Holy Covenant United Methodist Church and Advocates for Justice + Peace present the first lecture in a planned series titled The Advocates Lecture Series. The Advocates Lecture Series is a FREE event, designed as a springboard to discuss issues of social justice, progress, and peace. The first event is a panel discussion “Finding Peace in the Torah, Bible, and Quran” on Sunday, September 13, 9:45 a.m. in the sanctuary at Holy Covenant United Methodist Church, 1901 E. Peters Colony Rd, Carrollton, Texas 75007.
Jeffrey Weiss, an award-winning journalist of religious and education issues for The Dallas Morning News, will serve as moderator for panelists, Dr. Amer Shakil, M.D., president of the Board of Directors for the Islamic Association of Carrollton; Rev. Becky David Hensley, associate Director of the Center for Leadership Development for the North Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church; and Dr. Morton Prager, retired professor in chemistry, UT Southwestern Medical School and lecturer on Judiasm.
With the panelists, Weiss will discuss what the books of the Jewish, Christian and Muslim faiths teach about peace. Weiss has been a reporter at The Dallas Morning News since 1988. Over that time, he’s covered triumphs and disasters, medical issues and the plight of the Dallas poor. His current assignment is to examine regional public education issues. But for more than a decade, he was part of the religion coverage team at The News. During that time he wrote about every religious tradition you’ve ever heard of and several you likely have not. He did several pieces about the commonalities – and real differences – among the Abrahamic faiths and has discussed theology with rabbis, pastors, priests and imams.
Panelist Dr. Amer Shakil is president of the Islamic Association of Carrollton. Dr. Shakil is professor and interim chair of the Department of Family and Community Medicine at UT Southwestern Medical Center, as well as the founder of Med Clinics of North Texas –free clinics located in Richardson, Irving and Carrollton. Dr. Shakil also serves as the vice president of Denton Muslim Cemetery Board.
Panelist Rev. Becky David Hensley is the associate director of the Center for Leadership Development for the North Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church. Since 2012 she has served on the NTC Board of Church and Society and is the staff liaison for the NTC Committee on Religion and Race.
Panelist Dr. Morton Prager has served as a synagogue trustee and board member for local and national Jewish organizations. Dr. Prager developed a course in Bioethics which has been taught at SMU, UT Dallas, and the University of North Texas. He is a frequent and sought-after lecturer on Judaism and Bioethics.
“We are very pleased to have Mr. Weiss and our distinguished panelists lead us in an educational discussion and to foster interfaith dialogue,” says Bob Michael, chair of Advocates for Justice + Peace, “Peace affects us all, and we must strive to set aside any preconceptions we might have to better understand one another. Religious stereotypes often contribute to misunderstandings that can lead to conflict. We hope this discussion will highlight our common philosophies of peace.”
Lecture attendees are invited to stay for the 11 a.m. worship service at Holy Covenant. For more information, visit www.hcumc.org
“We are proud to host “Finding Peace in the Torah, Bible, Torah and Quran” and be a part of this important discussion. For the future of our world, we must all seek to facilitate peace,” said Carol Sparks, senior pastor of Holy Covenant. Visit www.hcumc.org.