IFYC’s Eboo Patel Mentions World Faith at Conference 5 November , 2009

At the recent IFYC Conference, Eboo Patel, Founder and Executive Director of the Interfaith Youth Core, spoke about World Faith, and specifically about the work happening in India under the World Faith’s National Director of India, Abdul Shakeel Basha.

IFYC: A list of Support They have Given World Faith 30 October , 2009

While I was at the IFYC conference this past week, I reflected on the myriad of ways that the Interfaith Youth Core, and it’s awesome staff, has supported me as an interfaith leader, and World Faith as an organization.

First of all, as a member of the Fellow Alliance, they gave the NYU chapter of World Faith funding for interfaith service programs on campus.

Starting with the Fellowship, they have flown me four times to Chicago for trainings, meetings, and other leadership development programs.  This training was wide in scope, including media engagement, dialogue training, and institutional and campus involvement.

I have had several media opportunities through IFYC, including being interviewed on Good Morning America, Chicago Public Radio, and an hour-long interview on the online radio show Embracing the Journey.

The contact network I have built both directly through IFYC, and as a product of the credibility of association with IFYC is immeasurable, but includes world-class leaders in the field, funders, and best of all, other activists who joined in the World Faith cause, including Joshua Stanton, Soofia Ahmed, Mustafa Abdullah, and Abdul Shakeel Basha, just to name a few.

Eboo has been a mentor to me since the end of my Fellowship, giving me insightful advice that I need to hear, when I need to hear it.  He has been a true advocate, putting me in touch with people who otherwise probably wouldn’t give me the time of day.  One of my favorite things is that Eboo can give me blunt criticism one moment (which I need and ask for), and yet gives World Faith shout-outs, further opening up possibilities.

The IFYC staff has played a vital role in our development in the previous few years.   They each rotate between being a friend, psychologist, ally, and advocate, often more at one time.  I probably email, call, or skype chat with an IFYC Staff member at least once a week, sometimes multiple times a week.  Despite my constant questions or requests, they still respond quickly and with patience that I myself may be incapable of.  This includes (but isn’t limited to)  Megan Hughes, Amber Hacker, Cassie Meyer, Erin Williams, Hannah McConnaughay, Hind Makki, Jenan Mohajir, Zeenat Rahman, Charles Levesque, and April Kunze.

For anyone who is following World Faith, please take a look at the Interfaith Youth Core.  I consider them a strong ally in the struggle for religious common action, and I hope that every World Faith leader is trained by IFYC in some capacity.  Be sure to check out the IFYC website.

A Christian’s Response to Anti-Islamic Extremism 2 October , 2008

This is an op-ed I am distributing.  We will see if it gets picked up.

 

For those of you who missed it, a Dayton, Ohio mosque was attacked by a chemical irritant that a was reportedly sprayed into a window during a Ramadan prayer of 300 people, many of which were women and children.  It has so far received little media attention.  Occurring last Friday, September 26, it came at the end of a week where Dayton saw thousands of copies of the anti-Muslim “documentary” Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West was distributed in major newspapers city-wide.  This demands both some critical thought, and a clear response from the those who passionately abhor communal hatred and violence, no matter who’s the victim or perpetrator.  

So a little more back story for those of you who didn’t see Obsession.  I remember when I first saw the film at New York University, with fellow interfaith activists Imam Khalid Latif and Rabbi    Yahuda Sarna.  Christians, Muslims, and Jews alike were appalled at the constant abuse of history to lump secular independence movements with religious, Sunni with Shiia, and Political Islam with Terrorists’ Extremism, giving a message that, “They hate you, so you should hate them.” 

Us v. Them

This dialectal rhetoric has been used on all parties to demonize “them,” victimize “us,” and create a common enemy by abusing religious language for political gain.  Obsession gives light on the domestic example of this, where presidential and senatorial candidates encourage fear-mongering to bolster support.  Ignorant Fear breeds ethno-religious hatred, which in turn inspires communal violence.

As an American, I am ashamed.  Our American values does in fact have influence from religious traditions, and those traditions were used to inform equality, securing freedoms for minorities, whether religious, political, or ethnic.  Many of those victims of the Dayton Mosque attacks were Iraqi refugees, who came to the US to escape a regime that used chemical gases their own citizens.  One mother asked, “If not here, where can I go where my children will be safe?”

Countering this, we need to challenge ourselves, both personally, and as a nation.  With some estimates counting over 5 million Muslim Americans, it is time we include this diverse group of South Asian, Arabs, and African Americans into the fold of the American identity, as we have with Irish, Polish, Chinese Americans, and more.  Those of us of the Christian faith do not have a monopoly on religious values that promote freedom and equality, but share them with our fellow Muslim Americans, among others.  It is time we acknowledge our shared values (including freedom and democracy), respect our differences (like culture), and celebrate our common humanity. 

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a faith-hero of mine, is the quintessential voice on the matter.  His relevance to those times and now is because he did not simply write off on Jim Crowe laws as some morally-ambiguous “wrong,” but addressed the issue by expounding how such laws were unAmerican, and that continued inactivity was unChristian.  His letter from Birmingham Jail was written to religious leaders, which inspired even non-Christians, such as Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, who soon joined the movement.   

Taking action in my own life, the post-911 world inspired me to begin filming a documentary while on a 6-nation Middle East tour developing projects for the NGO World Faith.  The premise was conversations between me, the white Christian American, and different people from various communities, mostly Muslim and Arab.  What ensued are conversations that leave me with a general message from the Middle East: 

“We don’t hate you, and we love your democracy, we are just completely frustrated by the American foreign policy, don’t trust you to spread democracy (with US support of such non-democratic regimes such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt), and feel humiliated by the western ignorance of our religious and cultural identities.”  

The worldwide Gallop poll, representing the thoughts of a billion Muslims, support these findings.
   

Eboo Patel, my friend and a leader of interfaith activism, defined the issue of the Faith Line: it’s not a divide between those of different faiths, but between anyone that uses faith to divide and those to heal.  As comedian Maz Jabroni says it more simply, “There are haters of all kinds…”

So the question is, are you a hater?  Then let’s see some love.  Start with your neighbors, and maybe we can replace “us and them” with “now and then,” making Islamophobia a brief chapter in American history.

About the Author

Frankie Fredericks is the Executive Director of World Faith, a youth-led interfaith community service non-profit active in five countries.  Frank was featured on Good Morning America with Eboo Patel as a Fellow of the Interfaith Youth Core, and interviewed by Al-Akhbar Magazine in Lebanon, Al-Jadid TV, and Nile FM in Egypt.  Residing in New York City, he works doing freelance online marketing, runs the independent label Conar Records, and is an active member of the Grammy Association.

blog:  worldfaith.wordpress.com            www.worldfaith.org        www.conarrecords.com 

Frank Fredericks Speaks at Q Conference 9 April , 2008

Frank Fredericks was invited by Gabe Lyons to speak at the Q Conference in New York, on the topic of being Christian in a plural society.  The Q Conference is a Christian meeting initiated by the Fermi Project.  Eboo Patel also spoke.

Frank and Soofia on Good Morning America with Eboo Patel 14 March , 2008

Frank Fredericks and Soofia Ahmed were invited to join Eboo Patel as he defined the interfaith movement to Robin Roberts on Good Morning America.  This represents one of the biggest pieces of media on the interfaith movement, and we are excited that we were able to be involved.