On September 21, LSTC will inaugurate a Center of Christian-Muslim Engagement for Peace and Justice. The Center will provide cultural and educational opportunities in which Christians, Muslims and people of other faiths will come together for mutual enrichment, understanding, healing and wholeness. It is the outgrowth of LSTC building relationships with the Muslim community in Chicago for over two decades.

The Center’s first conference, “Christians and Muslims Together: Owning Our Pasts – Visioning the Future” will be held at LSTC and the Chicago Cultural Center September 21 – 23.

A Center of Christian-Muslim Engagement for Peace and Justice (CCME) will periodically host guest speakers at LSTC. It will also sponsor conferences and workshops where members of the two faith communities can meet one another in an atmosphere of trust and mutual respect to address issues of common concerns. LSTC and the Center will work with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America to create a consultative panel similar to the ELCA’s longstanding panel on Jewish-Lutheran relations. As needed, the Center will provide orientation programs for church workers and others who are going to live in primarily Muslim countries.

Harold Vogelaar, LSTC’s professor of world religions, has been the impetus for LSTC’s strength in Christian-Muslim studies and relations. As Vogelaar moved toward retirement, LSTC wanted to find a way to maintain and to continue to develop its strength in interfaith and Christian-Muslim relations.