By Erin Lewenauer
Brooklyn Daily Eagle

BROOKLYN HEIGHTS — Many people are innately mystical, but our lives rarely allow for it. As New Yorkers, with time running from us on a daily basis, it is perhaps easier to shelve that which might be the most essential to life, than to negotiate a time to listen. The Dialogue Project, founded by Marcia Kannry, provides an arena for our remembrance and celebration of each other’s spirits.

On the afternoon of Sunday, Nov. 16, close to 200 people of various faiths gathered at Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims in the heart of Brooklyn Heights for an Annual City Wide Teach-In. The forum explored “Islamophobia, Anti Semitism and Racism.�

The church, founded in 1847 with Henry Ward Beecher as the first pastor, was an apt location. Beecher supported the anti-slavery movement, and his sermons brought religion away from ghosts of the past and back to humanity in its present state. He supported women’s rights, religious diversity and the rights of Native Americans. The church served as a Grand Central Station of the Underground Railroad, leading slaves to freedom. The motion toward freedom is mirrored in the workings of The Dialogue Project.

The day of the teach-in began with the strumming of a lute, calling participants’ attention to meditation, openness and peaceful silence. Kannry and Linda Sarsour (interfaith events co-chair) introduced the keynote speakers: The Rev. Dr. David Fisher, senior minister of Plymouth Church (Congregational); Imam Khalid Latif, first chaplain at NYU, which has the first fully established Muslim student center at an American university; and Rabbi Justus Baird, director of the Center for Multifaith Education at Auburn Theological Seminary in NYC and spiritual leader for the Reform Jewish community of Barnegat, N.J. While emerging from different backgrounds and contributing to the schools of various religions, their speeches possessed striking similarities.

The Rev. Dr. Fisher said interfaith dialogues are important because “you can’t have a conversation with yourself,� meaning that it is difficult to see someone else’s world without hearing it first-hand. He said face-to-face conversations about fear and diversity help us catch up with our advancing world, much like taking a computer course helps us catch up with technology. When we listen, people “change from abstractions to people.�

Imam Latif talked about travel and its value, calling travel an exercise in understanding. Places change very quickly, and so does life. He reminded us that Middle Easterners are judged differently, based on their appearance in our post-9/11 climate.

“Travel, just to see the creation. We all have the ability to change heart,� he said. He mentioned that we will never know whom we might be relying on or supporting someday, and that community is essential. Rabbi Baird focused on traditions and the intricacies of converting to a religion, as he did to Judaism. He suggested that religion only holds the limits that we allow. He added that education, love and everything important “starts at home.�

Following the speeches came what Kannry considered to be the best part of the event: the study tables filled with those in deep discussion. She began The Dialogue Project in March of 2001. It evolved from events featuring only speakers to discussion groups and lunch, and from 62 participants to 200. She brainstormed the project as a result of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and its negative reverberations in neighborhoods in Brooklyn. “There was a negative undercurrent in neighborhoods in Brooklyn, and you could hear the negativity through the streets and in the stores,� she says.

The Dialogue Project has several programs: monthly discussions on the Mideast Conflict, Speaking Across Differences (neighbor-to-neighbor dialogues between new immigrants and longtime residents) and educational forums for schools and organizations. Kannry says, “There is nothing more important in the world than that we talk to each other. It is how we hear each other and learn new ways of learning. We at The Dialogue Project give people a space. Attendees are not asked to agree, just to listen. It shows how to live with differences without identifying others or yourself as wrong.�

The Teach-In helped participants to glean several ideas: Experiencing people as individuals alongside their history, texts or traditions is everyone’s responsibility. It is personal experiences that are universal and that unify religions. Religion need not dictate every aspect of life: It is somewhere to go to pursue joy and remember things past. If rituals prove anything, it is that people can change.

© Brooklyn Daily Eagle 2008 All materials posted on BrooklynEagle.com are protected by United States copyright law. Just a reminder, though -- It’s not considered polite to paste the entire story on your blog. Most blogs post a summary or the first paragraph,( 40 words) then post a link to the rest of the story. That helps increase click-throughs for everyone, and minimizes copyright issues. So please keep posting, but not the entire article. arturc at att.net