Multifaith educational tool

Interfaith Collaboration Grants

InterfaithCincy, in partnership with A Blessing to One Another, is offering Interfaith Community Engagement Grants. Any Faith community or any faith-based youth group that partners with a faith community or youth group from another faith tradition to work on a community engagement project can apply. To view the grant application, please click here. For Information and application form contact Dr. James Buchanan at A Blessing to One Another at interfaithcincy@gmail.com.

Volunteering Opportunities

Ohioans For Gun Safety- Needs Your Help

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Reader Opinion: Issue One

By: Ariel Miller

YES on Issue 1, urge the Ohio Council of Churches and many other faith-based groups. Don’t let the misleading ballot summary confuse you. Ohio’s current Congressional and state districts were created by a Redistricting Commission entirely composed of elected officials, who used their authority in 2021-22 to produce a supermajority in our statehouse and our US House delegation far exceeding the majority party’s share of statewide votes. When legislators create “safe” districts to preserve their power, they can ignore the views of the majority of Ohioans on issues like racial equity and gun safety, and can instead play to lobbyists and ideological base voters. In an uncompetitive district, the minority who vote in primaries determine the election outcome. Moderate candidates are often eliminated in primaries if their views don’t please the ideological base in their district.

To prevent conflict of interest, the Issue 1 “Citizens not Politicians” amendment proposed for Ohio’s constitution would ban elected officials and lobbyists from serving on Ohio’s Redistricting Commission. Supporters including many people of faith collected over 500,000 valid signatures to qualify Issue 1 for the November ballot. The amendment would require a public, transparent process to produce district maps. The ballot summary – written by elected officials on the Ohio Ballot Board – misleads voters by stating that the reform would “require” rather than prevent gerrymandering.

The failure of our legislature to represent Ohioans shows up in two key concerns for many judicatories: racial justice and gun safety. The 2024 Ohio Pulse Poll just released by Baldwin Wallace University shows that 84.3% of Ohio voters support teaching about the history of race and racism in Ohio schools, a significant increase from 75% in 2022! That includes 84.2% of Ohio parents. But the Ohio Legislature has stripped the Ohio School Board of its authority over curriculum, after a titanic battle following the School Board’s 2020 resolution to work on overcoming systemic racism documented in a study of 600 school districts. SB 83, if passed, would virtually eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion from Ohio’s public universities and curtail teaching about “divisive content” on topics including race and climate change.

Gun violence is the leading cause of death for American children and teens. Ohio voters overwhelmingly support stronger gun safety laws including red flag laws (73.4%) and expanding background checks for gun purchases by people 18-21 (85.6%). Only 38.5% support permitless conceal-carry, but our legislature passed a law eliminating the training and permit requirement for conceal-carry, and has stalled bills to close loopholes in background checks, or to enact red flag options to temporarily remove guns from people who pose a danger to themselves or others.

Endorsers of Issue 1 include Ohio’s chapters of the League of Women Voters, the NAACP, and the A. Philip Randolph Institute, the Amos Project, Faith in Public Life, the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Ohio, the Hunger Network of Ohio (a Christian advocacy nonprofit), the National Council of Jewish Women of Cleveland, the Woman’s City Club, and many other statewide and regional nonpartisan groups.

“Just know that a Yes vote establishes the nonpartisan commission and a No vote keeps the current process in place,” wrote the Ohio Council of Churches in their Oct. 10 newsletter. “Please spread the word to your friends, family, and faith communities to vote Yes on Issue 1 this election. The Council has worked tirelessly with our faith, civic, and community partners since 2015 to ensure that legislative maps in Ohio are drawn fairly…We believe voters should choose their representation, not the other way around. We witnessed last year the refusal of the current redistricting commission to obey the very laws they swore to uphold when they drew unfair maps not once, not twice, but seven times. Issue 1 is designed to correct this miscarriage of justice by replacing the current commission made up of elected officials.”

