REV. WALTER S. SNOWA / REV. DIANE S. SNOWA
October 12, 2021 | 0 COMMENTS |161 Edgewood Way, Louisville KY. 40243
Rev. Diane Snowa and I are writing on behalf of The Salaam Network (TSN) which is applying for the 2020 Atlantic Renewals Award. As ordained ministers in the United Church of Christ, we see the need for an organization that separates Islam from terrorist pretenders. Thus we became Core Members of TSN. Since its founding in May 2016, The Salaam Network has built bridges among the various religious communities in Louisville, Kentucky. Its key value is education.
Both of us have been actively involved in TSN. At St. Andrew United Church of Christ, Rev. Diane Snowa organized seven weeks of educational programs on comparisons and contrasts of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. To support this project, she brought together the St. Andrew congregation along with neighboring religious bodies: the Catholic Church of the Ascension and The Guiding Light Islamic Center. Among the many topics discussed, one week the participants learned about Islamic calligraphy as divine language. Another week, our speaker spoke of the Golden Age of Islam which helped bring the return of Greco-Roman thought to the European Renaissance.
We were hoping 25-35 people would come to the programs. The first week 48 came. By the fifth week 97 people were present. As we polled the participants as to why interests grew week by week, the common refrains were: “I didn’t know anything about Islam.” “I wanted facts not opinions.” “ I did not know what to say when friends/relatives call Muslims terrorists.”
As a matter of note, the Episcopal priest in the neighborhood has recently contacted us about being resources for his pursuit of a doctorate in Christian-Islamic history. This priest declined to participate as a partner church in the original series at St. Andrew, but attended the final two presentations.
I will be presenting my third six-week session for The Veritas Society on the campus of Bellarmine University. Veritas is a non-credit educational program for adults over 54 in the Louisville area. Our first course was “Islam: One Branch of the Abrahamic Faith Tradition”. In 2018 we offered “The Abrahamic Faith Traditions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam”. One class focused on the stories of Mary, mother of Jesus, in the Qur‘an and the New Testament.
In the spring of 2020, our Veritas program will include: “Judaism, Christianity and Islam:Confrontations with Modernity”. This course will spend six weeks on the issues of women and the LGBTQAI communities. Our question: How can our traditional faiths support vulnerable people in the modern world?
Our speakers and discussion leaders come from Conservative and Reformed Jewish traditions, Protestant and Catholic Christian traditions and from leaders in several Muslim organizations. Our classes are given the largest available rooms. In our courses, would be participants were turned away, because our rooms are not large enough to accommodate all who sought to register.
Thank you for your consideration of The Salaam Network. We have accomplished much to help people celebrate both the unity and diversity of the Abrahamic faith traditions. Louisville is fortunate to have The Salaam Network in our midst.
Rev. Walter S. Snowa / Rev. Diane S. Snowa
November 27, 2019
