Ralph Anderson Inter-Faith Dialogues
A Quarter Century
By Ken Starbuck

We are proud to announce the celebration of a quarter century of interfaith dialogues in Southern Illinois, with a banquet at the Carbondale Civic Center on Saturday, April 12, 2008. Carbondale may be the only place in America where substantial interfaith dialogues on a consistent basis have taken place over that long a period of time. Here is a brief history about how those dialogues emerged and developed over the quarter century.

What are now called the “Ralph Anderson Interfaith Dialogues” began in the nineteen eighties out of the personal efforts of Ralph Anderson. Ralph was a teacher in the area, and active in the local religious community. He became concerned about what he considered a growing and unchallenged anti-Semitism in the area and nation. He worked with Dale Bengtson, professor of Religious Studies at Southern Illinois University, to begin a series of conversations between Christian and Jewish leaders and scholars. Early conversations between the two faiths began around issues like “authority, salvation and inclusion or exclusion” in the two faith traditions. Rabbi Leonard Zoll and Father Roger Karban were frequent participants.

There was an article in the October 15, 1989, issue of the Southern Illinoisan, written by Leonard Zoll, about an upcoming Jewish-Christian Conversation on October 16th of that year to be held at the St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church. The article states that “the five discussants for the 17th session are Rabbi John Spiro, Rabbi Leonard Zoll, the Rev. Wyatt George, the Rev. Karen Knodt, and Father Roger Karban.” One paragraph of that article says “Thus, the creation and success of Carbondale’s Jewish-Christian Conversation Series since 1987, is certainly an exciting and refreshing experience”. Several people have recollections of dialogues preceding that date, and the mention of the “17th session” indicates that the start of the conversations may well have been before 1987. We encourage people, who might have more specific information, to share it with us.

Dr. Mazhar Butt, a dentist in the area, was a key figure in helping move the conversations toward an inclusion of Islam in 1988; and he is still active on the planning committee. Dr. Riaz Zobairi, a professor at SIU became a frequent presenter on such major Islamic issues as the history of the Koran, sources of religious authority, and treatment of Christian and Jews in Islamic countries.

Many of the early dialogues were held at the Newman Catholic Student Center, but beginning in 1991 the main location for the next decade became St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church. In about 1992 Steve Low, from the Jewish Federation of Southern Illinois, became a major spokesman for Judaism; more recently Sam Goldman has represented that faith. Beginning in about 1996, after the death of Dr. Zobairi, Imam Abdul Haqq, became the major spokesman for the Islamic community. The pattern of having six dialogues a year, three in the fall and three in the spring, developed early and continues to this day with some variation.

In 2004 the name was changed from “Jewish-Christian-Muslim Conversations” to the “Ralph Anderson Interfaith Dialogues”, and a serious effort has been made to include other major world religions. At that same time the Carbondale Interfaith Council assumed sponsorship of the dialogues. On November 8, 2004, the topic was “Prayer & Meditation: Easter and Western Spiritual Practices” and included a Buddhist perspective. A dialogue on December 3, 2007, at the Carbondale Mosque, on “Images of the Divine” also included a practicing Buddhist.
Another change dating back to early in the 21st century has been the effort to move the location of the dialogues to a variety of religious venues. Since 2003 several of the dialogues have been held at the the new Carbondale Mosque, the Congregation Beth Jacob, St. Francis Xavier Church, Carbondale Unitarian Fellowship and several Protestant Churches. A dialogue on “Religion and Politics In America” on September 18, 2006, at the Carbondale Civic Center, had an attendance over one hundred.

The Carbondale Muslim Community sponsored an awards banquet on September 30, 2005, and made presentations to many who had contributed to the dialogues since the beginning. An interfaith ethnic potluck dinner was held at the First Christian Church on June 20, 2007; the speaker was the Rev. Dirk Ficca, executive director of the Congress for a Parliament of World Religions. Several local participants at that occasion had attended annual gatherings of the Parliament of World Religions.

We plan to celebrate this quarter century of interfaith dialogues at an Awards Banquet at the Carbondale Civic Center on April 12, 2008. That banquet will be a part of the Interfaith Week April 6-12, sponsored by the Carbondale Interfaith Council, which will include a month long interfaith art exhibit at the Carbondale Civic Center.

The Ralph Anderson Interfaith Dialogue Series is sponsored by the Carbondale Interfaith Council. Everyone is welcome, and attendance is free. Contact Ken Starbuck for more information: e-mail (starbuck@midamer.net), or phone 618-942-3986.