News

4th Annual Festival of Faiths  Acknowledges "We are in it Together"

Registration is Open as Hundreds Sign-up for Online Events Starting Sunday, August 22nd at EquaSion.org CINCINNATI, OH – July 26, 2021 – The 4th Annual Cincinnati Festival of Faiths, the signature program of the interfaith group EquaSion, is drawing hundreds of online participants for a 7-day program, August 22 through 28. This year’s theme, “Compassion Through Action: We are in it Together," will deliver a program filled with interfaith prayer, music, spiritual meditations, lunchtime webinars about faith, workshops for teachers and spiritual leaders, a panel discussion for youth, and more. Click Here to view the entire 2021 schedule of programs. In its fourth year and in response to the lingering threat of the pandemic, the Festival will again be presented virtually.  More than 50 community leaders joined this year’s Festival of Faiths Co-Chairs Penny Pensak, Afreen Asif, Bishop Marvin Thomas Sr., and Jaipal Singh to create 15 events with broad appeal for communities of faith, families, and all individuals seeking inspiration from the collegial and respectful interfaith relations they will witness throughout the weeklong festival. For the first time, the Festival is honoring a local individual as Honorary Chair of the Festival.  To inaugurate this recognition, the EquaSion board selected James P. Buchanan, Ph.D., the recently retired Executive Director of the Brueggeman Center for Dialogue at Xavier University.   Dr. Buchanan, a widely recognized scholar and civic leader, has devoted twenty years to promoting interfaith education, dialogue and collaboration both locally and nationally.  He is currently the director of Interfaith Cincy and A Blessing to One Another and serves on the boards of numerous charitable organizations. The Festival activities will again embrace the 30 faith communities and 13 world religions that have participated in previous festivals. A few highlights include:

• An Opening Interfaith Devotional involving prayers from more than a dozen religious traditions
• Spiritual Meditations practiced by 10 different faith traditions (3 sessions)
• Social Action workshop, ”Faith and Food:  Moving from Insecurity to Sustainability"
• Compassionate Conversations:  "What is the meaning of GRIT?"
• Workshop on "How to be a Sacred Activist for Racial Justice"
• Beloved Community Youth Panel Discussion on the topic of Food Insecurity
• “People Got to Be Free” – An Interfaith Celebration in Music, Song and Dance, followed by the Closing Interfaith Devotional on August 28th at 4:45 pm.

For a complete listing of events, days & times, and Zoom sign-up links for each, please visit https://www.equasion.org/festival-of-faiths/calendar-of-activities/  

About EquaSion

EquaSion is a nonpartisan civic association whose mission is to promote Compassion through Action: acting on our compassion, we engage people of all faiths to discover their shared humanity and spirituality, and to work together for an equitable and just community for all. Its signature program is the Cincinnati Festival of Faiths. For more information on EquaSion’s interfaith community and the Cincinnati Festival of Faiths, visit www.equasion.org.

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Position Opening at InterfaithCincy.org Project Manager

Position is for 10-25 hours per week or as needed to help manage the website www.interfaithcincy.org Salary: $15 per hour This person would work with Judie Kuhlman and James Buchanan who manage the site. Duties include: 1) Keeping website updated 2) Working with a wide diversity of faith communities to make sure they are using the website to let the greater community know of their events, etc. 3) Working on the Cincy Multifaith Calendar to keep it updated and to make changes as necessary. https://www.multi-faithcalendar.org/ Should have some history of work with diverse faith communities and a willingness to develop those relationships. Must be familiar with WordPress Web program or other web programs and willing to learn how to use WordPress. Also MailChimp for the monthly Newsletter. Send resume to Dr. James Buchanan at Buchananjp@xavier.edu

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Faith Communities Go Green Invites You Join the Plastic-Free EcoChallenge

Green Umbrella’s Faith Communities Go Green Team invites you to take the Plastic Free EcoChallenge throughout the month of July!

• Have you considered using reusable grocery bags, but have not remembered to take them out of your car before going to the grocery store?
• Have you thought of reducing your plastics usage, but have been unsure of where and how to start to make the biggest impact?
• Have you been interested in learning what happens to the plastics once you put them in your recycling bin, but haven’t had the time or motivation to do so?
If so, you are not alone. Many of us have the best of intentions, but have just not formed these good, environmentally-friendly habits yet. Joining the Plastic Free EcoChallenge can help you form some of these good habits. Our team “Cincinnati Area Faith Communities Go Green” will be one of several hundreds of teams from all over the world, competing to see who can make the biggest impact in reducing their plastics usage. The goal of EcoChallenge is to help us change our behavior towards a greener lifestyle, while doing so in a fun, collaborative, and mildly competitive environment. You can choose your level of involvement. You can sign up for, say, one one-time activity that you may spend an hour doing in the entire month. Or, you can sign up for a few daily activities and some one-time activities. Click Here To Read More

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The Cincinnati Regional Coalition Against Hate (CRCAH)

Our community leaders often say: an act of hate towards any one community is an act of hate towards all. As upstanders in our community, we assert that Cincinnati is no place for hate. With the re-emergence of white supremacy in the wake of the 2016 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Cincinnatians came together and formed the Cincinnati Regional Coalition Against Hate (CRCAH). With rising division across our nation, it became critical to mobilize. Nineteen founding organizations created this non-partisan coalition; an allyship committed to vigilance against hate activity by supporting impacted communities and fostering acceptance, compassion, and justice for all across Greater Cincinnati. Today, there are more than 40 partner organizations working together to educate the community and monitor incidents of hate in our community. Our rapid response model allows us to effectively respond to hate activity within 24 hours by leveraging a diverse network as the connective tissue between communities thereby providing key resources specific to any particular community. Whether incidents occur on the street, in the workplace, or at school, CRCAH is able to tap into community leaders as needed. Read More...

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Opinion: Hate Crimes and the Invisibility of Sikhs in America

By: Navkiran Chima This opinionated-editorial was adapted from a speech given by Navkiran Chima, founder and President of Miami University’s Sikh Student Association, at the Candlelight Vigil on April 22nd for the victims of the FedEx hate crime / mass shooting in Indianapolis, IN held at the SEAL on Miami University’s campus. A link to an article covering the vigil can be found here: https://www.fox19.com/2021/04/22/miami-u-students-hold-vigil-sikh-lives-lost-indy-shooting/ The news of the shooting in Indianapolis was heartbreaking and infuriating. Gun violence is a repeated and unchanging problem in our country. The xenophobic, racist, and targeted nature of this shooting was an act of hate and white supremacy, but furthermore it was one against my community and my identity. My family and I are always potential victims. It feels like we are in a vicious cycle of anti-Asian hate crimes and racist police brutality. The deaths of Daunte Wright, Adam Toledo, George Floyd, and Ma’Khia Bryant were all products of systemic racism. The murder of eight people in this mass shooting, four of them Sikh, is a product of hate. When are we able to catch our breath? When does the disregard for black and brown bodies end? When will the proliferation of hate cease? It is devastating that we as a nation have become numb to these crimes due to their recurrent nature. Read More...

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