Save the date: 28/11, “Religious discrimination and the misappropriation of symbols” – Motivational Dialogue with Morgana Synthove from the Pagan Federation

The Meeting

The next meeting in the second series of our Motivational Dialogues will be held on Sunday the 28th of November at 5pm CET on Zoom (see below for different time zones). You can watch recordings of previous meetings here.

Morgana Sythove, a leading figure in the International Pagan Federation and the Pagan community in the Netherlands, as well as a member of the Dutch Chapter of the IARF, will speak on “Religious discrimination and the misappropriation of symbols”:

At the recent Parliament of the World’s Religions / PWR virtual 2021 PF Scotland, in collaboration with PFI and PF, presented a panel about ‘Anti-Pagan Discrimination the Untold Story’.

A survey had, and still is being held, to research into ‘anti-pagan discrimination’. One of the major problems is that of long history of ‘bad publicity’ and the use of the word, ‘paganism’. In this presentation Morgana will be highlighting the problems ‘people of the earth’ suffer as having, apparently, ‘no faith’.

As well as being ridiculed there is also the misappropriation and abuse of symbols such as the Swastika, 5-pointed star, runes.. and many more. It’s time for a closer look at these issues.

The format of the series is simple – a speaker talks for 10 to 20 minutes, and a conversation follows. These are open meetings and everyone is welcome to participate, ask questions and speak their mind.

The time of the meeting for different time zones:

The speaker

Morgana is Anglo/Dutch and lives in the Netherlands. She is a practising pagan and is a Wiccan Priestess. As International Coordinator for PFI/Pagan Federation International, she travels extensively giving talks and workshops about Wicca and Paganism.
She is also active in Interfaith and is a Global Trustee URI and Gen. Secr. for URI Netherlands. She represented PFI & URI at the Parliament of the World’s Religions in 2004/ Barcelona , 2015/ Salt Lake City, 2018/ Toronto and PWR Virtual 2021.

Peaceful Coexistence in Zoroastrianism Ruzbeh Hodiwala Motivational Dialogue #9:

The Meeting

The next meeting in the second series of our Motivational Dialogues will be held on Sunday the 28th of March at 5pm CEST on Zoom (see below for different time zones). You can watch recordings of previous meetings here.

Ruzbeh Hodiwala, member of the Zoroastrian Cultural Foundation, a member organisation of the IARF, will speak on “Peaceful coexistence in Zoroastrianism: From Environment to Humanity”. 

The format is simple – a speaker talks for 10 to 20 minutes, and a conversation follows. These are open meetings and everyone is welcome to participate, ask questions and speak their mind.

The time of the meeting for different time zones:

The speaker

Ruzbeh Hodiwala is pursuing his doctoral studies in History and Religions with a focus on Iranian and Zoroastrian Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS),  University of London. He completed his Bachelor’s in Economics from St. Xavier’s College, Ahmedabad – India in 2015 and his Master’s in Iranian Studies from SOAS in 2017. On the interfaith front, Ruzbeh has worked with Dr. Homi B. Dhalla of the World Zarathushti Cultural Foundation (WZCF) in Bombay. He attended IV Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions in Kazakhstan in 2012 and a follow-up round table hosted by the Kazakhstan Embassy in New Delhi along with other Zoroastrian representatives. He is a part of IARF’S Religious Freedom Young Adult Network since 2012 and attended the 34th IARF World Congress in Birmingham, UK in 2014 as a Zoroastrian youth delegate. In high school, he was a recipient of the AFS Intercultural Program’s Cultural Exchange Scholarship to Italy in 2010-11 where he lectured on Zoroastrianism and studied Catholicism at an Italian school in Corsico, Milan. He has volunteered with AFS India in various capacities from 2011-16 and worked as a Personal Assistant to the Member of Legislative Assembly in the state of Gujarat, India in 2018-19.

