I am a professor at the University of Saint Francis. As a clinical psychologist, I teach about crisis and trauma counseling. I have been involved in disaster mental health, working with agencies that serve survivors of...
Being asked as a Zoroastrian youth to write a reflection about the Muslim holiday of Ramadan is something I am sure my ancestors could have never dreamed of. Quite honestly, I have seen anti-Muslim bigotry present...
A fortnight ago, a small group of my team from different cultures and faiths had the honour of meeting with Dr. Jane Goodall in Wellington for half an hour. Her purpose for coming to New Zealand is to officially launch...
I recently attended the General Assembly of the Unitarian Universalist Association in New Orleans, Louisiana. In my everyday life I live in a city similar to New Orleans. Salem, Massachusetts and New Orleans have...
Global interfaith organizations including the Parliament of the World's Religions and the United Religions Initiative have joined Religions for Peace USA, the Temple for Understanding and other religious and spiritual...
I am not eating and drinking - not to punish myself unnecessarily – but, because in my religion, Islam, fasting in the month of Ramadan has been prescribed by God as one of the fundamental pillars of the faith so that I...
Ramadan was always a special time for me. The air felt fresher, like something was present in the wind. But it was different in our household, with my father from Syria and my mother from Mexico, I often struggled with...
As a Rwandan Child, I was born and raised as a refugee outside my country due to the globally known “Rwandan Genocide against Tutsi” and civil war, that almost brought down everything and left the nation shattered in...
As a convert to the religion of Islam, I know firsthand what it feels like to be an outsider. I’ve heard comments and questions about Muslims that made me feel unwelcome or unwanted in certain spaces. I’ve been looked...
I have known about the Ramadan fast for decades. But this year, I am catching my first glimpse, yes, even enjoying my first taste of the deeper spiritual meaning behind it. Even though I had lived in the Muslim world, I...
As the Muslim world embarks on another Ramadan, I reflect on the many Iftars breaking the daily fast I had the honour of attending and remember vividly the warmth and hospitality my hosts showed me and others who weren’...
For the last four years, I have been working on documenting religious intolerance that manifests itself through discrimination and persecution of religious and ethnic minorities in Egypt. Since its inception, Eshhad has...
For me, Ramadan is a month filled with family, food, gratitude and spiritual rejuvenation. Although this year it comes during the hotter and longer days of the summer I am still grateful for the traditions, customs, and...
On Ramadan, it is especially important to sympathize with one another as we build community and friendship. I’m thinking of a moment where I struggled but learned to find sympathy. I spent the past year in Israel, in my...
Typical of South Asian families, I grew up with a selfless and relentlessly giving mother. Warm; loving; nurturing; and a feeder. Less conventionally, I grew up with a father who was deeply engaged on issues of social...
What are your current studies or work? I work for a company that produces a raw material which we sell in various industries worldwide. I am in charge of a large geographical area that goes from North Africa up to South...
I believe religious observances are opportunities to participate in the celebrations of communities of other religions to understand not only the culture, but also the overall philosophy and emotions associated with...
Faith is “moving past coloring books and beginning to paint on a blank canvas.” I was surprised when I first read these words by Aaliah Elnasseh, one of the Muslim artists in our interfaith arts community at The...
Last year, in the midst of a national referendum so divisive it sowed tension even between family members, one of my countrywomen was stabbed, shot and kicked to death in the street by a man who held different political...
I’m watching the sunset over Teddy Roosevelt National Park in Medora, North Dakota and thinking about my Grandmother on this first night of Ramadan. She passed away a few years ago, but growing up, my family would visit...
