Summary of WSC-AR’s Interfaith Committee Activities till December 31, 2003

Prepared by
Dr. Tarunjit S. Butalia, Chair of WSC-AR’s National Interfaith Committee
614-210-0591, butalia.1@osu.edu

The Interfaith Committee of World Sikh Council – America Region (WSC-AR) works with national interfaith and faith-based organizations to represent the Sikh perspective at the national level, and promotes interfaith dialogue within the Sikh community. The committee also serves as a clearinghouse of information about US Sikhs and their religion.

Some of the recent activities of the Interfaith Committee include:

• Co-sponsored and organized the North American Interfaith Network’s (NAIN) annual conference titled “Journeys of Faith, Freedom, and Justice”, August 9-12, 2003. A representative of the committee participated in a plenary panel session on “Visions of Peace – Contributions of Faith Communities.”
• Following the NAIN conference, the committee was invited to join the North American Interfaith Network to represent the Sikh faith at the national level. The chair of the Interfaith Committee is also the Assistant Editor of NAINews, the quarterly newsletter of NAIN.
• Attended the US Conference of Religions for Peace annual meeting in Boston, December 2-3, 2003. At the meeting, the President of WSC-AR and the Chair of its Interfaith Committee were elected to serve on the Presidents Council and Executive Council, respectively, of US Conference of Religions for Peace.
• Worked with the Cathedral Heritage Foundation of Louisville, Kentucky on an interfaith prayer garden.
• Worked with an interfaith artist to create a peace prayer vessel to be installed at the World Trade Center memorial site.
• Assisting the World Conference of Religions for Peace in identifying suitable Sikh representation at the international level.
• In response to several cases of Sikhs in Ohio being asked to remove turbans by judges, wrote an invited guest editorial in the Columbus Dispatch on June 6, 2003 tilted “Judges Should Allow Religious Headdress in Courtrooms”.
• Represented the Sikh community on the Ohio Bicentennial Commission’s Religious Experience Advisory Council.
• Working with the National Council of Churches on mutual issues of interfaith interest.
• Assisting Harvard University’s Pluralism Project in identifying and updating the list of Gurdwaras and other Sikh organizations in the US.
• Maintaining and updating information about US Gurdwaras and other Sikh organizations.

The future Interfaith Committee activities will include:

• Making further progress on the above listed projects and issues.
• Increased networking with national interfaith and faith tradition-specific organizations.
• Develop a network of US Sikhs interested in interfaith dialogue to share thoughts and perspectives on what works, what doesn’t.
• Work to initiate interfaith dialogue where it does not exist at the local level, and enhance the dialogue where it does exist at the local level.
• Prepare and publish interfaith literature for promoting interfaith understanding among non-Sikhs, and for advancing interfaith dialogue among the Sikh community.