In This Issue:
1. Resources Available to Conduct Fall Dialogues on U.S. Foreign Policy
2. Interfaith Updates - Mark Your Calendars
3. An Introduction to the Federation of Zoroastrian Associations of North America (FEZANA)
4. Interfaith Film Festival
5. Food for Thought: Dorothy Thompson
6. Donate to Religions for Peace - USA
7. Subscribe/Unsubscribe

Religions for Peace - USA is pleased to announce that Fresno, Philadelphia, and Kansas City are the three winners of this year's grants for technical assistance in building interreligious councils. Congratulations! While there were many applicants and the competition was close, we could only select three for this round. We hope to offer additional grants for assistance in this regard after our learnings in 2004. Stay tuned!

In lieu of the usual update on the international work of the Religions for Peace, this month we offer connections to a series of events and organizations that are friends of Religions for Peace-USA. Please consider for your calendars . . .

The 57th Annual DPI/NGO Conference at the United Nations takes place September 8-10, 2004. Please visit www.UNngoDPIconference.org for more information.

The UN-recognized International Day of Peace is a valuable focal point for discussions, reflections, and religious services honoring peace and nonviolence. Religions for Peace-USA is hosting a special meeting of its Executive Council on this special day, Sept. 21, 2004, with a unique interfaith prayer service at the Church Center for the United Nation, tentatively scheduled for 4-5 p.m..

Your community can participate in this international movement for a day of peace and non-violence. For more information and resources, please visit www.idpvigil.com or write to info@idpvigil.com. The mission is to "encourage worldwide, 24-hour spiritual observations for peace and nonviolence on the International Day of Peace, Tuesday, 21 September 2004 in every house of worship and place of spiritual practice, by all religious and spiritually based groups and individuals, and by all men, women and children who seek peace in the world."

The North American Interfaith Network (NAIN) and the National Association of Ecumenical and Interreligious Staff just completed their first ever joint meeting in New York City. It was a great success. NAIN, a continent-wide network of interfaith organizations, is scheduled to meet next in Las Vegas circa August 13-16, 2005. Visit their website for photos and more information.

David Algers presses a point with the Pluralism Project's Grove Harris in a workshop about the margins of the interfaith movement.

The National Association of Ecumenical and Interreligious Staff (NAEIS), a colleague sharing forum of ecumenical and interreligious professional staff, is scheduled to meet in Indianapolis circa July 9-12, 2005. They help provide professional development and networking opportunities as well as hopeful renewal to the front line leaders of the ecumenical and interfaith movements. Please visit their new website, www.naeis.org, for more information. Brenda Girton-Mitchell of the NCCCUSA is the Program Chair for 2005.

Interfaith Youth Core has excellent resources and models for working with youth. Mark your calendars for April 9 and/or 10, 2005 which are the National Day(s) of Interfaith Youth Service. For more information, please contact Ms. April Kunze at the IFYC at april@ifyc.org. This Chicago-based organization is growing.

A dozen representatives and colleagues from Religions for Peace chapters around the globe met in Barcelona, Spain in the context of the 2004 Parliament of World Religions gathering. We discussed concrete plans for communications and activities between more than 50 chapters of Religions for Peace chapters around the world. Kyoichi Sugino, Jonathan Granoff, and other Religions for Peace colleagues and friends gave presentations at the Parliament.

Religions for Peace friends from Rwanda, Japan, Belgium, South Africa, Italy, the US, and the UK gather for an evening meal at the 2004 Parliament of World Religions.

With over 50 member religious communities and over 90 members on its three councils, Religions for Peace-USA, wishes to occasionally spotlight individual members or communities. This issue features FEZANA - Federation of Zoroastrian Associations of North America.

FEZANA was registered in the State of Illinois on June 2, 1987 as a non-profit, religious and charitable organization. The first Annual General Meeting was held in Toronto on April 1, 1988, in conjunction with the sixth North American Zoroastrian Congress. The first elected Officers were: Mr. Rohinton Rivetna (Chicago), President; Mr. Homi B. Minocher Homji (Toronto), Vice-President; Mr. Framroze Patel (New York), Treasurer; Mrs. Dolly Dastoor (Montreal), Secretary; and Mrs. Sabar Balsara (Toronto), Assistant Secretary. Currently, Rohinton Rivetna sits on our Executive Council and is the Chairperson of External Affairs of FEZANA as well as on FEZANA's World Body Working Group.

Zoroastrians are the followers of the great Iranian prophet, Zarathushtra (known to the Greeks as Zoroaster), who lived about three and a half thousand years ago, circa 1500 B.C.E.. Zoroastrians began migrating to North America in the 1950s and 1960s, seeking higher education and better opportunities. They have settled well and prospered in business and the professions. Possibly the most notable Zoroastrian in the U.S.A. today is Zubin Mehta, former conductor of the NY Philharmonic Orchestra. These immigrants brought with them more than their skills and talents, their willingness to work and determination to succeed. They also brought their faith, culture and customs, their language and literature - the legacy of a centuries-old tradition that fits surprisingly well into the modern North American milieu.

The North American Federation proved a strong communal infrastructure to the various Zoroastrian Associations in North America. They promote the study, understanding and practice of the Zoroastrian faith and the welfare of the Zoroastrian communities.

In this section we feature interesting, replicable projects of our member religious communities or thought-provoking publications for our common mission. In this issue we highlight the first ever interfaith focused film festival featured at the joint meeting of NAIN and NAEIS held July 24 - 27 in New York City.

The winner for Best Short Film was "La Promesa/The Vow" by Cheryl Hess. And the winner for Best Feature Film was "Hiding and Seeking: Faith and Tolerance After the Holocaust" by Oren Rudavsky.

La Promesa/The Vow - Set against the backdrop of St. Lazarus Day (December 17th), La Promesa was filmed in Cuba over three consecutive years and tells the story of Fidel who is in the process of fulfilling a five-year vow that he has made to St. Lazarus for the health of his young son. Every year tens of thousands of the devoted make the pilgrimage to the tiny church of El Rincon to pay their respects to “El Viejo”, (the old man) this beloved saint who is considered by the Cuban people to be the most miraculous of all. Some walk for miles, some stay on the church ground for days, some come carrying candles or icons, some barefoot or on their knees, others come with a bottle of rum and a tabaco (cigar). More than a solemn event, St. Lazarus Day is a joyous occasion, part religion, part party--it’s Catholocism a lo cubano.

Hiding and Seeking: Faith and Tolerance After the Holocaust - Menachem Daum takes his adult sons from their narrow Jerusalem Yeshiva world on a trip to Poland to try to find the Polish farm family that hid their grandfather for twenty-eight months during World War II. What they find forces them to reconsider their narrow and perhaps racist views of the "other."

Other films that premiered there were "Another Way of Seeing Things" by Dan Arden, "Cassadaga" by Andre Vaillancourte, "Final Solution" by Rakesh Sharma, "God And Allah Need To Talk" by Ruth Broyde-Sharone, "Join Me in Shambhala" by Anya Bernstein, "North of 49" by Richard Breyer, "Questioning Faith:Confessions of a Seminarian" by Macky Alston, "Recovery Mural" by Sloan Seale, and "What Do You Believe? American Teenagers, Spirituality, and Freedom of Religion" by Sarah Feinbloom.

For more information on the films above visit the Impact Coalition Website.