CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The Kanawha Valley Interfaith Council will hold a special program on Thursday called "Understanding Our Neighbors: What Is Islam?"
Daniel Tutt, from Unity Productions Foundation, will deliver the main speech, beginning at 10 a.m., at the John XXIII Pastoral Center along Corridor G, just south of Ashton Place.
Tutt's speech will be: "Inside Islam: What a Billion Muslims Really Think."
Unity Productions focuses on making documentary films and working on outreach projects that increase public understanding about Muslims and Islam.
Today, Tutt is a doctoral student at the European Graduate School, where his research and writing focus on European philosophy, psychoanalysis and media studies.
The EGS campus is located in the Pennine Alps, in a valley surrounded by mountains 13,000 feet high, near Switzerland's border with Italy.
Tutt has served on advisory councils and boards of several interfaith organizations, including the United Religious Initiative, Americans for Informed Democracy and 9/11 Unity Walk -- all based in Washington, D.C.
Ruby Abdulla, KVIC's president, said, "We are living in a time when there are a lot of questions people are raising about Islam. The turmoil in the Middle East at present is also affecting us in various ways.
"The Kanawha Valley Interfaith Council's mission is to bring all faiths together and education people about different faiths."
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The Kanawha Valley Interfaith Council will hold a special program on Thursday called "Understanding Our Neighbors: What Is Islam?"
Daniel Tutt, from Unity Productions Foundation, will deliver the main speech, beginning at 10 a.m., at the John XXIII Pastoral Center along Corridor G, just south of Ashton Place.
Tutt's speech will be: "Inside Islam: What a Billion Muslims Really Think."
Unity Productions focuses on making documentary films and working on outreach projects that increase public understanding about Muslims and Islam.
Today, Tutt is a doctoral student at the European Graduate School, where his research and writing focus on European philosophy, psychoanalysis and media studies.
The EGS campus is located in the Pennine Alps, in a valley surrounded by mountains 13,000 feet high, near Switzerland's border with Italy.
Tutt has served on advisory councils and boards of several interfaith organizations, including the United Religious Initiative, Americans for Informed Democracy and 9/11 Unity Walk -- all based in Washington, D.C.
Ruby Abdulla, KVIC's president, said, "We are living in a time when there are a lot of questions people are raising about Islam. The turmoil in the Middle East at present is also affecting us in various ways.
"The Kanawha Valley Interfaith Council's mission is to bring all faiths together and education people about different faiths."
Jane Ann Grishaber, KVIC's vice president, said the organization was founded 70 years ago.
"One day, two neighbors started talking over their back fence while hanging up their clothes. One was Jewish and one was Protestant. They started having lunch together, began asking their friends to come and it grew from there."
The group had its first formal luncheon, when they began inviting the public, in 1950.
"Since then, seven religions have come together," Grishaber said. "In our series of talks, we try to help people understand their neighbors and each other's religions."
Today, the KVIC also includes Roman Catholics, Greek Orthodox Christians, Muslims, Hindus and the Bahai Faith.
Tutt, a Protestant himself, will also show a short film. The morning program is free and open to the public. Tickets for lunch are $15.
People interested in more information may call the Pastoral Center at 304-342-0507 or Grishaber at 304-346-6255.
Reach Paul J. Nyden at pjny...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-5164.
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