This Friday, Maha Elgenaidi Will Speak at the National Summit on Religion and Education

ING Executive Director Maha Elgenaidi will be speaking at the first-of-its-kind National Summit on Religion and Education. Joined by various stakeholders, she will also be participating in an day-long discussion on the state of education about religion in America’s primary and secondary schools. The event includes select teachers, administrators, scholars, learned society and professional association leaders, textbook publishers, professional development providers and grant makers who bring unique perspectives about the successes and challenges in the field. The all-day event is hosted by the Washington-DC based Religious Freedom Center, and is co-sponsored by the American Academy of Religion, Boston College’s Lynch School of Education and Human Development and the National Council for the Social Studies.

Intercultural Speakers Bureau Training

Thursday, October 10, 2019 in San Jose and
Tuesday, October 22, 2019 in Oakland

ING is Growing! We’re Hiring for Bay Area and CA Statewide Programs

Other Upcoming ING Events

• Shared Values Among Faiths & Religion in the Workplace, Stripe, San Francisco, CA. Find more information here.

• Muslim Women Beyond the Stereotypes, Webinar, Private, WI. Find more information here.

• Interfaith Panel: Religion and Environment, St Patrick’s Episcopal Church, Kenwood, CA. Find more information here.

• Islamophobia and Its Impact on Muslims, Sikhs, and Other Americans, San Jose State University, San Jose, CA. Find more information here.

• Interfaith Forum on Mindfulness, Silicon Valley Interreligious Council (SiVIC), Milpitas, CA. Find more information here.

• Interfaith Panel on Justice, Berkeley Buddhist Temple, Berkeley, CA. Find more information here.
• Islamophobia and Its Impact, Stone Church of Willow Glen Presbyterian, San Jose, CA. Find more information here.

ING Executive Director Maha Elgenaidi joined “Compassionate Conversations: Growing into Forgiveness” retreat at the Land of Medicine Buddha in Soquel to speak on forgiveness in Islam where she highlighted God’s names that reflect the topic as well as prophetic teachings on forgiveness. Here she’s pictured with the other teachers from Jewish, Christian, and Buddhist traditions. To book an ING speaker for your event, visit our site.

Members of our Interfaith Speakers Bureau (IFSB) spoke on a panel moderated by ING Content Manager Ameena Jandali on Shared Values Among Faiths at St. Patrick’s Episcopal Church in Kenwood for the first of a three-part Sonoma County interfaith panel series. The requester of the panel remarked, “Thank you so much for the wonderful panel discussions today. The attendees were so impressed especially by each panelist’s authenticity…Thank you for giving people in our area such a wonderful experience.” To book an ING interfaith panel, visit our site.

Co-sponsored by the City of Mountain View, ING Executive Director Maha Elgenaidi and members of our Interfaith Speakers Bureau spoke about “Separation of Church and State” on a panel moderated by Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian. Panelists addressed the principle of separation of church and state in their religious communities and how it has played out in various nations around the world and here in the United States as it impacts them. The lively hour and half panel also addressed specific religious freedom cases by the United States Supreme Court that included provocative issues such as The Culture Wars. To book an ING interfaith panel, visit our site.

ING Bay Area Director Ishaq Pathan spoke to representatives from various community and governmental organizations at Daly City ACCESS on ING’s programs with a focus on our Know Your Neighbor (KYN) campaigns and local events. During the presentation, participants addressed their reflections on their American identity from our Know Your Neighbor: Share Your American story campaign. To learn more about KYN, visit our site.

Sunnyvale Mayor Larry Klein stopped by our booth with ING staff and interfaith volunteers at the annual Sunnyvale State of the City event. People attending the event discussed their visions of a world of interfaith harmony and wrote down their ideas of ways they can make those visions reality. To learn about ING programs, visit our site.

ING Executive Director Maha Elgenaidi and members of our Interfaith Speakers Bureau spoke on “Faith Communities, Mental Health, and Substance Abuse” for a Santa Clara County Behavioral Health Board Committee meeting in San Jose. They addressed connections between spirituality and mental health and discussed ways to support their community members on issues such as suicide, substance abuse, depression and other mental health issues. To book an ING panel, visit our site.

ING Content Manager Ameena Jandali joined Karen Stiller from the Jewish Community Relations Council of San Francisco and Inderpreet Kaur from The Sikh Coalition for a webinar on preventing bullying of Muslim, Jewish, and Sikh students for a class on education at the State University of New York at Oneonta. Each of the presenters described the prevalence of bullying and other challenges faced by students in these groups and presented strategies to prevent bullying and create inclusive classrooms. To book an ING panel, visit our site.

ING Executive Director Maha Elgenaidi gave a presentation on “Countering Islamophobia and Other Bigotries and their impact on Marginalized Communities” for the Kiwanis Club of Palo Alto. Over the course of the presentation, she touched on the roots of Islamophobia and other bigotries including the history and impact of knowledge creation under colonialism and slavery, old and neo-orientalism, xenophobia, and internalized bigotry. She concluded with calls to action to counter prejudice and hate while building an inclusive society based on mutual understanding and solidarity.To book an ING presentation, visit our site.

ING Content Manager Ameena Jandali spoke on an interfaith panel for a KSQD FM Radio program called Faith Matters in Santa Cruz alongside a Catholic and a Baha’i speaker. This program, the last in a series of three, discussed holidays and festivals. Ameena described some of the common practices that take place on the two major Muslim holidays or Eids and highlighted the themes of the recent hajj or pilgrimage and its associated holiday Eid al-Adha. Listen to the full show here.

Islamic Networks Group (ING) is a peace-building organization providing face-to-face education and engagement opportunities that foster understanding of Muslims and other misunderstood groups to promote harmony among all people.