10 Years of Interfaith Engagement
2011
CIE co-hosts a conference on religious freedom to promote better understanding between Morocco’s Muslims and America’s evangelical Christians.
2012
A grant from the Luce Foundation funds a visiting scholars program. At left is Ed Martin, the center's first director.
2012
Amir Akrami and Sheida Shakouri Rad, visiting Shia Muslim professors from Iran, introduce EMU students to the study of Islam and provide opportunities to engage with Muslim scholars.
2014
Visiting Jewish Scholar Rabbi Niles Goldstein and Visiting Muslim Scholar Amir Akrami and a Christian scholar team-teach a comparative monotheisms course in the Bible and religion department, providing students a unique and rich experience and demonstrating the value of having faculty present from different faith traditions. CIE also participated in sixth Shia-Muslim – Mennonite-Christian dialogue conference in Qom, Iran.
2014
Fifteen undergraduate students travel to Iran for interfaith and crosscultural study in a collaboration between CIE, Canadian Mennonite University, and the Imam Khomeini Education and Research Institute in Qom, Iran.
2014
Nine Iranian Muslim women scholars participate in the Summer Peacebuilding Institute.
2014
Mohammad Shomali, an internationally known scholar of Islam and dean of postgraduate students at Jamiat al-Zahra, the world’s largest Islamic seminary for women, guest lectures at EMU's Summer Peacebuilding Institute.
2015
CIE facilitates a workshop on “Faith and Trauma: Abrahamic Perspectives” in Chicago, Illinois.
2016
CIE hosts Professor Syafaatun Almirzanah, Visiting Muslim Scholar from Indonesia and the first Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence at EMU.
2016
CIE organizes its first learning tour to Iran, in collaboration with Canadian Mennonite University.
2017
CIE hosts Turkish author and New York Times contributor Mustafa Akyol for a discussion on his book "The Islamic Jesus: How the King of the Jews Became a Prophet of the Muslims."
2018
During EMU’s Centennial, CIE organizes a public roundtable and hosts a Mennonite inter-agency consultation on the topic of interfaith engagement that brings together participants from various Mennonite agencies.
2018
The undergraduate Interfaith Studies Minor is developed by CIE in collaboration with EMU's Bible, Religion and Theology Department.
2018
CIE co-hosts a student discussion on how faith impacts engagement on the issue of climate change with three community development experts from El Salvador, Nepal and Zimbabwe as part of the Global South Voices program, an initiative of the Center for Sustainable Climate Solutions.
2018
CIE co-sponsors a seventh Shia-Muslim – Mennonite-Christian dialogue conference at Canadian Mennonite University.
2019
A student research internship maps Mennonite-Jewish relations in the U.S. in support of the work of the Mennonite Jewish Relations Working Group of Mennonite Church USA. The results are shared at the Mennonite Church USA convention in Kansas City, Missouri, in July.
2019
Interfaith Peace Camp hosts its annual summer day camp for children ages 8-12 interested in building friendships and understanding across faith traditions. The camp began in 2008, with CIE becoming an integral contributor after its founding.
2019
CIE sends a group of students and staff to the Interfaith Leadership Institute in Chicago, Illinois. Hosted by Interfaith Youth Core, this annual conference is where “participants learn to bridge divides and forge friendships across lines of religious and worldview differences” with the goal of bringing “the movement of interfaith cooperation back to their campuses and communities.”
2019-2020
As part of its 10-year anniversary, CIE co-sponsors the University Colloquium series. hosting visiting lectures by Amir Hussain, speaking on Muslims and the making of America, and Saher Selod, who addresses the racialized surveillance of Muslim Americans in the War on Terror.
2020
CIE is the co-sponsor of the Shia Muslim-Christian Mennonite Dialogue in Qom, Iran, the eighth in a series over the past 18 years.
