Interfaith leaders rally against hate, host 'cleansing' of Sikh worship site

Civic and faith leaders from metropolitan Detroit are hosting a news conference Friday to protest the recent vandalism of a Sikh holy worship site and offer support and symbolic protection for the sacred space.

In the early morning of February 6, graffiti vandalism was discovered at the Gurdwara (Sikh place of worship) construction site in Sterling Heights, Michigan. The graffiti included vulgar language, epithets, apparent cross and gun drawings, and references to the attacks of September 11, 2001. Click here to see a photograph of the vandalized site.

Community leaders from the Sikh Society of Michigan, the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund, the Interfaith Leadership Council of Metropolitan Detroit, the Interfaith Center for Racial Justice, the Troy Interfaith Group, Women's Interfaith Solutions for Dialogue and Outreach in Metropolitan Detroit (WISDOM), Congressman Gary Peters' office, and other community leaders will host the press conference.

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Worldviews Seminar illuminates the human face, voice and passion of Metro Detroit’s many faith traditions

The 2011 University of Michigan-Dearborn’s Worldviews Seminar far exceeded the expectations of the Rev. Bruce Campbell, a retired Episcopal priest and Interfaith Leadership Council (IFLC) scholarship recipient.

“It was beyond interesting and informative,” Campbell said in his report to the IFLC Education Committee. The seminar provided a deeply moving, “real life opportunity to enter the sacred spaces of a wide range of religious faiths.” While Campbell initially had an idea or impression of what others believe, the seminar illuminated “the immediacy of the face, voice and passion of another human being.”

The IFLC provides annual scholarships to the six-day Worldviews Seminar hosted by the University of Michigan-Dearborn’s Center for the Study of Religion and Society. Created in the aftermath of September 11, 2001, the seminar is designed to acquaint participants with the perspectives and cultural identities of many world religious through presentations, community visits, personal dialogue and discovery.

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