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Thursday 29 Oct 2015 - 10:45 Makkah mean time-16-1-1437
(Image from Long Island Press )
New York (IINA) - Offering a common ground for interfaith unity, the Islamic Center of Long Island in New York has inaugurated the first interfaith institute in the region, where followers of different faiths can foster a better understanding, OnIslam reported.
The new center, which opened on Sunday, includes an impressive board of trustees made up of men and women from different backgrounds and faiths.
The board also encompasses representation from the Diocese of Rockville Centre and leaders in higher education.
“I need to understand better the tenets of other faiths,” Dr. Faroque Khan, a medical doctor and co-founder of the mosque, was quoted as saying by Long Island Press online news.
“Similarly, the other faiths need to understand and learn about who we are, particularly in the present environment. We need to bring that voice of reason, sanity into the conversation,” he said.
The Islamic center in Long Island dates back to two decades when Muslims started a worshipping house in the basement of a house.
Expanding over the past 20 years, the most recent expansion in the mosque, before the interfaith center, came in the 1990s.
The new institute's main goals include reaching out to educators and their students to better educate them on Islam, a religion that most people learn about through uninformed talking heads on television and cable news.
The group has plans to work with school districts in Westbury, Hicksville, Herricks and Jericho to promote interfaith initiatives through conferences, seminars, and essay contests.
Data released from the 2010 US Religion Census shows Islam was the fastest growing religion in America over the last 10 years, with 2.6 million living in the US today, up from 1 million in 2000.
Un-official figures put the number between seven to eight million.
SM/IINA
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