PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

From: Valerie Elliott, President, Antelope Valley Interfaith Council

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AV INTERFAITH 9/11 PATRIOT DAY SERVICE
“The Path to Peace” involves many faiths

Saturday, September 11, 2010, will be the 9th Unity and Memorial Service sponsored by the local Interfaith Council. Valerie Elliott, President of the Council said, “The purpose of Interfaith has always been to bring people together in a harmonious way. Our 9/11 Memorial and Unity Service this September 11, has that same purpose.

Mentioning that this year’s event is almost a decade since the tragic events of 9/11/2001, she said the Interfaith Council is encouraging us all to actively look for “The Path to Peace,” the topic of this year’s event.

The guest speaker is Eisha Mason. Eisha Mason currently serves as the Interim Regional Director of the American Friends Service Committee in the Pacific Southwest. She is an activist, speaker, author and teacher of nonviolence. She is also co-author of 64 Ways to Practice Nonviolence Curriculum and Resource Guide. Eisha Mason hosts the
KPFK radio show, The Way Forward on 90.7FM in Los Angeles and 98.7FM in Santa Barbara.

This year’s event is going to be held at First Church of Christ, Scientist, Lancaster church from 6 to 7 pm at 44802 N. Fern Avenue. Refreshments will be provided following the service. Rev. Hilde Brooks, co-chair of the event, said that she hopes this service, at the end of the day, will be an opportunity to quietly and respectfully honor all who have been touched by the events of that day, and to move forward in a way that will help bring peace to us all.

Attendees at the event are encouraged to bring travel size containers of hygiene products – samples from hotel or motels are good – and used cell phones for the Antelope Valley Chapter of the Blue Star Mothers. There will also be an opportunity to contribute towards the Blue Star Mothers, a non-profit and non-political organization that supports our troops by sending care packages to them.

For further information, contact Rev. Hilde Brooks, Sr. Pastor of the Center for Spiritual Living – AV, at 661-948-0873.

Location: Center for Spiritual Living
1030 L-8 Lancaster, CA 93536
(Corner of 10th St West)

FREE admission, FREE parking and FREE Indian food for 1000!

Music, dances, plays and exhibits that include a $90,000.00 multi-media presentation called changing bodies. Hear and see how the soul travels from body to body to body!

This is an incredible International festival for the first time in Lancaster.

Trustees of the Council for a Parliament of the World’s Religions call upon people of faith, spirit and goodwill from all traditions to use the solemn occasion of this 9/11 anniversary to reaffirm our commitment to building a better world for our children and grandchildren, and to affirm our solidarity with the Muslim community in this country and around the world. In this spirit, we offer this Call for Solidarity:

On this 9/11 weekend, we invite all persons and communities of faith, spirit and goodwill everywhere to lift up their prayers, voices and thoughts to spark a new attitude and sense of urgency, and to enkindle a different flame . . .

Read the rest of the post here.

AVIC 9-11-2010 flyer

12:30 pm Lunch. RSVP requested. Email info@avinterfaith.com.
1:00-1:30 pm Meeting
1:30-2:00 pm Speaker

We will have lunch at 12:30 pm. Please contact us by email at info@avinterfaith.com so that we may prepare enough food.

The meeting will follow lunch at 1:00 pm and continue until 1:30 pm, when we will have a speaker, who will speak from 1:30 pm to 2:00 pm.

We look forward to seeing you there!

This story appeared in the Antelope Valley Press
Monday, April 19, 2010.

By AMBER HOFFMAN
Valley Press Staff Writer

LANCASTER – Muslim scholars in the Antelope Valley say they want to counter the impression that Islam is a religion of violence.

More than 125 people attended a forum titled “Islam – A Legacy of Peace” Friday night in the cafeteria at Antelope Valley College.

Valerie Elliott, president of the Antelope Valley Interfaith Council, said the No. 1 goal of the event was education.

The event was sponsored by the AVIC, the American Islamic Institute of the Antelope Valley, the Islamic Center of North Valley and the Antelope Valley Human Relations Task Force.

Elliott said she organized the event “because of a Lancaster councilwoman’s misinformation about Islam,” referring to comments Sherry Marquez made on her Facebook page regarding Islam and honor killings.

“She only verbalized what other people think,” Elliott said. “My frustration is when people learn from other people who are unfamiliar with the subject. The purpose of Interfaith is not to condemn but to educate.”

Marquez took down the Facebook post and issued a terse apology in February.

Valley residents had the opportunity to get information on Islam from a panel consisting of Muslim leaders and scholars by submitting their questions on notecards that were later answered by the group.

