Honoring the Work of Sophia Said, Founder and Former Executive Director
Interfaith work is not a luxury; it is a necessity. For a community to be peaceful and thriving, it is imperative to make friends with people from all different walks of life. Sophia Said has been a peacemaker in Little Rock for more than a decade. Her commitment to interfaith work brought together people from all different religions, building relationships and helping to reduce fear and prejudice in our community and across the country.
Sophia is now moving on to help Madina Institute open mosques and establish programs all over the world, and we are so very proud to call her our friend and still have her on our board. In honor of the tremendous work Sophia Said has done, and to continue it, we invite you to give now to support the work of The Interfaith Center. When you give on PayPal, select “In Honor of Sophia’s Work,” and we will let Sophia know about your donation.
UPCOMING EVENTS: CAMPS & CLASSES
Summer Friendship Camp - Little Rock
Friendship Camp is a summer camp for rising 3rd-6th graders. Camp fosters friendships between children of different religions, while also honoring and teaching about those faith traditions. There is a strong emphasis on inter-cultural peacemaking.
Dates: July 8-12, 2024
Place: Unitarian Universalist Church of Little Rock
Hours: 9:00 am - 3:30 pm, closing ceremony on July 12
Cost: $125 for the first child in a family, $100 for each additional sibling, scholarships available. If you are able, please consider adding additional money for scholarships for children who cannot afford the full cost of camp.
Summer NWA Friend Camp - Bentonville
Northwest Arkansas Friend Camp is a summer camp for rising 2nd-6th graders. Camp fosters friendships between children of different religions, while also honoring and teaching about those faith traditions. There is a strong emphasis on inter-cultural peacemaking.
Dates: July 29 - August 1, 2024
Location: First Christian Church & WaterWay
Hours: 9:00 am to 12:00 pm daily, with a closing ceremony at 12:00 pm on August 1
Cost: $40 per camper (scholarships available)
Free Online Poetry Class
We are delighted to present the spring 2024 session of Interfaith Explorations. Hosted by Bethlehem Centre and The Interfaith Center of Arkansas, in collaborative partnership with The Cobb Institute and Process and Faith, “Poetry for the Journey” is a six week series that will provide an inclusive environment for individuals from different religious traditions and spiritual independents to come together to share and discuss poetry.
The interfaith exploration series will be held on Wednesdays, with a guided exploration of three poems during each session. The three poems for each week will be distributed before the class so that participants can read them in advance if they wish.
OUR MISSION
The Interfaith Center’s mission is to reduce the fear and prejudice among the world’s religions. We strive to achieve this through educating people about the world religions, promoting interfaith dialogue, providing relationship building opportunities, and teaching interfaith cooperation skills. We also teach spiritual practices that invite the participants to connect with the Divine, while also connecting them with people of other faith traditions as companions on the spiritual journey. We celebrate the commonalities, respect the differences, and share the timeless wisdom contained in the diversity of the faith traditions. We envision an inclusive and safe community where all religions live and work together with mutual respect and a shared commitment for the common good of humanity.
America is the most religiously diverse democracy in existence, where people are free to bring their personal convictions into public life. Social sciences research shows that if you have appreciative knowledge about a religion and positive relationship with at least one person who belongs to that faith, it will result in more favorable attitudes towards that faith and whole faith community.To learn more on this subject we recommend-American Grace : How Religion Divides and Unites Us by Harvard sociologist Robert Putnam
OUR APPROACH
The Interfaith Center aims to change the attitudes and behaviors of people who belong to diverse faith traditions by providing education and relationship building opportunities.We are serious about our vision of an America where people of different faiths, worldviews, and traditions bridge divides and find common values to build a shared vision of future together. Interfaith cooperation is the key to transforming this religiously diverse country into a more kind and pluralistic nation. Thus, we create spaces where people can learn about other religions, provide opportunities for them to get to know each other and design conversations that can help bridge the differences and highlight commonalities. We also train interfaith leaders of the future who are equipped with the vision, knowledge, and skills to positively engage the religiously diverse communities in Central Arkansas. Our educational classes are focused on providing religious literacy and appreciative knowledge about world religions.
Our children programs also provide education and relationship building opportunities in fun, innovative and interactive ways. They help children identify the commonalities in spite of the diversity of faiths.
Once shared values are identified, it is easy for the youth to envision a better world and work towards the common good of humanity. Our prayer services, fellowship meals, interfaith vigils, interfaith workshops are all geared towards creating a better understanding of our religious diversity and creating an inclusive community.To learn more about our interfaith offerings and additional programing, please click the button below.