by

Sarah Burns

The Shelton Auditorium in the Christian Theological Center was full on the evening of Thursday, February , 19.  Attendees from Butler University and the Indianapolis commnity gathered to hear David Carlson and Ayesha Butt speak on the topic of ISIS/ISIL.  It would be shocking to find someone that has not heard of ISIS.  Unfortunately, it would be equally shocking to find many people who know much about the issue.

Confusion about ISIS is understandable considering the basic coverage from mainstream media and the horrible, but effective PR stunts that ISIS pulls.   ISIS wants to make the front page for fear and recruitment purposes, and they are succeeding.  Although the root of their malice is complicated, both speakers offer advice on how we can combat the evil.

Carlson and Butt agree that interfaith relationships are the best way to combat ISIS.  ISIS thrives on the polarization of religions, and the last thing that they want to see is the construction of interfaith bridges.  Building those bridges can start with education and standing up to bigotry.  Ignorance leads many people to link all Muslims with ISIS when in fact Muslims condemn ISIS and terrorism.  ISIS is a group of violent extremists and in no way represents the whole Muslim community.

So why should we strive to be like Omaha, Nebraska?  In Omaha they have started The Tri-Faith Initiative, which is a partnership of the three Abrahamic faith groups – Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The Tri-Faith Initiative plans to build a Tri-Faith Center to co-locate with Temple Israel, a new church for the Episcopal Diocese of Nebraska and a mosque for the American Institute of Islamic Studies and culture.  The buildings will form a multi-faith neighborhood of collaboration.

Carlson made it clear that religion has the ability to, “build walls of separation, or bridges of understanding.”  Let’s all strive to be more like Omaha, Nebraska because the more bridges that we build, the weaker the power of ISIS will become.