The panel was composed of Edina Lekovic , communications director for the Muslim Public Affairs Council; Jihad Turk, director of religious affairs for the Islamic Center of Southern California; Imam Abdul-Wahab Omeira, vice president of the Islamic Center of North Valley; and Kamal Al-Khatib, president of the American Islamic Institute of the Antelope Valley.

Tom O’Neil, Antelope Valley College professor and dean of the social and behavioral sciences department, moderated the event.

Approximately eight Lancaster sheriff’s deputies were at the forum to ensure the safety of the Muslim members of the audience, Elliott said.

“The public has this perception that we, non-Muslims, need protection from the Muslims,” Elliott said. “The irony is that it’s the Muslims who need protection from us.”

An excerpt from a film titled “Legacy of Peace” was shown before the forum. The film included an abridged history of the Islamic religion.

Affan Shaikh , a University of California, Los Angeles student, gave the invocation. Hadir Azab led the audience in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Elliott read a portion of President George W. Bush’s address to the joint session of Congress on Sept. 20, 2001, before the panel answered questions.

“I want to speak to Muslims throughout the world. We respect your faith. It is practiced freely by many millions of Americans and by millions more in countries that America counts as friends,” Bush said in his speech.

“Its teachings are good and peaceful, and those who commit evil in the name of Allah blaspheme the name of Allah.

“The terrorists are traitors to their own faith, trying, in effect, to hijack Islam itself. The enemy of America is not our many Muslim friends. It is not our many Arab friends. Our enemy is a radical network of terrorists.”

Elliott said she choose to read the excerpt because she “needed to show a born-again Christian patriot saying that the Muslim faith is not what people are purporting it to be.”

Omeira gave the audience a quick overview of Islamic history and the core beliefs of the religion.

“To become a Muslim is to surrender your free will to the will of God,” Omeira said. “Islam is one of the Abrahamic regions – Abraham is the father of the three great monotheisms.”

Omeira said Muslims trace their lineage through Ishmael, Abraham’s son with his wife’s servant Hagar. Christians and Jews trace their roots through Isaac, Abraham’s son with his wife Sarah.

Omeira explained the Five Pillars of Islam – profession of faith, daily prayer, fasting during Ramadan, almsgiving and pilgrimage to Mecca, as well as the Six Pillars of Faith, which require belief in God, the angels, the messengers of God, the books revealed to the prophets, the day of judgment and predestination.

Muslims view Muhammad as a man and a messenger of God and only worship Allah, or God, Omeira said.

The first question from the audience asked: Who is Allah and is Allah the same God of Christians and Jews?

“The Arabic way to say God is Allah,” Turk said. “Some Muslims prefer to say Allah rather than God. Allah is almost like the proper name for God. Muslims refer to God as the creator God, not part of the trinity.”

A question that came up early during the symposium regarded the place of honor killings in Islam.

“First we need to recognize there is no honor in killing,” Lekovic said, adding that it is a cultural practice. “This is an appalling practice that has no place in the Islamic religion.”

The panel agreed with Lekovic.

“If a person (who murders) claims to be a Muslim, under the laws of Islam, he is not accepted,” Omeira said.

“Honor killings have nothing to do with Islam, which has tough laws on killing any human being,” Al-Khatib said.

Turk addressed a question asking if Muslims are promised 72 virgins in the afterlife.

“When it comes to the idea of virgins (in paradise), it’s not taught in the Quran. It’s a mistranslation of a word that means ‘righteous,’ ” he said.

Turk said the nature of paradise is described in the Quran as a place filled with righteous people who experience a closeness to God.

Several questions pertained to the oppression of Muslim women and the head scarfs many Muslim women wear.

“The idea that we are oppressed is what we see on television,” Lekovic said. “We see women who are forced by the Taliban, a new phenomenon, to cover themselves in the full-length burqas. All of this is new and foreign to the Islamic religion.”

Lekovic said prior to the Quran, baby girls in certain areas were buried alive due to a patriarchal society that favored males. She said the Quran was a revolution in women’s rights at the time because it placed men and women as equals in the eyes of God.

According to Lekovic, since the beginning, the Quran has allowed for women to marry whom they wished, work for a living and own property.

“It’s sad that in some Muslim countries it has taken 1,400 years to catch up with the Quran,” she said.

Lekovic said the head scarf she was wearing is called a hijab.

“It’s basically a symbol of modesty. It’s the idea that women should be taken seriously for her mind and not her body,” she said.

Lekovic compared the hijabs to other head coverings meant to show respect and piety such as mantillas worn by some Catholic women when they attend church or yarmulkes worn by Jewish men.

“Women in Islam are regarded very highly,” Al-Khatib said. “In America, or in Western civilization, unfortunately women are very frequently viewed as a sex object to promote goods or services.”