The Citizens Not Politicians amendment was drafted by a team of Republican, Democratic, and Independent Ohio civic leaders including former Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor, a lifelong Republican and former Lieutenant Governor who wrote or signed all seven rulings finding the 2021-22 maps unconstitutional for providing excessive partisan advantage under the criteria approved by voters in 2015 and 2018 amendments to the Constitution, which specified that all members of the Redistricting Commission be current elected officials.

For more background on state policy trends on issues including energy policy, contact Ariel at arielmillerwriter@gmail.com

Ariel Miller is the Advocacy Co-Chair, Faith Communities Go Green, a collaboration of Green Umbrella and EquaSion.

Voter Information

Election day is Tuesday, November 5th!

We have gathered everything you need to know about voting in the 2024 primary election. The details below are for Hamilton County. If you live in a different county, click here to check for your county’s details.

Note: Remember to bring a valid photo ID with you to vote. For details on what qualifies as a valid photo ID, click here.

Thank you for exercising your constitutional right and voting!

Check Your Registration

In order to vote in Ohio, you must be registered. You can check your registration status here.
View Your Sample Ballot

To help you prepare for the election, you can look up your sample ballot here. This will show you what the actual ballot looks like, including candidates, questions, and instructions for voting.

Voter Education
The League of Women Voters free, non-partisan Voter Guide, covering state and local issues along with local elections, is ready to distribute. Visit Vote411.org to see your sample ballot and voter guide.
Find Your Polling Location

Election day is Tuesday, November 5th. You can look up your polling location here. Polls are open from 6:30 AM until 7:30 PM.

Early Voting Options
Early voting is a great option to submit your ballot when it works for your schedule.

Vote in-person before election day
Early in-person voting takes place ONLY at
The Board of Elections Office
4700 Smith Road, Cincinnati, OH 45212
See below for dates and times.
Vote by mail
All Ohio voters whose registration information is up-to-date have the opportunity to vote in any election from the convenience of their own homes by requesting an absentee ballot.
Learn more here.

Free Rides to Vote
If you know of anyone experiencing transportation or accessibility issues, please have them reach out to the Greater Cincinnati Voter Collaborative and its partner, RideShare2Vote Aware, to get a free round-trip ride to vote during early voting and on election day. Click here to schedule a ride or call 888.858.3421. Please spread the word.

Election Protection Info
The national, nonpartisan Election Protection coalition works year-round to ensure that all voters have an equal opportunity to vote and have that vote count. Click here to learn more about the Election Protection effort.

Reprinted with permission from EquaSion.

The Interfaith Center to Celebrate Coming Out Day

Cincinnati Leader in Interfaith Work Publishes Book on Sacred Spaces

Friends for Good Leader Reflects on Summer Camp for Interfaith Youth

By Adam Hayden

Cincinnati, Ohio — This year we had another beautiful Interfaith Harmony Camp experience. Twenty students representing five different faith traditions came together for a week of games, learning, and lots of snacking.

One of the highlights of the week was being at the Hindu Temple of Greater Cincinnati. It was so beautiful to see the Deities. They were adorned with amazing outfits and divine stories. It was inspiring to see and experience. That was upstairs in the Holy space. Downstairs, something very different took place.

There was one moment that day that stood out above all the rest. It was when one of our Episcopal teens interviewed one of our Hindu teens. During the interview, the crowd (i.e., the rest of camp) asked follow up questions. The day before, we did something similar. A Jewish teen interviewed two Muslim teens. Both of these interviews were important to what we do at Friends for Good. It is so powerful when teens talk to teens about their identities and their experiences. They weren’t up there representing their entire religion on their backs. They were representing their stories and their religion is one aspect.

It was beautiful to experience. To sit in the back and listen to the teens talk to each other and take questions from the group was exactly what we are about at Friends for Good.

I don’t like what’s going on in this world. I don’t like war. I don’t like how they start. I don’t like how they escalate. I don’t like how it affects people from death to injury to trauma to people not being friends over it thousands of miles away and several continents apart.

However, I do like peace. I like when kids come together and show us a different approach. I like how they look at each other as potential friends even if they don’t know each other, especially when they don’t know each other.

