Middle East Interfaith

Q. Towards a possibility of organising an international interfaith conference, I'm interested in conferences held in the past two years and the next two years.
I'm actually interested in the new frontiers of the interfaith dialogue, and what subjects would be interesting and meaningful to discuss. My main interests are Middle East related interfaith topics - Shiites-Sunnis-Jews, etc., handling issues of Islamic fundamentalists, terror based on religion etc., and regarding human rights.

R. Colleagues working in this field include:

Yehuday Stolov at the Interfaith Encounter Association: www.interfaith-encounter.org ;

Ibrahim Ghada at Hope Flowers School: www.hopeflowersschool.org ;

Eliyahu McClean: www.jerusalempeacemakers.org ;

Stephen Fulder (Buddhist approach): www.middleway.org ;

Rabbis for Human Rights in Israel: http://rhr.israel.net ;

Elijah Institute: www.elijah.org.il

They all organise conferences and events so could probably help you if you contact them directly. There are lots of other groups working for interreligious cooperation too in Israel / Palestine, eg. Open House, Neve Shalom etc. You can find them all through a Google search. There is also the Jordan Interfaith Action Group. Their website is under construction but see this for a profile and contact info: http://orgs.takingitglobal.org/13711 .

Internationally there are organisations like the International Council for Christians and Jews which also include forums with Muslims ( www.iccj.org ) ; Religions for Peace ( www.wcrp.org ) ; and the Three Faiths Forum (www.3ff.org.uk ; www.sternberg-foundation.co.uk ).

You might find The Muslim News interesting: www.muslimnews.co.uk . I also saw this but do not know it personally: www.middle-east-online.com .

The Next Parliament of the World's Religions will be held in Melbourne in 2009. Whilst you might not say such an event is cutting edge or directly related to the Middle East it is unique and will include representatives from all kinds of religious communities and address all kinds of issues relevant to them: www.parliamentofreligions.org .

An interesting book that explores Sunni-Shia and other Muslim concerns from a Muslim perspective in a candid and insightful way is Desperately Seeking Paradise: Journeys of a Sceptical Muslim by Ziauddin Sardar, Granta paperback, 2004/5.