Girls
3. An Introduction to
• The Dawoodi Bohra Community
4. Off the Shelf
   • Reconciliation: Islam, Democracy, and the West
   • The Faith Club
   • The Life of Meaning
5. Food for Thought: John F. Kennedy
6. Donate to Religions for Peace - USA
7. Subscribe/Unsubscribe

Days of Interfaith Youth Service
April 19th and 20th marks the 5th annual Days of Interfaith Youth Service, held in Washington D.C. by the Interfaith Conference of Metropolitan Washington. Worldwide, these days are led by the Interfaith Youth Core of Chicago. Engage in service, dialog, and have fun making friends with peers of different faiths. Students looking for school community service hours are also welcome to attend. Habitat for Humanity will be there, allowing volunteers to help with a local construction project. Also, there will be a tree planting sponsored by the Earth Conservation corps on Sunday from 2-6. Space is limited for this event, so sign up as soon as possible. Click here for more information.

Nature and Spirit Event on the Environment
Various faith organizations including Greenfaith and the Auburn Theological Seminary will be hosting an event called Nature and Spirit: Motivation and Tools for Religious-Environmental Leadership. Included in the schedule is time for multi-faith worship, the screening of a film called “Renewal,” a panel discussing the environment, and workshops offering resources for a religious solution to environmental problems. The event will take place on May 5th at 9:30 am at the New York Interfaith Church Center. Registration costs $60.

To register, please click here.

The Saudi King Calls for Interfaith Dialog
On the 26th of last month, Religions for Peace International praised Saudi King Abdullah for calling on Jews, Christians, and Muslims to engage in meaningful dialog. The King’s statement was a follow up to his meeting with Pope Benedict last November, where the two leaders addressed the need for exchanges between cultures to promote peace. Chief Rabbi David Rosen, a member of the Religions for Peace World Council, said, "The powerful significance of King Abdullah's call for multi-religious dialogue is impossible to overstate. Such multi-religious dialogue could have wide-ranging impact in the Middle East region by helping to engage religions in the building of peace."

Join Religions for Peace in the Struggle to Ban Cluster Bombs
Last year, world leaders met in Norway to discuss a possible international ban on cluster bombs. A cluster bomb is a munitions package holding hundreds of tiny bomblets. The package opens in mid air to disperse the bomblets over a large area. However, bomblets do not always explode when they hit the ground, essentially becoming landmines that can harm civilians years later. Handicap International has reported the alarming statistic that 98 percent of casualties caused by cluster munitions are non-combatants.

Religions for Peace, which originally formed to support nuclear disarmament, has joined the worldwide Cluster Munitions Coalition which calls for the end of the production, transfer, stockpiling, and use of cluster bombs. The 19th of April shall be considered the Global Day of Action to Ban Cluster Bombs, wherein leaders from around America will submit their petitions. To get involved, visit the Coalition’s “Act Now!” website to send letters to government officials, and sign petitions.

This month's featured member group is the Dawoodi Bohra Community. The term Bohra (literally trade) refers to a Muslim community found in western India. Most often, it refers to a specific group called the Dawoodi Bohras, the most prosperous and best organized of the Borhas. They are part of the Isma'ilis, one of the larger Shi'a Islamic branches. The spiritual and political leader of the Bohras is the Dai l-Mutlaq an appointed position which claims it's authority from the hidden Imam of Shi'a Islamic tradition.

They are a close-knit people who use distinctive clothing, a special Arabic-derived language, and unique traditions to distinguish themselves from other groups. Their society is also hierarchical, like other Isma'ili groups, following in the Fatimid tradition. Today's Dawoodi community approximates one million followers, the majority living in Pakistan and India.

For news from this community from India and around the world, visit Mumineen.org.

Reconciliation: Islam, Democracy, and the West
Finished just days before her assassination last year, Benazir Bhutto's Reconciliation recounts her tumultuous return to Pakistan and addresses the causes of Muslim extremism. She argues that America and Britan have been fueling extremism by their enabling of dictators who support short-term interests. These dictators then turn around and support anti-western terrorism. Her position is that the core of Islam is justice and tolerance, and that Muslim communities need to reaffirm these values if there is to be any peace in the future.

The Faith Club
A candid interaction between women belonging to the three Abrahamic faiths, The Faith Club reveals that although each religion has tendencies which alienate the others, a positive understanding can be built out of sincere dialog. Written in the form of a conversation, the book's women are brutally honest and do not shy away from the real issues that divide the faiths. The three authors are Ranya Idliby, a Palestinian Muslim, Priscilla Warner, a Jew, and Suzanne Oliver, an Episcopal Christian. Their conversation is ripe with tension and conflict, factors that are not to be avoided if sincere communication is to be achieved in interfaith dialogue.

The Life of Meaning
A companion guide to public television's Religion and Ethics Newsweekly, this book by Bob Abernathy and William Bole draws from the body of interviews conducted by the program. The interviews are arranged by subject, such as the problem of evil, pluralism, and the afterlife. The aim of The Life of Meaning is to present the most important religious questions, and their answers as related by top figures in religion and spirituality, such as the Dalai Lama, Thich Nhat Hanh, and Desmond Tutu.

"Peace is a daily, a weekly, a monthly process, gradually changing opinions, slowly eroding old barriers, quietly building new structures."
-John F. Kennedy

Archives
Visit RFPUSA.org to view previous e-newsletters.