Interfaith Community Sanctuary honors World interfaith Harmony Week as we share personal stories about walking an interfaith path with courage within this specially created Interfaith Worship Service. Join us in welcoming guests, Ann Holmes Redding, PhD (Christian/Muslim scholar), Imam Jamal Rahman (Interfaith Muslim Minister), Rabbi Anson Laytner (Author, Academic). Learn about our congregation-led international charitable activities including a Medical Clinic in a Bengali village, an International Peace Camp for children and youth, village schools, fresh water wells, self-sustaining micro businesses in rural Ethiopia….

World Interfaith Harmony Week reaffirms that mutual understanding and interreligious dialogue constitute important dimensions of a culture of peace.

We proclaim the first week of February every year for World Interfaith Harmony between all religions, faiths and beliefs. We encourage all to support, each according to their own religious traditions or convictions, the spread of interfaith harmony and goodwill within the world’s churches, mosques, synagogues, temples and other places of worship during this week, based on love of God and love of one’s neighbour [as equal to] love of the good and love of one’s neighbor. World Interfaith Harmony Week is not a call to water down one’s faith, but rather it’s a call to respect our differences and personal beliefs and to unite around the basic principles that people of all beliefs agree upon and to understand that harmony can only come if we build upon a solid foundation of dialogue that has “Love of God and love of the neighbor or, love of Good and love of the neighbor” as its core principle for engagement.

Our featured guests: Bahiyaa Ann Holmes Redding: Minister, author, teacher, PhD in New Testament, singer, and spiritual director—presents locally, nationally, and internationally. Both Christian and Muslim since 2006, Ann is founder of Abrahamic Reunion West, a non-profit committed to healing the global dysfunction of the Abrahamic family of faith.  She is co-author with Jamal Rahman and Kathleen Schmitt Elias of "Out of Darkness into Light: Spiritual Guidance in the Quran with Reflections from Jewish and Christian Sources." https://www.facebook.com/ann.h.redding, http://interfaithcommunitysanctuary.org/index.php/gatherings/devotional/islamic-tradition/, https://www.facebook.com/Abrahamic-Reunion-West-181442257380/ Anson Laytner is a happily retired rabbi, living in Seattle, whose career in non-profit and academic settings focused on fostering positive interfaith and interethnic relations for the betterment of the community. He is the past president of the Sino-Judaic Institute and editor of its journal Points East. He is past president of Northwest Interfaith and has long been active in local interfaith affairs.  A graduate of York University (Toronto), Hebrew Union College (Cincinnati) and Seattle University, Laytner is the author of Arguing with God (1990), co-author of The Animals’ Lawsuit Against Humanity (2005), co-editor of The Chinese Jews of Kaifeng (2017), and author of The Mystery of Suffering and the Meaning of God (2019). Rabbi Laytner is married to Richelle Harrell.  He has two living daughters, three sons-in-law and five grandkids. Discover more: https://ansonlaytner.com/about/ , https://www.facebook.com/anson.laytner Imam Jamal Rahman is co-founder and Muslim Sufi Minister at Interfaith Community Sanctuary in Seattle, adjunct faculty at Seattle University, and president of Northwest Interfaith. Jamal has a passion for interfaith work and travels often, teaching classes, workshops and retreats locally, nationally and internationally. His books include Spiritual Gems of Islam:, The Fragrance of Faith, Sacred Laughter of the Sufis. Discover more: http://www.jamalrahman.com/ Our worship time together will include prayer, reflection, meditation, and the sharing of our humble wisdom. Please join us!