I loved seeing our teens talking about their lives with one another just after they tie-dyed t-shirts, ate cereal for lunch, or played the “trash can game.” During the course of the week, they came together to play games, eat delicious food, and learn about each other. And they did it so well.

Thank you students. You always inspire me.

Festival of Faiths Returns to Cintas Center This August

By: Jan Armstrong Cobb

Cincinnati, OH — “The best way to accept diversity of religion is to be educated about all the different religions.” To further this vision, the annual Cincinnati Festival of Faiths will begin on Sunday, Aug. 25 from 12 – 5 PM at the Cintas Center, continue with online programming, and culminate with a Peace Walk on Aug. 29 from 6 – 8 PM. The festival is a celebration of all faiths where we can have fun and learn from one another. This is the seventh year we have gathered at the Cintas Center. Nearly 2,000 people come to learn about the many religious organizations that are represented. Entertainment includes choral groups and dancers from many cultures. The exhibition features over 60 organizations representing 13 world religions and over 30 faith traditions. It is the flagship program of EquaSion and is open to the whole community. Admission is free.

EquaSion is a non-partisan civic organization founded upon interfaith dialogue that works to develop educational and community service programming to foster greater understanding, respect, compassion, inclusion, and engagement for all people and faith communities in Greater Cincinnati and beyond. Living our mission everyday through compassion and collective action, we engage people of all faiths to discover their shared humanity and spirituality, and to work together for an equitable and just community for everyone.

The Sunday programming includes breakout sessions about compassionate conversations, sacred connections, spiritual meditations, and Faith Communities Go Green. Following the Sunday celebration, there will be virtual sessions for these topics as well.

Thursday is our second Peace Walk. Held at Ault Park from 6-8, we will gather to march together, sing, and enjoy ice cream. The Peace Walk is open to the entire community and we hope to draw many who want to make their personal and communal statement about the need for peace in our world.

For more information about these events, please see the EquaSion.org website.

FCGG included in grant applications!

By Joanne Gerson

Cincinnati, OH — The City of Cincinnati is applying for a grant opportunity for nonprofits, including houses of worship (HOW) that serve disadvantage communities and invited FCGG to be a part of their grant application. They selected 8 HOW participating in our Energy Efficiency Initiative that met the grant criteria. If awarded, this grant will provide funding for energy assessments, insulation, HVAC systems, and lighting, and more, to improve the energy efficiency in buildings. This presents a significant opportunity for faith communities to receive funding to help with energy efficiency upgrades in their facilities and create jobs for minority business in the process.

This is not the first and will likely not be the last grant opportunity to come our way. Recently both OKI and EquaSion submitted grant applications that include funding for HOWs through FCGG. Another interesting proposal we are looking at may lower the cost of electricity, solar installations, or energy efficiency upgrades through purchase agreements in collaboration with a group of HOWs to take advantage of economies of scale.

We need to be prepared when the opportunity presents because the amount of time we are given to respond is generally very short. Here are two things you can do right now. Go the ‘Take Action’ tab on our website at FCGG.org/ to find the section for the Energy Efficiency Initiative. If you, or a member of your congregation, never completed the EEI Survey, please complete it. If your congregation already completed the Survey, please send us 13 consecutive months of utility bills for your facility. The instructions for getting your utility bills are in the EEI section on the FCGG.org website. Send them to Ken and for questions also, please write to Ken at Facilities@fcgg.org and Joanne at info@fcgg.org/. We do not share your information with the public without your permission. Together, we can help you save money to use for your important community work and reduced pollution to better care for our common home.

