Interfaith experiment; standing in others shoes

Given the growing apprehensiveness through politicizing religion, it makes a lot of sense for one to step in other’s shoes and experience the wisdom of every beautiful religion first hand, rather than live in phobias generated by hearsay.

Finding the truth is our own responsibility, as truth relieves one’s anxieties. The Quraan Conference took the wind out of the sails of the misrepresented verses like “Kill the infidels”, “beat your wife” or  “Don’t make friends with Jews and Christians and seven other verses”, mind you the verses were read in public by the clergy of different religions and not Muslims. (Quraanconference.com)

Mike Ghouse, a speaker on Interfaith, Pluralism, Islam and Cohesive Societies adds, “ I am delighted to share the successful interfaith experiments we have been conducting since 1996 through my Radio show and the Unity Day USA since 2005”




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     The following experiment was conducted in 1997 at the Unity Day USA event.

Thirty Nine (39) Individuals were called in from the audience to form thirteen (13) groups of four (4) each. The groups were given a statement, verse or the wisdom (atheism) of each faith they represented randomly. No person was assigned his or her own religion but religions were assigned by a drawing. Every group was asked to read and share their understanding of that religion, the idea was to stand in others shoes, and it was one of the most successful experiments in religion.

Each one of the participant loved being a Jew, Zoroastrian, a Hindu, a Christian, Muslim or the other. When we read the book for real and not go by hearsay, our hearts and minds will open up to the wisdom of every religion, thus learning about each other first hand mitigates the conflicts and paves the way for solutions.

Mike Ghouse is a speaker, thinker, futurist and a writer on the topics of Pluralism, Coexistence, interfaith, Islam and cohesive societies. He is committed to building cohesive America and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day, no matter what the issue is, he is a frequent guest at Hannity Show and other national syndicated shows. His work is indexed at http://www.mikeghouse.net/  

Muslim Speaker Mike Ghouse

NURTURING PLURALISTIC VALUES EMBEDDED IN ISLAM

A Muslim Speaker, thinker, organizer and an activist committed to building cohesive societies with a belief that what is good for Muslims has got to be good for the world and vice versa to sustain peace, harmony and prosperity.

To be a Muslim is to be a peace maker, one who constantly seeks to mitigate conflicts and nurtures goodwill for peaceful co-existence of humanity. God wants us to live in peace and harmony with his creation; Life and Matter. Over 1000 articles have been published on a range of topics in Islam and Pluralism. Insha Allah, a book outlining the Muslim vision is on the horizon.

In defense of Islam, pursuing a civil dialogue

 

http://www.dallasnews.com/news/columnists/steve-blow/20100919-In-defense-of-Islam-pursuing-9397.ece  
Over and over you hear it said: If Muslims oppose terrorism, why don't they stand up and say it?

 

If that has been you, Mike Ghouse ought to be your hero.

It is hard to imagine that anyone has worked harder than the Carrollton resident to demonstrate the peaceful and moderate side of Islam.

And that effort includes personally visiting Dallas' First Baptist Church last Sunday just to put a friendly face on the "evil, evil religion" that the Rev. Robert Jeffress denounced a few weeks before.

"It was wonderful," Ghouse said of the visit. "We were so warmly received."
He hopes a quick chat with Jeffress will be the start of deeper discussion about Islam and the importance of respect between religions.

"I want to have a dialogue with him, not to say he is wrong but to share another point of view," Ghouse said.

The 57-year-old Muslim was born in India and has lived in the United States for 30 years. He owns a small property management firm. But most of his day is devoted to building bridges between people of different faiths.

"It is my passion," he said in his distinctive raspy voice.

He has been a guest a dozen times on Sean Hannity's TV and radio talk shows. "I don't like the way Sean cuts me off, but I have to honor him for giving the American public a semblance of another point of view."

Ghouse said he can understand fear and criticism of Islam because he went through a time of similar feelings. As a teen, he was troubled by passages of the Quran. He called himself an atheist for a while.

But he said deeper study led him to realize the Quran had been purposely mistranslated down through history.

