The IFLC: Who We Are

The InterFaith Leadership Council of Metropolitan Detroit is a faith-based civic organization that holds that the American core values of religious freedom and equality are major contributions to civil society requiring active support by religious groups. In our view, religious freedom goes far beyond tolerance and is a demanding community value.

The Council is made up of independent, visionary clerical and lay leaders of many faiths whose shared values and desire to build a just community where we live in harmony with one another compels us to be dedicated to the support of interfaith community organizing. As we bring together, encourage and nurture interfaith groups and networks—as well as the community at large—we build goodwill through active conflict resolution aimed at eliminating any impediments to positive interaction. We fully respect our religious differences while building a unified, but not uniform community, where we work together on our shared interests and values. We provide interfaith education with the intent of obtaining for the metropolitan Detroit community all the synergies and creativity that a diverse community can provide. In short, we bring people of faith together so that we can live together.

The Council provides a forum wherein the many religious leaders who are devoted to minimizing community tensions and barriers to goodwill are gathered together to leverage their energies and seek to build a community consistent with their shared values. Among our Council participants are interfaith clergy organizations, interfaith seminaries, prominent judicatory level faith leaders, journalists who write on religious issues as well as individual interfaith leaders. The Council facilitates relationships and dialogue among these interfaith actors.

The Council is aware of many religious tensions in our community, some of which are closely identified with particular ethnic groups. We intend to continue to defuse these tensions. Two examples from our history are instructive. When a congregation of Muslims in Hamtramck desired to broadcast the traditional "call to prayer" some people within the city objected. Members of the IFLC brought together people of good will within the community to work out a mutually beneficial agreement that was acceptable to the whole community.  Another example of our work involved a mosque as well as an Assyrian Christian Church that were vandalized by bad actors within our community. In both cases people from the IFLC organized to surround and symbolically protect these buildings that the faith community holds as sacred thus achieving appropriate and effective attention from the media and police. We are currently working on some of the tensions introduced into our community by the conflicts in the Middle East. One such effort resulted in a shared Jewish and Muslim “Mitzvah Day” that obtained national media coverage.

In all of this, it is recognized that education is key. In order to work together effectively as a community we need to know and understand each other. Education must be carried on intensively at all levels. The media needs education. Faith leaders need education. The priests, imams, ministers and faithful in the pews need education. We do need to preach to the many choirs.  Most recently, we have organized a series of educational sessions for journalists who today come in many guises. We have been gathering together these “communicators” for tours of sacred places of worship after which we facilitate discussions around religious issues. Early in 2010, they gathered at historic Congregation Shaarey Zedek. After a tour of the sanctuary and building they sat down to discuss how the Jewish Passover and Christian Holy Week are or are not related; and whether there is concern among Jews when Christians perform a so-called "Christian Seder."  In April 2010, a similar gathering was held at historic Christ Church Cranbrook.

This is just the beginning. Join with us as we build the Religious Leaders Forum; as we work with WTVS on the “Detroit Doors” project; as we create various tools to help facilitate learning about all the diverse religious groups around us; as we…well you get the picture. We will be busy and we need your help.

 Robert Bruttell, chair