Interfaith Action

Recorded live on April 16 at St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church in Benton Harbor, this powerful panel discussion brings together voices from the front lines of the immigrant rights movement in Southwest Michigan.Hosted by Interfaith Action of Southwest Michigan, this event—Faith, Compassion, and Action: Immigration Realities and Faithful Responses—features insights from Rev. Erik Broeren of St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church, Betsy Lozoff of the Berrien Immigrant Solidarity Network, and Elizabeth Santana of the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center. Moderated by Nevine Khalil, the conversation explores the realities facing immigrant communities today and how faith-based organizations can respond with compassion and advocacy.Tune in to hear stories, policy insights, and practical steps for supporting our immigrant neighbors through informed, faith-driven action.

Interfaith Action annually recognizes PRIDE month in June with a program on Faith and PRIDE, exploring current realities for LGBTQ persons on the intersection with faith. This year’s program focused on a discussion with 5 openly gay and lesbian individuals who hold elected office or are candidates for elected office in SW Michigan. Participants in the discussion are: - Dave Bunte, Supervisor for Chikaming Township - Brook Thomas, Mayor, City of St. Joseph - John Bonkoske, Member, City of Bridgman City Council - Janet Henderson, Candidate for Berrien County Board of Commissioners - Jessica Jackson, Candidate for Berrien County Clerk. Panelists discussed the following questions: 1. What motivated you to seek political office? 2. How does your gender identity/sexual orientation influence your perspective on social policy - if at all? 3. Given threats to policies and practices of inclusion, how do you counter hate speech or discriminatory rhetoric — has your faith background influenced you negatively or positively - if relevant at all? 4. What do you see as primary threats to pluralistic democracy?

Our guest speaker is Rev. Dr. Gary Mason, a Methodist minister and founder and director of the Belfast-based "Rethinking Conflict” organization. Prior to this, he spent 27 years as a Methodist clergy person in parish ministry in Belfast.Gary played an integral role in the Northern Irish peace process, and was instrumental in facilitating negotiations with paramilitaries and government officials. In 2007, his contribution was formally recognised by Queen Elizabeth II.Mason has lectured throughout Europe, South Africa, the Middle East and USA, and advises the Biden Administration on implementing The Nita M. Lowey Middle East Partnership for Peace Act (MEPPA) of 2020, which focuses on strengthening civil society and developing grassroots peace building in the Israeli/Palestinian arena.Gary is also an affiliated expert and partner to the Negotiation Strategies Institute, a Harvard University program on negotiation for Israelis and Palestinians and international diplomats.

Our guest speaker for this program is Daniel Maté, an acclaimed composer, lyricist, and playwright for musical theater based in Brooklyn, New York. Maté, whose great grandparents died at Auschwitz, has been prolific on social media since the war on Gaza began. He has 33.4K followers on Instagram, 10.3 subscribers on YouTube, and 2.2K followers on X (formerly Twitter).Outside of music, theater and activism, Maté runs the world’s only “mental chiropractic” service, Take A Walk With Daniel. His passion is to help people access their own innate crystal clarity and true intelligence by getting their minds aligned. With his father Dr. Gabor Maté, renowned expert on trauma, addiction and stress, Maté co-authored the New York Times bestseller The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness & Healing in a Toxic Culture.Maté graduated from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts with an M.F.A. in Musical Theatre Writing. He also holds a B.A. in Psychology and Philosophy from McGill.

Our guest speaker for this program is Rummana Hussain, an editorial board member and columnist at the Chicago Sun-Times. During her career at the newspaper, she also had stints as an assistant metro editor, criminal courts reporter, general assignment reporter and assistant to columnist Michael Sneed.Before the Sun-Times, Rummana covered education and criminal courts in Lake County for the Chicago Tribune and was assigned the crime, education and City Hall beats for the City News Bureau of Chicago.Rummana was named a Jefferson fellow by the East-West Center in 2006. She has also served on the board of the Chicago Headline Club and the local chapter of the Asian American Journalists Association.

The following is a virtual conversation with Christian, Jewish, and Muslim representatives to discuss faith-based perspectives on affirming transsexuality. A keynote conversation launches the discussion with Dr. James Whitehead, a Catholic Christian theologian who is recognized as one of the lead legacy theologians in the US on the topic of faith, gender, and sexual orientation/identity. Jim’s newest book, released in April, is entitled “The Road to Me - A Transgender Journey. Part 1 of the Megoir” and is co-authored with Meghan Buell, a trans woman. Joining in the discussion are Meghan Buell, Rabbi Simone Schicker of Temple B’Nai Israel Kalamazoo, and Maher Alhaj, author of Halal This Way: Towards a Viable Queering in Sunni Islam. This event is co-sponsored by the Episcopal Diocese of Michigan, the Episcopal Diocese of Northern Michigan, and the Episcopal Dioceses of Eastern and Western Michigan.