Motivational Dialogue #8: January the 24th at 4pm GMT

The next meeting in the second series of our Motivational Dialogues will be held on Sunday the 24th of January at 5pm CET on Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86951947910 (see below for different timezones). You can watch recordings of previous meetings on our Youtube Channel.

The formt is simple – a speaker talks for 10 to 20 minutes, and a conversation follows. These are open meetings and everyone is welcome to participate, ask questions and speak their mind.

The time of the meeting for different timezones:
PST (California): 8am
EST (Washington): 11am
GMT (UK): 4pm
CET (Central Europe): 5pm
IST (Israel): 6pm
IST (India): 9:30pm

The speaker will be Dr. Yehuda Stolov from the Interfaith Encounter Association, and IARF member group from Israel whose mission is to “build bridges between Jews, Muslims, Christians and others, based on tradition and culture without any political agenda.” Over the years, IEA has held innumerous interfaith encounters and inspired many forms of interreligious cooperation in the region. Dr. Stolov, the Executive Director and former Council Member of the IARF, will share with us some of the abundant experience the IEA accumulated pertaining to ways, tools and atitutedes that help bring people together even in the most challanging circumstances.

We hope to meet you there, and please follow our website and our Facebook page for details of upcoming meetings.

Motivational Dialogue #4: Wendy Goldberg from Tri-Faith Initiative

https://youtu.be/X4QzidnDgNsAt our next meeting this Sunday, 31 May at 1pm UTC (you can check how this translated to your timezone here), the speaker will be Wendy Goldberg, Executive Director of the Tri-Faith Initiative. Tri-Faith Initiative is a unique and ambitious project in the field of interfaith relations in design, scale, and scope. It brings together into permanent residency a synagogue, church, mosque, and interfaith center on one 38-acre campus in the middle of America’s heartland. Wendy Goldberg will share insight on how they have worked for a decade to cultivate inclusive environments to advance relationships and understanding. The format of our “Motivational Dialogue Sessions” series is simple: a guest speaker delivers a presentation of 10 to 15 minutes, and a conversation follows. The first speaker was Rabbi Robert Carroll, talking about religious freedom and the pandemic, followed last by Betsy Darr, who related the pandemic to environmental issues and IARF work, and finally Prof. Arben Sulejmani, who talked about IARF’s collaboration with the Bektashi. You can watch recording of previous sessions on our YouTube Channel. The fourth meeting will be held this Saturday, 31 May, at 1pm UTC, which is:
– 8am CDT,
– 2pm BST (UK),
– 3pm CEST (Europe),
– 4pm IDT (Israel and Eastern Europe)
– 6:30pm IST (India),
– 10pm JST (Japan). You can join here: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89286645389 We’re looking forward to seeing you there. Stay safe and healthy!

Wendy Goldberg is a fourth generation Omahan and a founding member of the Tri-Faith Initiative. She served on the Board of Trustees of Temple Israel for 10 years, including a two-year term as President of the congregation and was on the Temple Israel staff for seven years as Program Director. Wendy played a key role in communications, volunteer engagement, and the capital campaign during Temple Israel’s transition to the Tri-Faith Commons in 2013.

Motivational Dialogue Sessions

Facing the isolation we imposed on ourselves to try and contain the pandemic, protecting the most vulnerable among us, many are looking for ways to experience a sense of community, for an opportunity to have a meaningful conversation.

We would like to make our modest contribution, and we will be organizing online meetings we call “Motivational Dialogue Sessions”. The format is simple: a guest speaker will deliver a presentation of 10 to 15 minutes, and a conversation will follow.

The first meeting will be held this Wednesday, 6 May, at 11am UTC on Microsoft Teams. Rabbi Bob Carroll from the Interfaith Encounter Association, our member group promoting dialogue and reconciliation between Jews, Muslims and Christians in Israel and the PA territories, will talk about religious freedom in times of the pandemic and the responses of various religious communities.

You can join here: https://bit.ly/3fg8pex.

We’re looking forward to seeing you there.

Stay safe and healthy!