Speakers at an interfaith panel Thursday night hope to spark a conversation, find common ground and foster more understanding between Muslim and Christian people in St. Cloud.
The St. Cloud Interfaith Dialogue Group organized the panel discussion for “Living with our Muslim Sisters and Brothers as One Community.” It is free and is at 6:30 p.m. at the community room at the Mary Center, 823 First St. S.
The interfaith group came up with the idea, building off the success its members have seen learning about each’s religion.
The Rev. Virgil Petermeier said the group has helped to grow one another’s faith.
“I’ve become a better Christian for it, and Muslims have became better Muslims,” he said.
“Having these meetings, we learn to understand each other and respect each other,” said Brianda Cediel, a member of the group and executive director of Hands Across the World. “It’s the same respect we want to see in our community in St. Cloud. ... We really want to learn how to live all together in this now community. It doesn’t matter your ethnicity, your background, your religion.”
She had experience working with Muslim people for 13 years at the organization she founded, which serves as a first contact for refugees and immigrants to the area.
“It doesn’t matter what culture we are coming from, we need to learn how to live in harmony here in our community in St. Cloud and keep our city safe and healthy,” she said.
Petermeier will speak about his experience living in Indonesia for 36 years, where Muslims make up about 90 percent of the population.
“Hopefully, we will also be able to deal with erasing some of the misconceptions that Catholics have of Muslims and Muslims have of Catholics,” he said.
He said in St. Cloud, the issue of race as well as religion is one that can cause tension, another good reason for the panel.
“I would also hope that some of the anti-Muslim and anti-Somali sentiment that there is, also, that might diminish, at least a little bit,” he said.
He plans to tell stories about his time there.
“Stories are powerful, that’s where it’s at,” he said. “If the story is simple enough, something people can connect with, and actual events, meet the people that tell the stories, that’s what adds the power to it.”
Members of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, will also speak. It’s America’s largest Islamic civil liberties and advocacy group.
Kevin LaNave will moderate the panel. LaNave, the director of The Center for Service Learning and Social Change, moderated a similar panel last spring in Little Falls.
Petermeier said they had a crowd of about 120 people.
He said he was intrigued by the process started in Little Falls and the richness in the sharing at that event. He hoped that could continue in St. Cloud.
“It’s a real opportunity to humanize issues, face to face,” he said.
He hopes panels like these can open a conversation.
“It’s really important to listen doubly hard,” he said. He said the danger is that panels like these can devolve into a debate. Petermeier said at the Little Falls panel, they collected written questions for LaNave to sort and ask the panel. That also served as a screening process.
Cediel hopes this will be the first of many events the interfaith group will host.
“It just depends how this one goes,” she said. “Certainly, we want to keep doing this.”