In March 2023, Interfaith Action hosted a panel discussion on efforts to restore specialized driver's licenses for immigrants residing in Michigan. Licenses were available until 2008 when they were rescinded. The restoration of driver's licenses is now being considered. The panelists for the discussion include: - Gene Schoon, Coordinator for Policy and Justice for Interfaith Action - Lupita Sanchez, SW Rural Michigan Organizer for We The People-Michigan - Liz Balck, ACLU of Michigan - Simon Marshall-Shah, Policy Analyst for the Michigan League for Public Policy For More Information: - Drive Michigan Forward Info Packet and FAQ: https://www.drivemichiganforward.com/... - Sign Up To Receive Updates: https://www.drivemichiganforward.com/... - Contact your Elected Officials: tinyurl.com/v7b8pb9y - Preventing Undocumented Immigrants from Obtaining State Driver’s Licenses and IDs Hurts All of Michigan: https://www.aclumich.org/en/news/driv... Interfaith Action Website: https://swmichinterfaith.org/Music Attribution: "Night Owl" from the Directionless EP by Broke For Free, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License. Available at http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Bro....

During this session, we have the privilege of welcoming Bishop Prince Singh to give a reflection on our ninth principle on ‘Our Common Goal: Rejecting Racism and Systemic Exclusion.' The Rt. Rev. Prince Grenville Singh, Ph.D. serves as Bishop Provisional of the Episcopal Dioceses of Eastern and Western Michigan. Bishop Singh was born and raised in India, attending seminary and serving several congregations before immigrating to the US in the mid-90s for additional study and service in the Episcopal Church. His church-wide leadership includes Bishops Against Gun Violence, the House of Bishops Theology Committee, the Taskforce on the Theology of Social Justice, as a coach in the College for Bishops and several others.Our ninth Interfaith Action principle states: 'Our common good requires advancing policies of inclusion and equity. We believe that racism and systemic exclusion in multiple forms is an intrinsic evil. As such capitalism without a foundational commitment to common good is a structural sin. Our faith traditions require us to reject systems that oppress people and create inequities. We are aware that racism and other forms of exclusionary discrimination impact the well-being of both the oppressed and the oppressor.'You can find our Interfaith Principles on our website: https://swmichinterfaith.org/whoweare Music Attribution: "Night Owl" from the Directionless EP by Broke For Free, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License. Available at http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Bro....

Part of our Theologies of Transformation and Actions for Justice Series In this discussion, we have the privilege of welcoming Dr. Tatiana Reinoza to give a reflection on our seventh Interfaith Action principle. Dr. Reinoza is on the board of Interfaith Action, and is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Art, Art History, and Design at the University of Notre Dame. Dr. Reinoza’s research and writing focus on contemporary Latinx art. She specializes in the history of printmaking of Latinx artists in the United States with an emphasis on the themes of immigration, race, and histories of colonialism. Our seventh principle states, ‘All of our faith traditions contain holy stories about migration and the importance of welcoming the stranger and the migrant as fully belonging in our common home, the household of God. Inspired by these traditions, we, too, commit to solidarity with migrants around the world and work to ensure their dignity, their human rights, and their protection. Our holy writings remind us that the outsider must be included and is often the bearer of transformation.’ You can find our Interfaith Principles on our website: https://swmichinterfaith.org/whoweare Music Attribution: "Night Owl" from the Directionless EP by Broke For Free, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License. Available at http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Bro....

As we approach our November election, we are aware of hyper-partisan divides which often disrupt our finding common cause for the common good. A member of one of our engaged faith communities, Dr. Paul Detrisac, is active in a creative new paradigm relative to our current party system.Interfaith Action presents this as an informational session and not as a recommended approach. We agree that current partisan divides often serve to hamper our achievement of the common good, and we encourage robust discussions around moving forward to a future where we have a shared approach to solving key public issues essential for a democracy that provides opportunity, wholeness, and justice for all.For more information, you can see the Forward Party Website: www.forwardparty.com/Interfaith Action of SW Michigan: https://swmichinterfaith.org/Music is "Night Owl" from the Directionless EP by Broke For Free, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License. Available at http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Bro....

Our fourth Interfaith Action principle underscores the importance of our common life. Our common life guides us to promote human dignity, mutual respect, and dialogue. What are barriers to our common life today? What gets in the way of mutual respect and dialogue? How does your faith tradition influence the way you think about these questions? In the following conversation, Seif Saqallah, Jatinder Singh, and the Rev. Dr. Sid Mohn give a brief reflection on our fourth Interfaith Action principle, followed by group discussion. You can find our Interfaith Principles on our website: https://swmichinterfaith.org/whoweare Music is "Night Owl" from the Directionless EP by Broke For Free, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License. Available at http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Bro....

How do our encounters with others shape our commitments to human rights and justice? In this video, the Rev. Dr. Sid Mohn, Co-Director of Interfaith Action and a long-time human rights advocate, gives a brief reflection on our third Interfaith Action principle on 'human rights and justice', followed by group discussion.You can find our Interfaith Principles on our website: https://swmichinterfaith.org/whoweareMusic is "Night Owl" from the Directionless EP by Broke For Free, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License. Available at http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Bro....

What role do stories play in your faith tradition? How do they connect us to one another, and how do they guide our action in the world? We discussed these questions and more in the following conversation that took place in March 2022 on our first Interfaith Action principle of storytelling. Dr. Clark Gilpin, Professor Emeritus at the University of Chicago Divinity School, provided a reflection on storytelling, followed by group discussion on the importance of listening to and telling our stories in a way that builds community and leads to faith based action.We hope you enjoy the following conversation - thanks for listening.You can find Interfaith Action's principles on our website: https://swmichinterfaith.org/whoweareMusic is "Night Owl" from the Directionless EP by Broke For Free, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License. Available at http://freemusicarchive.org/music/BrokeForFree/DirectionlessEP/BrokeForFree-DirectionlessEP-01NightOwl.