church news
ALTON — The Church and Society Committee of Main Street United Methodist Church is sponsoring a series of speakers and panel discussions addressing social issues and how Christians are called to respond.
The first of this series, A Study of the Islamic Religion, will take place over four Thursday evenings at the church at 1400 Main St., starting Jan. 18 and continuing through Feb. 8. All sessions will start at 7 p.m.
“When looking at the divisive issues with which we deal today, and the wide range in responses of people of the Christian faith, it seems as if people are entrenched in their positions and unwilling to consider another point of view,” Thomas Johnson, chairman of the Church and Society Committee at Main Street, says. “There is lots of yelling and little, if any, listening. Unless we start listening to each other, the problems facing our country will never be resolved.”
To that end, he says, the Church & Society Committee started discussing ways in which a dialogue could be opened between people with different beliefs, to start the listening process and build mutual understanding.
“Between the committee members, we came up with four issues we felt that were important to address as Christians, applied for a grant from the Great Rivers Conference of the United Methodist Church, and received one,” Johnson says. “The Social Principles of the United Methodist Church provide the foundation upon which we base our series. Our first program of the series, which promotes an understanding of the Islamic religion, is based upon Paragraph 162(B) of the principles, which states that members of the United Methodist Church ‘urge policies and practices that ensure the right of every religious group to exercise its faith free from legal, political, or economic restrictions … condemn all overt and covert forms of religious intolerance … and assert the right of all religions and their adherents to freedom from legal, economic, and social discrimination.’”
The first session on Jan. 18 will focus on learning about the basic tenets of Islam, its similarities to and differences from the Christian religion, Sharia laws and how they apply to practicing Muslims in the United States, and the different sects of Islam. The speaker is Aftab Ahmad. The second session, on Jan. 25, will look at Radicalizing Religion, with participants considering Christianity, Islam and Judaism and discussing the radical aspects of these religions throughout history and in current times, and how people of faith can counter this. The discussion will be led by Dr. Michael Mason, professor and chairman of the Religion Department at Lindenwood University; and Chris Caras, executive director of the Islamic Information Center in St. Louis.
During the third week, on Feb. 1, speakers will discuss the history of Israel and Palestine, current issues, and how Christianity figures into the mix. The last session, entitled Why Can’t We All Just Get Along? on Feb. 8, will include a panel of participants representing the religions of Christianity and Islam, including the Rev. David Crowley, the Rev. Bob Phillips, and Jason Zaborowski, discussing how these religions can coexist and still fulfill the mandate to spread one’s religion.
Future programs will address LGBTQ Rights and Issues in Church and Society, Immigration and the Church and Systemic Racism, White Privilege and the Christian Response. Johnson says these issues will be addressed in programs over the next two years.
This program is free and open to the public. No reservations are required. People with additional questions are urged to contact the church office at (618) 462-2495 or by email at info@mainstreetumc.net.