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Civics and Civility: Religion and the Immigrant Experience

RELIGION AND THE IMMIGRANT EXPERIENCE

THURSDAY, AUG. 3, 2017
5:30-7:30 PM
CORTEX - THE SHOWROOM

Register for the event at the link: http://www.focus-stl.org/events/EventDetails.aspx?id=986484

With support from the Missouri Humanities Council, FOCUS is pleased to announce the first of four forums exploring the connection between the humanities and current issues and events.

Join us on Aug. 3 as we explore the immigrant and refugee experience through the lens of communities of faith. Immigrants and refugees bring with them not only a global perspective, but a global diversity of religious beliefs. These powerfully shape the experience for both the new Americans themselves and for the community that takes them in. Their faith can be a cause for emigration, or a source of strength during a transition forced on them for other reasons; it can provide a ready-built community in their new home, or underlie ostracism in their new lives. This forum seeks to explore all of these complex possibilities in the interest of better understanding the immigrant and refugee experience.

Topics for discussion will include:

• How does belonging to a community of faith impact the experience that immigrants and refugees have?
• What are the challenges and opportunities that diverse faiths bring to the immigrant experience?
• How well does the St. Louis region provide for immigrants and refugees who may bring unfamiliar or minority faiths, or seek to join established communities of faith already here in St. Louis?
• Are there special needs for communities of faith that St. Louis is not providing?
• Do old-world divisions along fault-lines of faith survive the journey to the new world?
• Do divisions along fault-lines of faith already in our community present a barrier to immigrants and refugees?
• Is there anything we can do as a region to minimize such divisions?
• What don’t we understand about religion and the immigrant/refugee experience that we need to know to become a welcoming place for new Americans? 

Speakers will include:

• Anna Crosslin, President & CEO, International Institute of St. Louis
• Dr. Ben Moore, Director of the Bosnia Memory Project, Fontbonne University
• Geoffrey Soyiantet, President & CEO, Vitendo4Africa
• Dr. Kacem Djilali, Imam, Dar Aljalal Mosque

This event is free and open to all, but space is limited to the first 50 registrants.

Register for the event at the link: http://www.focus-stl.org/events/EventDetails.aspx?id=986484