MnMN Religious Literacy Immersion Event for Forum on Workplace Inclusion Conference

The Minnesota Multifaith Network (MnMN) was honored to be a part of this years Forum for Workplace Inclusion from Augsburg University.  For one of their sessions, we conducted a daylong Religious Literacy Immersion Experience with Dr. Brian Carwana from Encounter World Religions and Dr. Lara Trubowitz from ADL.  We were hosted by leaders of the Hindu Temple in Maple Grove, the Northwest Islamic Community Center (Masjid Al-Kareem) in Plymouth and Temple Israel in Minneapolis. 

At the Hindu Mandir, we were welcomed by Vishal Agarwal; Pooja Bastodkar; and Sudesh Chhabra, the ViceChair of the Hindu Society.  Vishal led us on an excellent tour of this magnificent temple with 21 ornate shrines each honoring a different representation of the same single God.  The Hindu Mandir is an architectural wonder and spiritual home to the majority of Hindus in MN.

Next we visited the Northwest Islamic Community Center where we were greeted by Shaykh Saifullah Muhammad and Dr. Imam Tamim Saidi, Resident Scholar of the Islamic Resource Group (IRG).  Both Imams engaged in a lively discussion of the basic tenets and practices of the Islamic faith.  This was even more impressive as both leaders are celebrating and leading Ramadan prayers and activities.  Shaykh Muhammad was up most of the night in prayer and both were fasting.  They included our group in observing the noon (Zuhr) prayer recited by Shayk Muhammad.

Our tour ended at Temple Israel where we were greeted by Rabbi Ricky Kamil.  Dr. Lara Trubowitz presented a compelling talk on the recent rise of Antisemitism and how it is affecting our Jewish brothers and sisters as well as its harmful influence on society as a whole. 

Thank you to all of the wonderful people who came together to make the day a success!

#multifaith #interfaith #hindutemple #nwicc #templeisrael #mnmn #hindusocietyofmn #irg #encounterworldreligions #adl #RamadanMubarak