IEA

• Home
• Our Projects
• Upcoming Events
• Event Reports
• Our History
• Participation
• How to Donate
• Who's Who
• Awards
• Contact Us
• Links

Our History

Recent News:

2006 Prize for Humanity - 5 February 2006

We are happy and honored to announce that the Interfaith Encounter Association and its executive director Dr. Yehuda Stolov were chosen by the Nominating Committee of the Immortal Chaplains Foundation ( www.immortalchaplains.org ) to receive its 2006 Prize for Humanity.

The Prize was presented on February 5th 2006 in Long Beach, California and we are most grateful to the Immortal Chaplains Foundation for the honor they have given us by awarding us this prestige Prize.

We hosted, in the first week of February, a series of events in the Los Angeles area in order to raise the awareness to the work of the Interfaith Encounter Association, with the hope that this will also leverage funding that will help secure the continuation of its work and growth.

 CLICK HERE FOR ADDITIONAL INFO

Please find below a link to the newsletter of the Immortal Chaplains Foundation with the story of the moving ceremony on February 5th when the Prize for Humanity was presented to the Interfaith Encounter Association, and the amazing story of the four Chaplains.

Immortal Chaplains Newsletter (pdf file)

Interfaith dialogue was established in Israel in the late 1950's by a small group of visionaries, including Martin Buber and others. Despite decades of commendable interfaith activities in the country, to date only an extremely limited circle of individuals has recognized that religious faith and commitment without dialogue threatens the stability of society, and thus seriously engages in dialogue. There is an urgent need to supplement existing interfaith efforts, both through new strategies to draw ever larger numbers of individuals into the circle of interfaith dialogue, and through the development of interactive models for encounter that can effect true and lasting change in the outlook and attitude of participants.

In light of the above, a group of concerned longtime interfaith activists has recently formed the Interfaith Encounter Association (IEA). Our vision is a society in which the otherness of the other is not only accepted, but truly understood and respected. We wish to make a significant contribution to the fulfillment of this vision through the Interfaith Encounter Association, which will be guided by the following basic principles and goals:
- Equal representation of all faiths in the Association
- Equality of the genders in the decision making processes and activities of the Association
- Outreach to individuals from all faiths, age groups, walks of life and levels of society
- Outreach to individuals across the religious-secular and political spectrums
- Continual recruitment through committed activists on the local and regional levels
- Implementation of interactive programs that effectively change outlooks and attitudes, such as extended weekend seminars and ongoing study groups
- Continual development of new interactive models for effective encounter
- Ongoing evaluation of all strategies and programs

The Interfaith Encounter Association (IEA) is dedicated to promoting coexistence in the Middle East through cross-cultural study and inter-religious dialogue. We believe that, rather than being the cause of the problem, religion can and should be a source of solution for the conflicts that exist in the region and beyond. We do not believe in the blending of all traditions into one undifferentiated group, but in providing a table where all can come and sit in safety and ease, while being fully who they are in their respective religions.

In the years since its inception, the IEA has been successful at staying true to its principles while beginning to realize a part of the society it hopes to create. In acknowledgement of the IEA's work, UNESCO has recognized the IEA as an organization that is contributing to the culture of peace and as an actor of the global movement for a culture of peace, a United Nations initiative.

The IEA also maintains connections and relationships with many international interfaith organizations and networks. The IEA serves as a Multiple Cooperation Circle (MCC) of the United Religions Initiative (URI) and each encounter group of the IEA functions as a Cooperation Circle (CC) of that organization as well. The IEA is a Member Group of the International Association for Religious Freedom (IARF) and attends its international Congresses and an Affiliate Member of the Council of Centers on Jewish-Christian Relations. The Jerusalem programs of the IEA also function as part of the Partner Cities Network of the Council for a Parliament of the World's Religions (CPWR).