Carino: Interfaith Thanksgiving service a good reminder

Fatma Kiline of Peace Islands Institute speaks to those gathered at the church. The Lincroft Presbyterian Church hosts the Bayshore Ministerium Interfaith Thanksgiving Service with the idea that bringing people of different faiths together will make the world a better place. Lincroft, NJ Tuesday, November 24, 2015 @dhoodhood  (Photo: Doug Hood/Staff Photographer)
Fatma Kiline of Peace Islands Institute speaks to those gathered at the church. The Lincroft Presbyterian Church hosts the Bayshore Ministerium Interfaith Thanksgiving Service with the idea that bringing people of different faiths together will make the world a better place. Lincroft, NJ Tuesday, November 24, 2015 @dhoodhood (Photo: Doug Hood/Staff Photographer)


Date posted: November 27, 2015

The annual gathering of Christians, Jews and Muslims took on added poignancy in light of today’s polarized climate.

It was a powerful message, delivered to a church packed with Christians, Jews and Muslims who want to make this world a better place.

“Listen not with our ears, but with our hearts,” Fatma Kiline said at the start of an interfaith Thanksgiving service Tuesday night.

Kiline came to the gathering at Lincroft Presbyterian Church at a crucial time for interfaith relations, with the world roiling in the aftermath of Islamic terrorist attacks in Paris and elsewhere. She is a Muslim who works for Peace Islands Institute, a dialogue-promoting outreach organization with branches in five states.

“Seeing that the name of my religion is being hijacked every day is making me very sad,” she said in an interview before the service. “That is why I am standing here strongly against all those activities. I am here for peace and love, and I am here to share that love and peace that I believe in my heart.”

This interfaith Thanksgiving service has been held at rotating sites along Monmouth County’s Bayshore for many years, but its timing was particularly poignant Tuesday. And not just because of events abroad. Here at home, much of the presidential campaign rhetoric about American Muslims and the nation’s response to the Syrian refugee crisis has been heated.

This interfaith service focused on positives, such as songs and prayers of Thanksgiving from each religion. In interviews beforehand, the principals expressed concern about the direction of public discourse.

“As a leader in the community, the rhetoric of painting one segment of the population in derogatory terms is very reminiscent historically of what happened to the Jewish people in the 1930s and ’40s as they tried to get out of Nazi Germany,” said Rabbi Laurence Malinger of Temple Shalom in Aberdeen. “It disturbs me, it hurts me, it pains me, and I am working with others to make sure that we cannot make the same mistakes again.”

No names were mentioned, but the political arguments against the acceptance of refugees from Syria’s humanitarian crisis were on people’s minds.

Malinger said he is exploring ways to help Syrian families relocate to the area within the accepted legal framework.

“I would love as a community to help bring a family or two over, just like we did in the 1980s with Soviet Jews,” the rabbi said. “Their grandchildren are now living very productive American lives. It made a difference.”

The attendees Tuesday sought to do just that.

“Rhetoric, politics, tends to not be person to person,” said the Rev. Diane Ford, pastor of Lincroft Presbyterian “All the faith traditions are about person to person. What we’re hoping happens tonight of course is to make that person to person amplified.”

It was. You could hear a pin drop as leaders of each faith prayed for harmony. Three candles, united on one stand, glowed under a banner that read “We gather together.”

Symbols matter. Words matter. Actions, too. They all were present Tuesday, a microcosm of what the nation needs this Thanksgiving.

“There is so much disrespect and hate out there. This is the thing that counteracts that,” said the Rev. Virginia Jarocha-Ernst of Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Monmouth County. “Getting together in a positive way, because we have so much more in common than we don’t — that’s the way we’re going to create peace.”


Carino’s Corner appears regular in the Asbury Park Press. Contact Jerry Carino:[email protected].

Source: APP.COM , November 26, 2015


Related News

Ministry dismisses honorary consuls, allegedly for ‘Hizmet’ affiliation

The Turkish Foreign Ministry did not renew honorary consuls’ certificates due to their affiliation with the Hizmet movement, Turkish media reported.

Call for Papers – International Gandhi Jayanti Conference 2015

Education is at the heart of the core problems of a society, potential solutions for making a healthy society and for peace building as well. Education is the key to eliminating gender inequality, to reducing poverty, to creating a sustainable planet, to preventing needless deaths and illness, and to fostering peace.

Forum on the Future of Islam – Is Islamism(s) Prone to Produce Extremism?

Rethink Institute has launched a new research program, Future of Islam, to debate and address the most critical questions, share ideas, and offer solutions to salient issues related to the future of Islam and Muslims. Forum on the Future of Islam has been established as the deliberative component of the program whereby prominent experts and leaders meet annually […]

Gaza group: Oppression targeting Kimse Yok Mu harms needy the most

Gaza Peace Volunteers Association Chairman Dr. Nasser al-Sadi has expressed his frustration at a recent government decision to cancel the Turkish charity Kimse Yok Mu’s (Is Anybody There?) permission to collect donations for the rest of the year, saying that the charity’s ongoing flow of aid to many regions in Turkey and abroad, including Gaza, has now come to a halt.

Egyptian scholar Muhammad Imara: Hira Magazine building bridges in Islamic world

CUMALI ÖNAL, CAIRO Leading Egyptian Islamic scholar Muhammad Imara has praised Turkey’s Arabic language magazine, Hira, for performing a crucial role in building bridges between the Turkish and Arab world as well as for the humanity. Imara, one of many respected Islamic scholars writing for the Hira Magazine — Turkey’s first and only Arabic magazine  […]

Young Peace Ambassadors Academy 2015 Graduation Ceremony

Peace Islands Institute launched the Young Peace Ambassadors Academy (YPAA), which is a peace education program for the middle and high school students in the New York City. The aim of this 6-weeks intense leadership program is to provide a space platform for the students, who are interested in the social science, to learn about the global issues and United Nations.

Latest News

Fethullah Gülen’s Condolence Message for South African Human Rights Defender Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Hizmet Movement Declares Core Values with Unified Voice

Ankara systematically tortures supporters of Gülen movement, Kurds, Turkey Tribunal rapporteurs say

Erdogan possessed by Pharaoh, Herod, Hitler spirits?

Devious Use of International Organizations to Persecute Dissidents Abroad: The Erdogan Case

A “Controlled Coup”: Erdogan’s Contribution to the Autocrats’ Playbook

Why is Turkey’s Erdogan persecuting the Gulen movement?

Purge-victim man sent back to prison over Gulen links despite stage 4 cancer diagnosis

University refuses admission to woman jailed over Gülen links

In Case You Missed It

Teacher jailed with 3-day-old baby released only to house arrest with ankle bracelet

Reflections on my first trip to TÜRKIYE

Former Turkish officer at NATO: Coup attempt was never meant to succeed

Coup plotter or moderate religious leader? Finnish State TV Yle meets Turkey’s most wanted man

Mysterious visitors to holdings

Sweep these [journalists] off the floor

Imam who lives in rural Pennsylvania arouses praise, concerns

Copyright 2023 Hizmet News