Each month representatives of various religious traditions meet at the
Interfaith Conference. These include Buddhist, Hindu, Christian, Jewish,
Islamic, Sikh, Christian Scientist, Sufi, and Bahá’í.
MAIR and its members serve as resources to many
congregations and organizations seeking information about various faith
traditions.
This past spring on
May 29th we had a panel discussion at Immanuel Presbyterian Church on
Milwaukee's east side entitled "Religious
Perspectives and Practices: Birth and Death." Panelists were from
Christian (Rev. Jean Dow, Immanuel Presbyterian Church), Jewish (Rabbi
Roxanne Shapiro, Congregation Shalom), Bahá'í
(Jerry Johnson, Bahá'í Society of Milwaukee), Muslim (Ahmed
Quereshi, Islamic Society of Milwaukee)
and Buddhist (Mike Vater, Milwaukee Shambhala Center) traditions. This occasional series will explore the
beliefs and practices of different faith traditions around major life
events such as birth, marriage, and death.
In 2007 we teamed up with the
Peace and International
Issues Committee of Interfaith
Conference to present a luncheon/lecture series focusing on
"Violence: Faith Perspectives." We
heard from speakers of four religious traditions: Isa Sadlon,
Executive Director of the Islamic Society of Milwaukee, Bishop Paul
Stumme-Diers of the Greater Milwaukee Synod, Evangelical Lutheran Church
in America, Rabbi Ronald Shapiro, Congregation Shalom, and Rev. Tonen
O'Connor, resident priest of the Milwaukee Zen Center.
The May 2006 Lecture Luncheon series was entitled "Seeking the Common Good,"
which explored
the concept of the common good, hopefully setting the stage for a
dialogue that will help us to look at the theological and moral impulses
that lead us to desire the common good. We had speakers from the Jewish,
Christian and Islamic traditions.
In May 2005 our "Tuesdays in May" Luncheon/Lecture series was entitled:
"Finding Our Place through Faith," which addressed how faith
influences our major life choices and ethical decisions. Speakers
included Unitarian Bob Chernow, Buddhist Peter Neuwald, and Roman
Catholic E. Michael McCann.
In May 2004 the series was titled
"Traditions and Treasures of Living Faiths," with
presentations from
Rabbi Shlomo Levin of the Lake Park Synagogue on Judaism: an Orthodox
perspective; Dr. Trinette V. McCray speaking from the American Baptist
perspective,
Dr. Lakshmi Bharadwaj of Hindu Temple of Wisconsin
who spoke about Hinduism,
and Ahmed Quereshi of the Islamic Society of Milwaukee, who spoke
about Islam.
Member Faith Groups
American Baptist Churches of Wisconsin,
Bahá'í;
Buddhist:
Milwaukee Zen Center,
Milwaukee
Shambhala Center,
Mindfulness
Community of Milwaukee,
Buddhist Peace
Fellowship,
Christian
Science,
Episcopal,
Methodist,
Presbyterian,
United Church of Christ,
Roman Catholic;
Hindu;
Islamic;
Jain;
Jewish; Sufi