Fifth Christian Church Energy Assessment and Energy Assessor Training

A Reflection on “How to Navigate Religious Differences in Our Divisive World”

The Interfaith Center at Miami University
Geneva Blackmer, Interim Director

On May 17 th , 2024, at 2:00pm ET, the Interfaith Center at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio welcomed author Deborah Levine for a virtual presentation titled “How to Navigate Religious Differences in Our Divisive World”. This presentation, based on the content in her book, “Religious Diversity in Our Schools” drew attention to current cultural trends exasperating fear, anger, and frustration in our local communities. She connected the rise in such tensions to the increased spread of information and misinformation online, the lack of separation between religion and political elections, growing international conflicts such as the Ukraine-Russia and Israel-Hamas wars, and policy changes across university campuses regarding DEI activities. Levine suggested that efforts to promote religious literacy on campus must also inspire goodwill and prioritize common values. This includes the incorporation of multi-faith calendars which observe all major religious holidays, the recognition of sacred food practices, the importance of language, and an understanding of important life cycle events. She recommended unifying diverse groups through mutual concern for community issues, such as participating in service projects at food banks and homeless shelters. Further, she stressed the importance of honoring these works by holding award ceremonies on campus for those leading initiatives with meaningful impact.

Most significantly, she recommended strategies for countering culture clashes on campus that can lead to hate speech, violence, and vandalism, encouraging participants to not blame individuals for international conflicts and to engage in ongoing learning. She suggested a model for engaging in constructive dialogue around the Middle East through the creation of an Abrahamic sub-committee, comprised of faculty and students. She stressed the importance of a limited number of participants, and the creation of a reading list and appropriate guidelines for dialogue. The group should begin with low impact themes and gradually progress towards conflict-oriented themes as trust is built. With time and growth, opportunities for broadened dialogue participation may be cultivated. Increasing polarization has led to dangerously high hate incidents of Islamophobia and Antisemitism across North America, with reports from the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Anti-Defamation League citing an increase of 300-400% since October 7th. It is more important now, than ever, that interfaith leaders do their best to mitigate tensions on our local campuses and communities that can lead to religiously motivated violence. To participate in upcoming Interfaith Center programs, please visit https://www.oxfordinterfaithcenter.org/.

Ramadan 2024

“As one deprives the body, the soul gains purification and strength in a manner pleasing to God, ultimately fortifying an individual’s character for the year to come.”

Muslims gathered at the Islamic Center of Greater Cincinnati (ICGC) for Ramadan nightly congregational prayers with recitation of the Quran and prayers for peace.

Of the 2 billion Muslims across the world, about 40,000 Muslims Americans reside locally, and they recently observed the holy month of Ramadan (from March 10-April 9, 2024).

Ramadan is one of the five pillars of Islam, alongside Declaration of Faith, Prayer, Charity, and Hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca). It falls during the ninth month of the Islamic Calendar, which is based upon the lunar calendar. Because the lunar year is shorter than the Gregorian calendar, Ramadan starts 11 days earlier each year.

During this month, Muslims observe a month of consecutive fasting (29 or 30 days) during which they abstain from food, drink (including water), and intimate relations from dawn to sunset. All adult Muslims – men and women who have reached puberty- are required to fast, except those with chronic illnesses, advanced age, pregnancy, menstruation, and those traveling.

The purpose of fasting is not to impose hardship, but rather to fulfill a religious obligation and gain closeness to God. It is a month of increased prayers, recitation of the Holy Quran, charity, service, and appreciation for God’s countless blessings.

Ramadan is also a time of community building. Friends and family often break fast together and gather at mosques for special congregational nightly prayers. During these prayers, which can last 1 to 2 hours, the entire Quran is recited over the course of the month. Muslims often stay up during the last ten holiest nights of the month, increasing their prayers and supplications.

Ramadan ends with the holiday of Eid-ul-Fitr. It is a time of joy and festivities for Muslims globally. After attending morning prayers in the mosque, it is a day of celebration with beautiful attire, gift exchange, scrumptious meals, and time well spent with friends and family.

Unfortunately this Ramadan and Eid has been unlike any other for Muslims across the globe. The collective pain, against the backdrop of witnessing 6 months of indiscriminate violence and unimaginable atrocities against an entire population in Palestine, has transformed Muslims’ prayers into a new dimension of urgency and desperation. As the month ended, there is an ongoing supplication for God’s Mercy and lasting peace in the region and beyond.

Ameen!

(For more information about Islam, Muslim Americans, or a tour of the Islamic Center of Greater Cincinnati, please visit www.icgc.us)