A long-standing interfaith group in Arkansas has a new name and an expanded mission.
Interfaith Arkansas, headed by executive director the Rev. Steve Copley, was formerly known as the Arkansas Interfaith Conference. The new name reflects a less top-down approach for a group committed to fostering interfaith dialogue and friendship.
The group includes members from many faith backgrounds, including Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists and those active in other traditions. Their motto is “because we are more alike than different.”
“We hope to reinvigorate a long, wonderful tradition of interfaith work in Arkansas,” Copley said.
The organization’s roots date to the integration crisis at Little Rock’s Central High School. Copley said black and white ministers came together to talk, form friendships and work together to fight racism. Their first meeting was at Camp Aldersgate, which was started by a group of Methodist women, and they eventually formed the Arkansas Council of Churches to continue their work.
Early members were from the Methodist Church, the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, and also included Presbyterians, Episcopalians and Catholics.
In the early 1980s, a Jewish congregation, Congregation B’nai Israel, joined and the name was changed to the Arkansas Conference of Churches and Synagogues. About a decade later the Islamic Center for Human Excellence in Little Rock joined, as well as local Bahais, and the group evolved into the Arkansas Interfaith Conference. Mimi Dortch, who died in 2011, was its longtime director.
Copley said interfaith work is more essential than ever in today’s globalized society.
“We’ve seen growth in our country and state with people from different countries with different faith traditions. It’s important for people to learn to talk with one another, in this case about their faith and its importance,” he said. “Religion can divide but we need to find our commonalities and learn to continue to speak with one another even when we have differences.”
Copley said the words of Martin Luther King Jr. serve as an inspiration to him.
“He said we are going to have to learn to live together on this planet or we’re going to perish together,” Copley said. “We are learning how to communicate even when we bump up against differences. We keep it going.”
The Rev. Jay Clark, chairman of the organization’s board of directors, said interfaith work has strengthened his Christian faith.
“Because of building relationships with people of other faiths, hearing their stories and knowing a little more about what they believe and why, that rich experience has made me a better Christ follower,” he said.
“Interfaith work is not about abandoning your personal beliefs,” Clark said. “It’s about building relationships and working toward common good in the community and beyond. That experience, in my opinion, can only strengthen your personal belief system.”
Copley said this year the organization plans to focus on unity and relationships. They plan to do this through ecumenical work within the Christian community by encouraging evangelicals to get involved, as well as through interfaith work. The organization has interfaith study groups in Little Rock and Jonesboro and they hope to start similar groups in Pine Bluff, Hot Springs and Fort Smith.
“The motivating factor for starting the group in Little Rock was that many times people in the interfaith community saw each other at events but didn’t have time to sit down and have a discussion about issues or time to fellowship and get to know each other,” Copley said. “I think that is really important because leaders just need to know each other and have that time to get together.”
Clark said one of his goals is to develop a curriculum to help young people learn about other faiths and what they have in common instead of focusing only on the differences.
“Seeing our young people being friends with people that are different from them is wonderful to me,” Clark said. “Their conversations with each other brings up faith in their everyday lives and that’s a great, interesting conversation to have.”
The group also plans to start an “adopt a prison” program to encourage churches and other faith communities to reach out to prisoners by writing letters, sending Christmas gifts or visiting.
Copley said the goal is to bring people together to work in interfaith service projects; participate in discussions on important topics of the day, including immigration, restorative justice, poverty and health, and to join together in supporting ministries already at work in Arkansas.
“We’re not sure where it will take us,” he said.
In the meantime, Copley plans to travel around the state to visit with faith leaders to share the group’s vision and invite others to get involved.
More information is available by email at interfaitharkansas.org or by calling Copley at (501) 374-3811.
Religion, Pages 12 on 02/01/2014