In the Middle Ages, European leaders commissioned a hostile Quran translation to foster warfare against Muslim invaders.

Later, Muslim leaders produced another translation to inflame Muslims against Christians and Jews.

"It was all for politics," he said.
Ghouse said he hopes to present Jeffress with a modern, faithful translation and challenge him to find evil verses.

"If he can, I will convert. I will join his church," Ghouse said. "If he can't, I will call on him to retract his statements and become a peacemaker."

Ghouse acknowledges that deep problems persist within Islam. "Three steps forward, two steps back," he said with a sigh.

And he agrees that mainstream Muslims have not done enough to counter violent images of their faith.

"That is very true," he said. "But part of it is that many Muslims have given up hope that we will ever be heard."

He said repeated denunciations of terrorism seem to fall on deaf ears.

And some efforts have backfired - like the proposed Islamic information center in New York. He said it should be hailed for furthering the moderate Muslim cause.
Instead, it has deepened hostility toward Muslims.

I have been astounded by the amount of anti-Islam propaganda that circulates via e-mail. Tons of it has come my way in the last few weeks.

One theme is that people like Mike Ghouse can't be trusted, that Islam encourages deception.

But Ghouse says actions speak louder than words. And he points to elections in Muslim nations.

More than half of Muslims live in countries with some degree of democracy. And time and time again, Islamist parties are overwhelmingly rejected in favor of secular, mainstream parties.

"The religious parties don't get more than 3 percent of the vote," Ghouse said.
Polls show deep mistrust of Muslims. "But the most important question in those surveys is: 'Do you know anything about Islam?' " Ghouse said. "Most people say no."
What keeps him going is faith in Americans, he said.

"The majority of Americans, if they know the truth, they will change their minds."
 

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Mike Ghouse is a speaker, writer, thinker, futurist and an activist of Pluralism, Islam, India and Civil Societies passionately offering pluralistic solutions on issues of the day.

He is a commentator at Fox News on the Hannity show, nationally syndicated Radio shows along with Dallas TV, Print and Radio networks and occasional interviews on NPR.  He has spoken at international forums including the Parliament of Worlds Religions in Melbourne, Middle East Peace initiative in Jerusalem, International Leadership conference in Hawaii, Washington and elsewhere.

Concerned by the divisiveness, he saw the need to bring Americans together and founded America Together Foundation committed to building a cohesive America, indeed it is in response to ACT America which is bent on pitching one American against the other.  We will be holding series of educational programs, conferences and workshops to address the issues that divide us such as Civil Right, GLBT, Quraan, Abortion, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, Racial Profiling and Stereotyping.

The Annual Unity Day USA is in its 7^th year now, it is a purposeful event to bring Americans together, on this Unity Day, we the people of the United States of America of every faith, race, ethnicity, culture and background will gather to express our commitment to co-existence, unity, prosperity and wellbeing of our nation.  

Thanksgiving Celebration is in its 15^th year showcasing cultural diversity.

The 5^th Annual Reflections on Holocaust and Genocides is to learn and to acknowledge and reflect upon the terrible things we have inflicted upon each other and commit to avert such tragedies.  Through this event non-Jewish people have consciously learned about Holocaust for the first time, it was also for the first time that people of 14 faiths came together to join in to commemorate the Holocaust that commemorated within the Jewish Community for years. They are not alone anymore in their anguish, we are all in it together with them, and it is a Muslim initiative to effect a positive change.

The programs, seminars and workshops conducted by the Foundation for Pluralism have become a part of the America Together Foundation. While the Foundation for Pluralism continues championing the idea of co-existence through respecting and accepting the otherness of other, the commitment to nurturing the pluralistic ideals embedded in Islam through the World Muslim Congress continues.

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Full Profile at:  http://www.mikeghouse.net/MuslimSpeaker.MikeGhouse.asp   

Mike is working on two books scheduled to be released this year; The American Muslim Agenda and My Journey to Pluralism.