Al-Khatib said hijabs are meant to protect women.

“It gives them more protection of their chastity.”

One question from the audience asked why the FBI linked the Council on American-Islamic Relations to terrorists.

“CAIR is a national organization for protecting Muslim communities,” Al-Khatib said.

According to Al-Khatib, the organization was accused of funding Hamas, but it was never proven.

“CAIR is a civil rights organization. It has saved many innocent lives including those who were falsely accused,” Omeira said.

Another question asked why Muslims are not allowed to depict Muhammad’s image.

“Muhammad said do not depict me the way Christians depict Jesus,” Turk said, adding Muslims do this out of respect of Muhammad’s wishes.

Someone asked the meaning of the word “jihad.”

Turk talked about growing up in Arizona with his “exotic” first name – Jihad. His soccer teammates simply called him “J.”

Turk said his father said to him, “Your name might be harder to say but it has a great meaning – the struggle to do the right thing.”

According to Turk, jihad can refer to a struggle for a closeness to god, the struggle for social justice or to struggle in a just war.

“This event was a jihad,” Al-Khatib said. “Anytime when you try to do something good against a tsunami of bad you’re a jihadist.”

Each panelist closed the forum with a brief description of what they hoped the audience gleaned from the evening.

Lekovic said she hoped the audience realized that Muslims are their neighbors and that they shared common goals and values.

“Ultimately our faiths are paths to the same God,” she said. “We shouldn’t feel threatened by differences.”

Al-Khatib said he has plans to make the forum an annual event in the Valley.

“I hope everyone got the right idea. I hope they got educated,” he said.

Al-Khatib said he didn’t want the event to be about politics.

“This event was education. I absolutely refused to make this event during the election,” he said.

Elliott said she was pleased with the turnout and the audience’s willingness to come with an open mind.

“The panelists appreciated being able to share events from their perspective,” she said. “I think the public appreciated being able to freely ask questions. I think it made it a success.”

AVICNewsletterSpring2010

“Collective Prayer in Action”

Keynote Speaker:

Norm Hickling
Deputy for the Antelope Valley Office of Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich

To be held at:
Center for Spiritual Living (Previously Center of Light)
1030 W. Ave. L-8
Lancaster, CA 93534
661-948-0873

Presented by Antelope Valley Interfaith Council
and
Antelope Valley Human Relations Task Force

Refreshments provided by Antelope Valley Interfaith Council

AVIC was established in the late 1980s as a place for religious leaders to discuss their community’s concerns and to share community activities. An early mission was to provide a forum in which members could exchange ideas and learn from each other’s teachings in order to build a better community. Since then, membership has expanded to include the general public – anyone who wishes to join them in achieving these goals. Also, some clergy, or faiths without clergy, may appoint someone from their congregation to be that faith’s representative.

Their mission also includes educating the public by hosting interfaith events and having a variety of faiths offer prayer or brief information about their faith at these events. An example of the inclusionary vision of the Council is their National Day of Prayer (NDP) service that is held at the Center for Spiritual Living (formerly the Center of Light) in Lancaster. Prior to AVIC’s evening NDP event, the only other NDP event has been the Mayors’ NDP Breakfast meetings that have been exclusively for a specific interpretation of Christianity.

Other events hosted by AVIC include a Community Thanksgiving Service prior to Thanksgiving Day. In recent years it has been held at the Methodist Church in Lancaster with performances by their choir and the Oliver Bell Choir. It includes a community meal after.

From September 11, 2002 through September 11, 2008 there was a 9/11 Unity Service held at the Lancaster Mosque. Last year it was held at The Guidance Charter School in Palmdale. This event also includes a community meal after.

Faiths represented on the Council in the last year included:

Aetherius Society
Baha’i
Bhakti Yoga
Nichiren Shu Buddhism
Center for Spiritual Living
Christian Science
Islam
Judaism
Mar Thoma Orthodox Catholic Church
Methodist
Pantheism
Religious Science
Revealing Truth
Sacred Sands Sangha (Zen Buddhism)
Unitarian Universalist

The Antelope Valley is rich with various cultures, religions, and ethnic backgrounds. It is for this reason that this faith-based group is encouraging the community to work together with them to better understand and embrace these differences as one of the main factors that make the Antelope Valley such a special place to live.

If you support the concept of respecting all of humanity, you are invited to attend their events and go to their meetings held the second Wednesday of every month at the Center for Spiritual Living, 1030 W. Ave. L8, Lancaster, at 1:00 p.m. For further information, please visit their website at: www.avinterfaith.com or call (661) 948-0873 or (661) 400-3249.