EMU West Dining Room
12:00 Noon
Hadley Jenner from the Interfaith Housing committee will
give an update on their work to end homelessness.
New Community Project will talk about their Sustainability Center that is nearly completed.
Rev. Daniel Robayo will speak on the topic of how Emmanuel
Episcopal Church lives out its faith in the valley.
March meeting cancelled due to weather.
February 7 Interfaith Association Meeting
EMU West Dining Room
12:00 Noon
Ben Fordney and Dwayne Martin will
present on the topic of The
President’s proposals to curb gun violence.
Ben Fordney is a History professor,
has served in the foreign service and is the Chairman of the Shenandoah
Valley Civil War Roundtable.
Dwayne Martin is employed at the Crossroads Counseling
Center as the Mental health support program
coordinator. Prior to this he served as a police officer with the city of Harrisonburg as a part of
the Crisis/Hostage negotiation team, Special operations team, and two years
routine patrol.
December 6
We are fortunate to have Dr. Amir Akrami presenting at our monthly
meeting,
He will be speak about the Islamic faith and how a greater understanding
of Islam helps us in America have more peaceful relations across religions and
cultures. He will describe his views on how the West and Iran could
peacefully resolve the current dispute.
Dr. Akrami’s bio:
Dr. Akrami, EMU’s first visiting Muslim scholar in the Center for
Interfaith Engagement, arrived mid-September in Harrisonburg and will continue
in his role as visiting scholar through summer 2013. He comes to EMU from
the Iranian Institute of Philosophy in Tehran,
Iran.
Dr. Akrami has been a regular participant in the internationally
respected Building Bridges Seminars in London, 2002; Bosnia, 2005; Washington
DC, 2006; Singapore, 2007 and Rome 2008
(http://berkleycenter.
He holds an M.A in Religions and Mysticism from the University of Tehran,
and a PhD in Philosophy of Religion from McGill
University in Montreal. From 2006-2009 he served as
lecturer of Islamic Studies at Al-Mahdi Institute, Birmingham, UK, and has
taught courses in Buddhism, Christianity, Philosophy of Religion, and Islamic
Mysticism.
November 1
Guest speaker Dr. Sam Showalter spoke on "Addiction and Grace," based on his own experience in working with addicted persons and on the book by that title authored by the late Dr. Gerald May, a psychiatrist and theologian, and led us in a conversation on how addiction affects each of us.
October 4
“Religion and the 2012 Election”
Dr. Frances Flannery and Dr. Jennifer Connerley, are both professors at James Madison University. Dr. Connerley will be present to the October 4 Interfaith meeting and most likely Dr. Flannery. There is a family health issue that could prevent her from coming.
Professor
Connerley teaches courses in U.S.
religions and American Studies. Her writing and research interests include new
religious movements in the United
States, evangelicalism, and the Latter-day
Saints.
Professor
Flannery teaches and researches in the areas of the Hebrew Bible, Judaism, and
Religious Terrorism. Her main areas of study have been Second Temple Judaism,
particularly focusing on issues related to apocalypticism, early Jewish
mysticism, and religious experience. More recently, she has been focusing her
research and writing on issues of Religious Terrorism, in the context of
religious beliefs and cultural constructs.
Dr.
Jennifer Connerley will address the specific religious histories of Barack
Obama (United Church of Christ) and Mitt Romney (Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints). She will also consider the public discussions and
controversies surrounding the religions of both candidates, reflecting on both
the 2008 and 2012 election cycles.
Dr.
Frances Flannery will discuss the religious ideas informing this year's
presidential election cycle. She will provide a special focus on
apocalyptic beliefs amongst candidates, as well as an analysis of the election
in the context of terrorism threats and unstable governments worldwide.