Mike has written over 1000 Articles on Pluralism, Islam, India, Peace & Justice and civil societies published in a wide spectrum of Newspapers and Magazines around the world.

Locally, he is a panelist at Dallas Morning News's and writes weekly on a range of issues facing the nation. Washington Post, Huffington Post and other news papers and sites regularly publish his work.  

Mike is available to speak on Pluralism, Islam, Civil Societies, and Peace & Justice at your place of worship, school, work place, seminars, workshops or conferences. His work is reflected at three websites & twenty two Blogs listed at http://www.MikeGhouse.net/

Hannity, Horowitz and Ghouse on Air today

Hannity, Horowitz and Ghouse on nationally syndicated Radio. It will be on 5:00 EST again. Check your local listings -http://www.hannity.com/stations

David Horowitz will probably not ask for me again to be on Air with him, I was assertive in letting him know that he was misinformed about Islam, his lack of knowledge was obvious when he talked about Quraan. He said,  he visited my site and asked for me on Hannity today. I am glad he did, it is possible he may have a heart for the truth and is simply misled by the financial gains in bashing Islam.  Continue

Prayers at Carrollton City Council

Invocation prayers at Carrollton City Council

7:00 PM, Tuesday, April 05, 2011

A Carrollton tradition

By Mike Ghouse, Pluralist

# # #

Dear Friends,

The following is an inclusive prayer called the prayer of Pluralism, indeed, Carrollton is only City in the United States where inclusiveness is appreciated and this is the 9^th time in the last four years. We are committed to building a cohesive Carrollton.

Let’s reflect, wish and pray:

Creator of the universe

Please accept our gratitude in every name we call upon you; Manito,  Yahweh, Elahi, Ishwar, Allah, Mahavira, Buddha, Wahe Guru, Ahura Mazda, mother earth and Jesus Christ.  

In your name we want to create a cohesive Carrollton, with care kindness and dignity to every one of the 122,000 residents of this beautiful City.  

Dear God,

Guide our Mayor and the council to serve us with integrity and honesty;
Guide us to serve our communities with the spirit of volunteerism;
Guide us to do the right thing every moment of our life;
Guide us to open our hearts and minds toward our fellow beings;
Guide us to shed the arrogance in us, and enrich us with humility

Guide us to become conflict mitigaters and goodwill nurturers.

Dear God,
Protect our men and women in uniforms committed to our safety and well being.

Help us learn to respect the uniqueness you have blessed to each one of the 122,000 of us in Carrollton,

And help us learn to respect everywhich way one worships you.
In your name, we bow to you.

Amen.

Pictures:

Video:

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 Mike Ghouse, President of America Together foundation is committed to building cohesive societies and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day, and is available to speak at your place of worship, work or in seminars and conferences. He is a speaker thinker and a writer on the topics of pluralism, cohesive societies, Islam, interfaith, India and Peace.

The Foundation for Pluralism champions the idea of co-existence by respecting and accepting the otherness of other; and World Muslim Congress is committed to nurturing the pluralistic ideals embedded in Islam. His work is reflected in 4 website's and 27 Blogs at http://www.mikeghouse.net/

First Amendment, the secular and religious organizations

Religious Organizations must be held to the same standards as the secular organizations in terms of employment and accountability to the public. They must be subjected to audit of the policies as well, then the questions of exceptions will dwindle and a sense of clarity will emerge. We have to rise above our own petty agendas for the overall good of America and formulate policies that treat every one justly.  Full story at - http://theghousediary.blogspot.com/2011/04/first-amendment-secular-and-religious.html

# # #

Mike Ghouse, President of America Together foundation is committed to building cohesive societies and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day, and is available to speak at your place of worship, work or in seminars and conferences. He is a speaker thinker and a writer on the topics of pluralism, cohesive societies, Islam, interfaith, India and Peace.

The Foundation for Pluralism champions the idea of co-existence by respecting and accepting the otherness of other, and World Muslim Congress is committed to nurturing the pluralistic ideals embedded in Islam. His work is reflected in 4 website's and 27 Blogs at http://www.mikeghouse.net/