York mosque counters EDL protest with tea, biscuits and football

Ann Czernik

Demonstrators who had gathered to protest at Islamic centre accept invitation to take refreshments and open a dialogue

A York mosque dealt with a potentially volatile situation after reports that it was going to be the focus of a demonstration organised by a far-right street protest movement - by inviting those taking part in the protest in for tea and biscuits.

Oklahoma Muslims Aid In Tornado Relief In Bid To Build Bridges

Omar Sacirbey

(RNS) Oklahoma is probably one of the tougher places to be a Muslim in America, but Muslims have stepped in to help with the cleanup of a massive tornado that killed 24 people.

“As Oklahomans, we’re part of this community, and our hearts just break for what happened,” said Adam Soltani, executive director of the Oklahoma chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, one of several Muslim groups collecting donations.

Imams Visit Auschwitz, Nazi Death Camp, Pray For Holocaust Victims

Jaweed Kaleem

Muslim leaders from across the globe paid tribute Holocaust victims this week during a visit to Auschwitz, the former Nazi concentration camp, where they prayed at the Wall of Death for those who were killed by genocide and suffered under violent anti-Semitism.

Doumanis On Muslim - Christian Coexistence

Margarita Papantoniou

N. Doumanis, an academic in Australia of Greek descent, wrote the book, Before the Nation: Muslim-Christian Coexistence and its Destruction in Late-Ottoman Anatolia.

The book answers questions, such as: What kind of life did Greeks have under the Ottoman Empire? Why were so many Greek Orthodox Christians living in Asia Minor before 1912? Why did so many Greeks migrate to Asia Minor during that period?

Humanity needs a touch of magical interfaith dialogue

Arzu Kaya Uranli

I grew up in a Western, secularist, modernist educational system in Turkey. Then, when I was a young teacher fresh out of college, I was appointed by the Turkish government to teach literature in a religious school that was geared toward raising imams and religious lecturers for mosques.

Orthodox Easter Resurrection: The Gift of Liberation and Call to Compassion

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew*

While many Christians celebrated Easter over a month ago as a result of differing calendar calculations, Orthodox Easter takes place much later this year, falling on May 5. Thus, at midnight on Saturday, May 4, the night that our fourth-century predecessor on the Throne of Constantinople, St. Gregory Nazianzus, described as "brighter than any sunlit day," some 300 million Orthodox Christians will swarm churches to hear the words: "Come, receive the light!"

Patriarch Bartholomew to lead Orthodox Easter celebration on Gökçeada

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I is going to lead the Orthodox celebrations of Easter on May 5, for the first time on the island of Gökçeada (Imbros), where the patriarch was born and raised.

“As you know, there will be a Greek school opened there in September and Patriarch Bartholomew is quite happy with it, so he will be there for the religious celebration,” said Dositheos Anagnostopulos, spokesperson for the İstanbul-based Greek Orthodox Patriarchate headed by Bartholomew, spiritual leader of about 300 million Orthodox Christians around the world.